June 18, 2025 11:14 AM UTC

Get More Smarter Roundup for Wednesday (June 18)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Get outside and enjoy the milder temperatures today, because it’s about to get hot as balls outside. Let’s Get More Smarter! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast.

Warm Up Those Brains…

► Governor Jared Polis and the Office of State Planning and Budget presented their latest economic outlook to the Joint Budget Committee this morning. According to a press release from the Governor’s office, President Trump’s policies are doing significant economic damage to Colorado:

The economic forecast projects tariff taxes to continue to hurt the economy, impact job growth, cause uncertainty for businesses, and increase the likelihood of a recession…

…The forecast shows rent in the Denver area has declined over the past year and grown more slowly than the national average over the past five years, reflecting the success of Governor Polis’s housing reform work and removing barriers to new housing.

Under this forecast and national trade and economic environment, the General Fund is projected to be $24.5 million below reserve level in 2024-25 and $40.9 million in 2025-26. TABOR surpluses of $224 million, $289 million, and $536.4 million are expected in fiscal years 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27 respectively. [Pols emphasis]

Governor Polis remains deeply concerned by the disastrous budget bill passed by House Republicans and now being debated in the Senate which would make devastating cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, throwing Coloradans off health care, increasing costs of health care on everyone else, ripping food access away from families, while forcing the states to foot the bill. Governor Polis has called on the Senate to reject this Republican proposal and start from scratch removing deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, clean energy and more. These federal cuts could create devastating impacts on Colorado’s budget environment.

If the federal reconciliation bill passes, cuts to Medicaid and SNAP could increase the cost to the state by $350 million (Medicaid) and $300 million (SNAP).

► The Governor’s office is also now updating a new “dashboard” showing all of the federal cuts impacting Colorado. As Nick Coltrain reports for The Denver Post:

Colorado has lost more than $76 million in federal funding and has another $56 million at risk, according to a new public dashboard launched by Gov. Jared Polis’ office on Tuesday.

As state officials challenge some of the cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration, Polis created the dashboard to highlight the governor’s push for Coloradans to “get a fair share” of the federal taxes they pay, according to a news release. Polis cited a study by the Rockefeller Institute of Government showing that for every $1 Colorado pays in federal taxes, the state receives only 90 cents back in federal investment, not including COVID-related spending.

Colorado has also “successfully defended” another $282 million that the federal government sought to cancel, suspend or otherwise delay, according to the dashboard. The state data does not include proposed changes under the federal budget bill that is sitting in the Senate. The Trump-backed tax-and-spending bill has already passed the House.

“The Trump administration is trying to rip away local and state funding that supports cybersecurity and public safety, helps Coloradans access or charge low-cost electric vehicles, helps people access food and more,” Polis said in a statement.

“This is federal funding that has already been allocated to states by Congress, and now the administration is working to take it away,” he continued. “We are doing everything in our power to protect this funding for Coloradans and local governments, including pursuing legal action when necessary.”

Click HERE to see the new “dashboard.”

► As Navigator Research shows, Americans continue to lose confidence in President Trump’s handling of the economy:

► President Trump is kinda sorta threating Iran as that country’s conflict with Israel continues. From The Washington Post:

President Donald Trump said he hasn’t decided whether to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, scoffing at a question Wednesday about where his mindset is.

“You don’t seriously think I’m going to answer that question,” Trump said at an event to mark the installation of flagpoles on the White House grounds, later adding: “You don’t know that I’m going to even do it. You know, I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do. I can tell you this: Iran has got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.”

A few minutes later, of course, Trump contradicted himself. From a separate Post report:

Minutes after saying he had not decided whether to strike Iran, President Donald Trump was asked whether he had given Iranians an ultimatum.

“Uh,” Trump said, pausing and pursing his lips. “You could say so. They know. They know what’s happening. Maybe you could call it the ultimate — the ultimate ultimatum, right?”

Asked what he meant by that, Trump replied, “Oh, I don’t want to say — look, I mean, give me a break.”

Yeah, give him a break. It’s not like any of this could lead to a wide-scale war or anything.

Click below to keep learning things…

Get Extra Smarterer…

► It’s not just President Trump’s on-again/off-again Tariff War that is hurting the economy. As The Washington Post explains, aggressive immigration enforcement is a big financial worry:

Industry and business groups that depend on immigrant workers are scrambling to respond to President Donald Trump’s heightened deportation efforts, after winning a partial reprieve on raids last week that was reversed days later.The administration on Monday walked back a pause on immigration raids at farms, meatpacking plants, hotels and restaurants, sending renewed shock waves through the broader business community, parts of which are still pushing the White House for relief from workplace raids.

The pause had come after heavy lobbying efforts from farms, hotels and restaurants, as well as the meatpacking, construction, manufacturing, retail, elder care and dairy industries, among others, said Jennie Murray, president of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy organization that represents Fortune 500 companies on Capitol Hill. Industries have lobbied lawmakers in Congress and White House officials.

“To see such a quick overturn, I think, was disheartening for many. A lot of these business and trade associations that need workforce solutions have been very supportive of the administration,” Murray said. “That’ll be something they continue to be disappointed about for a while.”

The American Farm Bureau Federation, the country’s powerful lobbying group for farmers, expressed “concern” that the policy had been reversed.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying a lick of attention to these things over the last decade-plus: Americans don’t want the agricultural, hospitality, and food service jobs that are were being done by immigrants. But competing factions in the Trump administration are leaving many major industries in the lurch:

ICE has been under pressure from White House officials to increase arrests to deliver on Trump’s campaign promise to enact the largest domestic deportation operation in history. Miller said last month that the administration wants ICE to make a minimum of 3,000 arrests a day. In an interview last week, Trump border czar Tom Homan told The Post that arrests had increased to around 2,000 a day.

Some Republican lawmakers maintain cautious optimism that they can push the president and Congress on a solution that allows the workforce crucial to the GOP’s base to remain in the country.

As we noted on Monday, President Trump is demanding that immigration officials focus their enforcement efforts on Democratic-run cities. In a separate but related story from The Washington Post, reporter Maeve Reston finds that many voters in California who supported Donald Trump are growing increasingly concerned about haphazard immigration enforcement efforts.

► Meanwhile, Congressman Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) continues to promote his “gangsters, not grandmas” line for some inexplicable reason:

► The Trump administration’s efforts to re-write history so as not to make white people sad are fully underway at National Parks.

► Senate Republicans are considering how to proceed on the “big beautiful bullshit budget bill” that narrowly passed the House last month. But as new polling data continues to show, Americans really, really, REALLY don’t like the bill.

► Remember, friends: You can’t UN-sell public lands. 

► The U.S. Supreme Court voted to uphold a ban on transgender care for minors in 21 states. 

► More grocery workers for Safeway and Albertsons are joining the picket lines this week.
 

► Jace DiCola of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel takes a look at local concerns over food assistance programs that could see significant funding cuts from Congressional Republicans’ “big beautiful bullshit bill”:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that any state without the revenue to backfill the federal cuts to SNAP will have to shift funding from other public services, cut benefits, limit capacity or eliminate the program entirely.

The food banks and hunger relief organizations that already supplement SNAP would see further strain as well, potentially spreading resources thin and threatening their overall sustainability.

“We’re seeing the highest food insecurity levels in over a decade, and we can’t meet the increasing need without our vital federal assistance programs,” Food Bank of the Rockies Western Slope Executive Director Sue Ellen Rodwick said. “For every meal that Food Bank of the Rockies provides, SNAP provides nine.”

► Benjamin Mazer of The Atlantic examines how ivermectin became the new aspirin for right-wing idiots. 

► A 19-year-old college student arrested by immigrations and customs officers in Mesa County is the latest face of the Trump administration’s seemingly-random immigration enforcement efforts.

► The Denver-based company Palantir is under fire as questions mount about what it is doing with its concerning access to federal data:

Ten Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Denver-based Palantir on Monday demanding that the technology company answer questions about its expanding federal contracts under the Trump administration.

The letter cited a New York Times article in May that reported the Trump administration had broadened Palantir’s work across the government, with the company receiving more than $113 million in federal government spending since President Donald Trump took office. Officials said the White House was laying the groundwork, partly by using Palantir technology, to consolidate data across the government so it could potentially compile a master list of personal information on Americans.

The letter, which was reviewed by the Times, was drafted by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Other members of Congress who signed included Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts.

“We write to demand information” about reports that Palantir is “enabling and profiting from serious violations of federal law by the Trump administration, which is amassing troves of data on Americans,” the letter said.

The Trump administration has already sought access to hundreds of data points on people through government databases, including their bank account numbers and medical claims. Trump could potentially use such information to police immigrants and punish critics, Democratic lawmakers and others have said. Privacy advocates, student unions and labor rights organizations have filed lawsuits to block data access.

► As Colorado Newsline reports, elected officials in Colorado continue to express concern over their safety following last weekend’s shootings of Democratic politicians in Minnesota. 

Say What, Now?

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Right-wing gasbags Tucker Carlson and Sen. Ted Cruz are arguing online about who knows more about Iran. Fortunately, we’re here to help: They’re both morons.

► Fox Business talking muppet Maria Bartiromo was fooled by a fairly obvious fake social media post attributed to President Trump.

ICYMI

► Carolina A. Miranda of The Washington Post writes that last weekend’s military parade was an abject failure for a president who considers himself to be a showman. 

► According to a new report from the Center for Western Priorities, oil and gas companies continue to spill millions of gallons of crap throughout the Western United States:

► Tired of reading? Exercise your ears and listen to the latest episode of the Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring an interview with Jake Williams of Healthier Colorado outlining recent polling numbers in Colorado.