Bennet Slams Trump’s Threats to NCAR and His Attacks Against Colorado on Senate Floor

Jan 15, 2026| Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet spoke on the Senate floor on the need to protect funding for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). This follows last month's announcement from the Trump Administration that they intend to "break up" NCAR. Senator Bennet offered an amendment with Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Democratic Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) to maintain core NCAR funding. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans blocked the amendment, and the appropriations package passed without NCAR funding included.

"Since mid-December, when we first announced our hold on the Senate Appropriations Package, President Trump has continued his baseless and vengeful political attack on our state," said Bennet. "His decision to dismantle NCAR will have disastrous implications across the country, from national security and transportation safety to emergency alerts and natural disaster preparedness. As legislators, we must stand up to corruption on behalf of the Constitution and to our respective states, no matter what color they are on the political map. I am disappointed that my amendment was not adopted and that this appropriations package passed without this critical funding. However, I will continue to look for and pursue all options available to ensure that NCAR is protected."

Bennet also highlighted President Trump's veto of his unanimously-passed Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, targeted cuts from the Departments of Energy, Transportation, and Education across Colorado, and the innumerable other vindictive, corrupt, and reckless actions taken by President Trump and his Administration against Coloradans and the American people at large.

Here's what he said on the Senate floor:

Attacks on Colorado

"But we know from painful experience that this attack on NCAR is just another instance of the senseless destruction and political retribution that we have all watched take place over the past year. Time and again, Colorado has been singled out by the President. The people of Colorado have found themselves the victims of political retaliation."

[…]

"Coloradans don't need to look abroad to understand the President's destructive impulses. They have all the evidence they need here at home. When Coloradans open a newspaper, they might see that the federal government has rescinded childcare funding for themselves and for their neighbors. They might see that the transportation funding that this Congress has appropriated has been canceled, or that energy investments that this Congress passed have been pulled back. They feel like they're under attack from a federal government whose obligation is to protect and support them. This is a belief that is felt very strongly by the people of my state, and I think everybody here should understand that if it's happening to Colorado, it could happen anywhere in America for any reason."

NCAR

"Last month, President Trump announced his intent to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, which is based in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR is the world's leading atmospheric research institution and an essential part of our nation's scientific infrastructure. Its research forms the backbone of weather forecasting, disaster preparedness, water planning, wildfire prevention, and aviation safety all across our country. Its work even protects American troops overseas by providing next generation weather prediction for military operations. NCAR scientists, engineers and meteorologists equip emergency responders, airline pilots, farmers, local utility managers, and military planners with the tools they need to protect American lives, property, and our national security.

"The President has blown all that up, but as he tries to shut down this institution, the world has not gotten any less dangerous. We can't wish away extreme drought or pause seasonal wildfires, which, as my colleagues from other western states know, don't stop at state lines and barely have a season at all anymore, because they're so present. And you can't rebuild decades of scientific research and expertise once it is destroyed."

Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act

"That's why he vetoed the bill to finally finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit and deliver 50,000 rural Coloradans access to clean drinking water. This legislation would finally fulfill Washington's promise to deliver clean drinking water to farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado-a promise made over 64 years ago by John F. Kennedy. The conduit has always been a partnership between the federal and local government, driven by the leadership of the southeastern Colorado Water Conservation District. In the face of rising costs of materials and labor, once again, southeastern Coloradans came together and put forward an inventive solution to lower costs by changing the project's financing with no increase to federal spending. The bill passed both chambers of Congress unanimously with the most bipartisan support anybody could have, but President Trump used his first presidential veto of his second term to deny Coloradans what should be a basic fundamental right: access to clean drinking water."

ICE

"We've seen the President send a surge of ICE agents to occupy Minnesota and deploy the National Guard into one American city after another. We have all watched the videos of the chaos, fear, and heartbreak that these decisions have wrought. No matter your views on our immigration policy, I don't believe any person in America should have to wonder whether masked men in unmarked cars carrying guns might, at any moment, snatch them from the street, break their car windows, or leave them bloodied on the side of the road. That's not the country that I grew up in. That's not the country that we want to live in, but it's happening today in American cities all over our country."

Bennet's full remarks can be watched HERE.

###