{"id":73192,"date":"2017-02-06T02:19:52","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T09:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/national-unease-on-trump-policies-invades-colorado-house\/"},"modified":"2017-02-06T09:19:52","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T09:19:52","slug":"national-unease-on-trump-policies-invades-colorado-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/national-unease-on-trump-policies-invades-colorado-house\/","title":{"rendered":"National unease on Trump policies invades Colorado House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"
Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 Tempers flared in the state House of Representatives last week as Democrats pushed through a pair of resolutions aimed to send a message to the Trump administration regarding Colorado values.<\/p>\n

House Joint Resolution 1013 called for a rescission of Trump\u2019s immigration ban, and House Resolution 1005 reaffirmed Democratic support for reproductive rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hearing about those things constantly right now. The emotions outside the building, the fear, are very, very high, and we felt it was worthwhile as state legislators to be making a statement as elected officials,\u201d said House Majority Leader KC Becker, D-Boulder.<\/p>\n

But motives from both sides were questioned, and accusations leveled that legislators\u2019 time should be devoted to resolving Colorado issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they have issues and they want to fix them, they can run a bill and go through the process, but this is just partisan gamesmanship,\u201d said House Minority Leader Patrick Neville, R-Franktown.<\/p>\n

But for Democrats, the resolutions represent their constituents\u2019 concerns and make a stand in the face of threats from the GOP in the federal government and at the state Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re always saying they\u2019re about liberty and the Constitution, well, only when it pertains to the rights that they want. Everybody else \u2013 they\u2019re good about destroying their constitutional rights to reproductive choice for example, and I think that we need to call a spade a spade when we have too,\u201d said Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton.<\/p>\n

In many ways, the resolutions, which are presented to the whole chamber, are more impactful than rallies or news conferences they allow for discussion and debate, Becker said.<\/p>\n

But the debate can devolve into mudslinging, which many Republicans felt happened last Tuesday when Democrats took a stand on immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the comments that were made were just so outlandish, and quite frankly out of line,\u201d Neville said.<\/p>\n

This led representatives from both parties to make statements trying to bridge the divide<\/p>\n

Rep. Yeulin Willett, R-Grand Junction, said, \u201cThese are tough issues, but folks, let\u2019s not call out and personalize because we differ on some of these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, Rep. Johnathan Singer, D-Longmont, said, \u201cI heard some things from my side of the aisle today (Tuesday) that were awfully close to something I\u2019m very concerned about in this body, and that\u2019s that we do not impugn each other\u2019s motives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political displays have spilled onto the steps of the Capitol in the past two weeks as demonstrators rallied for women\u2019s rights, the Affordable Care Act and the Colorado Health Exchange.<\/p>\n

For the Democrats, that represents a display of solidarity in the face of a threat to values they hold precious.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are shocked in terms of what\u2019s happened in our country. Americans are good people, and America is something we treasure, and we are not going to let the America we know, we\u2019ve strived for, be belittled and worn down to a place where it\u2019s a country of inclusivity for a few and not all,\u201d said Senate Minority Leader Luc\u00eda Guzm\u00e1n, D-Denver.<\/p>\n

The sentiment was echoed in the House.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Presidential Donald) Trump is forging a new attitude that is not inclusive, is not one that seeks input and analysis, and that\u2019s dangerous, and I think we have a responsibility to be speaking out,\u201d Becker said.<\/p>\n

Republicans, in the House at least, believe the fears are overblown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019re seeing a bit of some fear-mongering coming from the other side as a way to try to get in the way of any advancements that the president actually wants to do to improve people\u2019s lives, but that\u2019s all that it is, is fear-mongering,\u201d Neville said.<\/p>\n

Regardless, both sides agree the concern comes from activity at the federal level and it is influencing politics in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Gov. John Hickenlooper told news media on Wednesday that he is worried about what is going on at the nation\u2019s Capitol and how it is influencing the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some really difficult issues to find common ground on in Colorado, and having the model in Washington be so divisive isn\u2019t going to help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GOP clash over resolutions aimed at federal policies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14,21,13,904,315],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-73192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-state-house-of-representatives","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-immigration","tag-president-donald-trump"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73192","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=73192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73192"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=73192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}