Hickenlooper Votes Against 2025 Senate Budget Resolution

Republicans’ national budget will cut critical services for Coloradans, increase the deficit, and give tax cuts to billionaires

Republicans voted down critical Democratic-led amendments, including Hickenlooper’s amendment to prevent energy price increases 

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper released the following statement after he voted against the fiscal year 2025 Senate Budget Resolution:

“The Republicans’ extreme budget proposal will cut critical services like health care to bankroll tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy,” said Hickenlooper.“We’re all for making government more efficient and cutting actual waste and abuse. This budget will not do that. It will increase inflation and our deficit, which is why I’m voting against it.”

Hickenlooper voted “No” on the budget resolution after Republicans voted against critical Democratic-led amendments – including provisions to prevent cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act.

Hickenlooper spoke on the Senate floor in support of his amendment to protect the low cost of energy by blocking Republican-led attempts to slow renewable energy development. Video of his full remarks HERE. 

“Most of the energy that’s ready to go today is clean and affordable. Any action that blocks the rollout of [this energy] will raise prices for working Americans, it’s going to kill jobs, and cede complete control of emerging industries to China,” Hickenlooper said on the Senate floor.  

In total, Hickenlooper introduced and joined over 20 amendments to the 2025 Senate Budget Resolution to oppose Republican provisions that would harm Coloradans, including amendments to:

Protect Affordable, Clean Energy

• Safeguarding Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure LawFunds: Ensures the federal government meets its funding commitments for laws that address climate change and its impacts.
  
  
• Reducing the Cost of Energy: Establishes a reserve fund to reduce energy prices that utilizes all sources of energy including solar, wind, and energy storage technologies.
  
  
• Strengthening the Electric Grid: Creates a reserve fund to prevent electricity blackouts and improve energy reliability by upgrading our nation’s transmission infrastructure and speeding its siting and permitting. 

Defend Essential Health Care

• Protecting Maternal Health: Opposes legislation that would reduce health care coverage for moms and babies covered by Medicaid. Medicaid covers about 1.5 million births each year.
  
  
• Defending Children’s Health Care: Opposes legislation that would reduce health care benefits for children enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In 2024, 37 million U.S. children were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. 
  
  
• Protecting Health Care in Schools: Opposes legislation that would reduce funding for school-based health centers. Medicaid helps fund 3,900 school health centers across the country.
  
  
• Protecting TRICARE: Protects health care access for military families, including reinstating the TRICARE reimbursement exemption for children’s hospitals.
  

Safeguard the Federal Workforce

• Protect National Park Service Workers: Requires the federal government to maintain a sufficient workforce to support recreational access and land management on Department of the Interior lands, including for the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.
  
  
• Bolstering the VA Workforce: Establishes a reserve fund to reverse workforce cuts at the Veterans Health Administration, particularly for personnel who provide care in rural areas.
  
  
• Supporting Funding for NIH: Promotes U.S. competitiveness and innovation by protecting funding for research and development at the National Institutes of Health.
  

Protect Immigrant Rights

• Protecting Sensitive Locations from ICE: Establishes a reserve fund to prohibit school resource officers from assisting with immigration enforcement operations on children during school hours while on school property.
  
  
• Affirming Birthright Citizenship: Hickenlooper’s amendment with Senator Rosen upholds the Constitution of the United States and affirms that birthright citizenship applies to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
  

Prevent Wildfires and Combat Western Drought:

• Preventing Wildfire Risk: Hickenlooper joined an amendment with Senators Schiff, Bennet, Heinrich, Lujan, and Padilla to establish a reserve fund for sufficient staffing and resources for wildfire risk reduction.
  

Budget resolutions guide federal spending and revenue policies for the year, but do not have the power of law. The Senate and the House must pass identical budget resolutions to start the larger budget reconciliation process.

Budget resolution and budget reconciliation bills only require a simple majority to pass the Senate.

###