{"id":23248,"date":"2025-03-07T17:17:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T00:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sen-hickenlooper-and-experts-discuss-federal-funding-freeze-over-zoom\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:30:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:30:57","slug":"sen-hickenlooper-and-experts-discuss-federal-funding-freeze-over-zoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sen-hickenlooper-and-experts-discuss-federal-funding-freeze-over-zoom\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Hickenlooper and experts discuss federal funding freeze over Zoom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"U.S.
U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and six experts discussed the impact of federal funding cuts on Colorado over Zoom at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 6. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper and a panel of six experts held an hour long Zoom call the Thursday afternoon to discuss federal funding cuts and its impact to Coloradans across all sectors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we gather here today, Colorado faces unprecedented challenges stemming from the recent federal funding freeze and policy shifts,\u201d said Paul Lhevine, the moderator of the call. \u201cThese sudden and far-reaching actions have sent shock waves through our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cuts impact everything from schools and health care to energy to agriculture, said Lhevine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to emphasize that while the situation feels daunting, Colorado has always been a state of resilience and innovation. By coming together and sharing our collective wisdom, we can find ways to support our communities and continue moving our state forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Before the panelists answered questions, Hickenlooper emphasized that \u201cthese cuts cause real pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn true Trump fashion, the roll out was jumbled and a little bit chaotic,\u201d he said. \u201cPretty smart people feel that what they\u2019re trying to do is illegal. Some would say it\u2019s blatantly illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more than 100 cases where the administration is breaking the law, and \u201cwe will make sure it is investigated and litigated,\u201d said Hickenlooper.<\/p>\n

In Colorado, many organizations have been locked out of their funds. Some have closed offices and laid people off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you really want to look seriously at how government spends money and how we can cut fraud waste and abuse, I\u2019m all for it,\u201d Hickenlooper said. \u201cBut you don\u2019t want to throw working families or critical services \u2026 under the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca Hanratty, chief ambulatory officer at Denver Health<\/div>\n

Question:<\/strong> \u201cFederal funding reductions for Medicaid, medical research and other federal grants would impact everyday Coloradans. What long-term effects do you anticipate from these long-term federal funding cuts?\u201d Lhevine read.<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> Every year, Denver Health sees over 280,000 patients from across the state. Its annual budget of $1.5 million \u201callows us to provide 1.4 million visit annually to these patients,\u201d said Hanratty.<\/p>\n

Any cuts to Medicaid \u201cwould result in a reduction of services and programs and would threaten the availability of health care \u2026 Medicaid represents over half of the total revenue for Denver Health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Denver Health also receives federal dollars \u2013 $65 million \u2013 that supports its research and programs.<\/p>\n

Cuts to federal grant funding would not only force them to cut programs; it would hinder their ability to generate the scientific knowledge necessary for new treatments, she said.<\/p>\n

Hickenlooper added that roughly 1 million Coloradans are on Medicaid, and 60% of the people in nursing homes are on it too.<\/p>\n

So \u201cmassive cuts\u201d puts \u201cgrandmothers and grandfathers out in the cold\u201d or forces them to go bankrupt, he said.<\/p>\n

Cass Moseley, vice president of research at Colorado State University<\/div>\n

Question:<\/strong> \u201cCan you talk about how potential cuts to (biomedical research at) the National Institutes of Health and other research programs would impact CSU and the rest of the state?,\u201d Lhevine read.<\/p>\n

Answer: <\/strong>Moseley first acknowledged the proposed overnight cut of over $2 billion from the National Institute of Health\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Institutes of Health is really globally known for decades and decades of investing in the most important breakthroughs in biomedical research,\u201d said Moseley.<\/p>\n

Its work is impactful worldwide, and some of it happens in Colorado, at CSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese research projects are important to the future of Colorado and really the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, funding from the National Institutes of Health provides over 7,000 jobs in the state and almost $1.6 billion in economic impact, she said.<\/p>\n

Cutting that fund would be \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently at CSU, we are provided over $400 million in federal funding to support research \u2026 and our students receive just under $200 million a year in federal financial aid, 13,000 students at CSU,\u201d said Moseley.<\/p>\n

That research money employs over 1,000 employees at the university, and offers roughly 1,300 undergraduates paid research opportunities.<\/p>\n

Yesenia Beascochea, a lead organizer for Center for Health Progress<\/div>\n

Question: <\/strong>\u201cThis administration is implementing or proposing policy changes that have already impacted communities. \u2026 What have been the consequences for the people you serve, and what is most critical to ensure these communities are not left behind?\u201d<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> Beascochea focused on the \u201cfear mongering\u201d that\u2019s been created with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deportations, and how it \u201cneeds to be addressed.\u201d It\u2019s impacting students and making them not want to go to school and generally creating a culture of fear.<\/p>\n

As far as health care goes, losing Medicaid won\u2019t impact undocumented people \u201cbecause they do not qualify for these services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it will affect every single U.S. citizen,\u201d she said. \u201cThey might have to close clinics, let go of doctors and medical professionals that provide services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnathan Bruno, CEO of Coalitions & Collaboratives<\/div>\n

Question:<\/strong> \u201cWhat role do local communities play in wildfire preparedness and resiliency, and how can federal and state agencies better support them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> \u201cCommunities are ready to work \u2013 I think that\u2019s really important to remember,\u201d Bruno started.<\/p>\n

\u201cMitigation is the emergency. By the time suppression is needed, it\u2019s already too late,\u201d he said. But with federal funding cuts, his collaborative has had to stop mitigation work.<\/p>\n

So, \u201cas we head into what\u2019s shaping up to be an active fire season here in Colorado \u2026 local communities will be forced to fend for themselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Collaboratives, the one Bruno oversees, make \u201csmart, cost-effective investments from the federal funding they receive\u201d and hire locals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey invest in their communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yet, federal funding delays, freezes, and frankly uncertainty for the potential government shutdown next week have made it harder for these organizations to do their jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roy Pfaltzgraff, farmer in northeast Colorado<\/div>\n

Question: <\/strong>\u201cIf the funding freeze continues, can you explain the direct impact you would experience on your farm and describe some of the effects it would have on the entire agricultural sector?\u201d<\/p>\n

Answer<\/strong>: \u201cA lot of what we\u2019re seeing has such a long-term effect,\u201d said Pfaltzgraff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a lot of people don\u2019t realize, in the money they pay for food, about 10% of that actually reaches the farmer,\u201d he said. Price increases at the store, though, \u201cget lost to the middleman\u201d \u2013 farmers don\u2019t see any more money from it.<\/p>\n

He touched on staffing issues at Natural Resource Conservation Service offices, which helps farms secure loans and practice conservation \u2013 important practices in light of drought and other extreme weather events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pieces that are coming together that could create a very significant impact in agriculture,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of this is just going to drive the cost of everything up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Gabriel, CEO of United Power for Rural Electric Cooperative<\/div>\n

Question:<\/strong> \u201cHow will New ERA grants<\/a> help rural communities and what will happen if they do not move forward?\u201d<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> \u201cRural electric co-ops represent roughly 70% of the land mass of Colorado and serves rural American and rural Coloradans,\u201d said Gabriel.<\/p>\n

They keep rates low and the grid operating.<\/p>\n

In Colorado, we have a significant amount of growth in terms of people moving here.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot getting this money means we don\u2019t get resources to meet growing demand in our state,\u201d he said. \u201cThat really puts us behind the eight ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audience questions<\/div>\n

To Hickenlooper:<\/strong> \u201cHow are you pushing against these actions (by the Trump administration)?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hickenlooper:<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in my lifetime where there\u2019s an effort to completely dismantle, as much as possible, the federal government,\u201d he started.<\/p>\n

He said they\u2019re trying to slow things down in Congress and \u201cmake sure every illegality,\u201d like budget cuts and firings, are litigated.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s only a one-vote Republican majority in the House right now, he said, and two people will be getting replaced.<\/p>\n

Making sure people know the facts, like how there\u2019s already been 25,000 people laid off, is important since \u201cwhat most Americans want is not what this government is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracies are fragile, but they succeed when people come back together again,\u201d Hickenlooper said. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to keep fighting the illegal actions in the courts and we\u2019re not going to let the administration overwhelm us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018What most Americans want is not what this government is doing,\u2019 senator says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78036,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23248\/revisions\/78036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23248"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}