In case you missed it, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper recently held town halls in Grand Junction and Colorado Springs, and made stops in Breckenridge, Eagle, and Glenwood Springs to discuss how the Trump administration’s policies are raising costs and harming communities across Colorado.
In Grand Junction, Hickenlooper hosted a town hall at Colorado Mesa University where he answered constituent concerns about Trump administration policies including tariffs and cuts to the Department of Education.
The next day Hickenlooper stopped in Glenwood Springs to discuss drought on the Colorado River, as well as the current Trump administration’s freeze on federal funding for water conservation across the West.
Hickenlooper also stopped in Eagle to meet with local leaders impacted by Trump administration’s funding and workforce cuts to public lands, and in Breckenridge at the Vista Verde workforce housing complex, where he discussed food insecurity and the cost-of-living crisis in Colorado’s mountain communities.
Later in the week, Hickenlooper held a second town hall In Colorado Springs where he answered questions on his response to Trump administration ICE detentions and cuts to funding for medical research.
Check out the coverage below:
KKCO Grand Junction: Senator Hickenlooper addresses tariffs, immigration, and federal layoffs at Grand Junction Town Hall
“I know that there is a lot of frustration, anger, concern about what’s going on in Washington,” said Hickenlooper.
…KKCO had the opportunity to listen to Hickenlooper’s response to key issues before the Town Hall.
Hickenlooper was asked about Colorado Public Lands if he will fight to keep State and National Parks and Forests untouched: “I have gone up to every Republican I know and say that’s off the table. Just so you know, I will fight tooth and nail. You’ll never get anything done. And I have been assured that at least through the Senate, that’s not going to happen,” he said.
Hickenlooper was asked about current immigration laws and Kilmar Garcia: “I think that is the single most egregious act that I’ve seen our government condone, that I can remember,” he said. “This is a level of corruption that I don’t think any American expected when they voted for Donald Trump. I can tell you that at least two or three dozen people I know who are devout supporters of President Trump are outraged.”
CPR News: US Senator Hickenlooper talks Trump resistance during Grand Junction town hal
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper invoked Valley Forge at an event in Grand Junction Monday night while encouraging disaffected voters to stay engaged in politics. But he also invoked collegiality to defend his approach to navigating Trump politics.
While Hickenlooper drew questions about some of his concessions, he spent much of the evening outlining policies and actions by the Trump administration he could not abide by. He told reporters that the wrongful deportation of a man to an El Salvadorian prison was “the single most egregious act that I’ve seen our government condone,” and that feared cuts to Medicaid were “unfathomable.
Daily Sentinel Editorial: Hickenlooper shows up — that’s enough for now
Monday’s town hall reflected Hickenlooper’s even-keeled personality. The advice he imparted to those concerned with the direction of the country mirrored his own political posture: Stay engaged, show kindness and work to find real solutions to the nation’s problems.
“In a funny way, we’re at war,” he added. “You’ve got to be pragmatic as well as ruthless.
Hickenlooper provided examples of Trump administration controversies he can’t tolerate — including the “tariff tax” putting a “chokehold” on economic growth and the wrongful deportation of a man lawfully in the United States to an El Salvadoran prison.
Calling the latter “the single most egregious act that I’ve seen our government condone,” Hickenlooper told reporters that if the administration defies court orders, “then we really have to go to the streets.”
WATCH: NBC Grand Junction: Hickenlooper hosts Grand Junction town hall
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Sen. Hickenlooper hosts town hall in Grand Junction
Colorado Sun: John Hickenlooper’s Western Slope tour reveals growing frustration over Trump’s public lands policy
Colorado U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper is hearing a lot of frustration and anger as he tours the state this week. He’s telling people to organize and gather stories that reflect how public lands are suffering under drastic cuts at land agencies.
“It’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a war. And the only real leverage that we have … in a constitutional democracy is to have people rise up,” he said, standing on the banks of the Eagle River on Tuesday at a small gathering of local officials worried about their forests.
Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper didn’t mince words Tuesday on the threat to public lands in the West during a tour of the Western Slope that included stops in Breckenridge, Eagle and Glenwood Springs.
“There are a lot of people out there that have never been to the West,” Hickenlooper said during a stop at the Eagle River Park. “They don’t give a crap. They think government’s too big and they’re just going to cut. Elections have consequences. The way to fight back on that is to bring them lessons from the West in graphic detail. Information is power.”
Colorado Newsline: Hickenlooper calls on Supreme Court to hold Trump officials in contempt
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to start holding Trump administration officials in contempt of court and “lock them up” if they refuse to comply with the court’s unanimous order to “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man wrongly deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador.
“The Supreme Court’s got to step up and say, ‘All right, we’re going to start holding people in contempt of court.’ They have the ability to sanction,” Hickenlooper said in an interview with Colorado Newsline. “They can take the people, the officials who deny any culpability or any responsibility, they can bring them in and force them to testify, to come to the court. And if they don’t come, they’re in contempt, and then you lock them up.”
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper hit stops in Colorado’s High Country on Tuesday, April 15, for what he said was an effort to collect stories from his constituents to help refine his understanding of the area he represents.
His Breckenridge stop was paired with a tour of an upcoming nonprofit hub, and the story he got from local officials lifted the veil covering the historic mountain town with an affluent appearance to show the local workforce’s struggles with affordability.
Hickenlooper said the United States is currently in a place where even those living in areas with a low cost of living are having to work multiple jobs to stay afloat.
“Society has gotten wealthier and wealthier, again, the greatest wealth in the history of the world, and yet we still have to fight like crazy to keep rent within peoples’ grasp,” he said.
Colorado Springs Gazette: Hickenlooper fields questions on Space Command, immigration, more at Colorado Springs town hall
“I think the threat on our democracy is real,” Hickenlooper said. “This notion that we can take someone off the street, lock him up, not charge him, no hearing and send him down to a hellhole of a prison in El Salvador, and then admit that we made a mistake, but we’re not going to do anything about it.”
The president’s tariffs, meanwhile, are going to have a negative impact on the local economy, Hickenlooper said.
“The tariffs are going to slow down everything, and the fact that he’s going to have these gigantic reciprocal tariffs, and now we paused for 90 days, well, that means no large company can make an investment, right?”
WATCH: NBC Colorado Springs: Sen. Hickenlooper hosts town hall in Colorado Springs
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