WATCH: Hickenlooper Rebukes Trump’s Broken Agenda, Touts Work to Help Colorado

Hickenlooper: "President Trump started a wildfire for the American people. Then he took away every bucket of water."

Hickenlooper fought to bring down costs, fight climate change, deliver billions for Colorado projects

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper took to the Senate floor to contrast the Trump administration's broken promises and corruption with the major wins he helped secure to invest in more affordable housing, bring down costs, and tackle climate change.

"While President Trump is busy spending trillions on bombs, ballrooms, and tax cuts for billionaires, my colleagues and I are trying to solve real problems. The ones Coloradans tell us about every day," said Hickenlooper.

Watch his speech HERE.

"But President Trump didn't just fail to keep his promises. He broke them. And now Americans are paying the price," Hickenlooper said.

"The president promised lower costs on day one. A year and a half later, household debt has hit a record breaking $18.8 trillion. $18.8 trillion in terms of household debt. The average American household has $105,444 in consumer debt. And families are spending money they don't have on necessities they can't go without," he continued. "The president promised a government that worked for Americans. Instead, he gutted Medicaid and our health care coverage. He slashed food assistance. He dismantled programs designed precisely for moments like these - when families are already underwater."

FIGHTING TRUMP'S ATTACKS

"Time and time again, we've fought this administration. Not over politics. We fight - Colorado - because your pain should never be their profit," said Hickenlooper.

Hickenlooper is fighting to stop the president's corrupt agenda that has rigged the system for the Epstein class while leaving working families behind. He fought against the president's disastrous budget bill that gutted health care to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. He's doing a state-wide tour of local hospitals and clinics to meet with Coloradans and hear how they are grappling with the increasing costs of health care. He helped defeat Trump's effort to sell off millions of acres of public lands to pay for his lavish tax cuts. He is working to permanently end Trump's slush fund for Tina Peters, Proud Boys, and January 6th rioters

Hickenlooper has also voted to end the president's unwanted war with Iran eight times and is fighting to get farmers and Americans relief from the increasing prices the illegal war has caused. He has stood up to ICE's violence and refused to give them another penny. He has voted against the $145 billion MAGA Republicans jammed through for Trump's violent secret police.

Read more about the events Hickenlooper hosted across Colorado to highlight Trump's cost-of-living crisis HERE.

DELIVERING RELIEF FOR COLORADO FAMILIES

"When Coloradans told us they couldn't make rent, we got to work," said Hickenlooper. "Over my tenure in the Senate, we've secured over $800 million from [the American Rescue Plan], Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Congressionally Directed Spending for affordable housing in Colorado."

Hickenlooper fought and secured funding to turn a Durango Best Western into apartments, deliver badly needed workforce housing in Alamosa, convert the Stay Inn in Denver into housing for the homeless, and so much more.

"We heard from Coloradans who risked their lives to afford health care - stretching their prescriptions, skipping the ER, and avoiding pricey ambulance rides. So when we wrote the Inflation Reduction Act we allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for the first time EVER, and we capped the cost of insulin at $35," said Hickenlooper. "Americans couldn't afford their premiums, so we expanded the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which helped lower costs by $2,400 a year for millions of Americans. That's $200 a month."

He continued: "Across the state, we met with communities ravaged by drought and wildfire. We knew we needed to adapt to that hotter, drier future. So we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the single largest climate investment in human history. Four billion dollars for the Colorado River Basin. Hundreds of billions in clean energy that created jobs and lowered energy costs."

Prior to Trump's second term, Hickenlooper helped secure major wins for Colorado. He was instrumental in passing the largest investment to fight climate change that also brought down energy costs and capped insulin for seniors. He helped negotiate the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and delivered more than $7 billion to help Colorado fix our roads and bridges, bring high-speed internet to every house in Colorado, and invest in our airports. Hickenlooper helped secure more than $12 billion for western water funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Hickenlooper has secured $470 million for 388 home-grown Colorado projects to deliver more affordable housing, support health care clinics, expand child care for Colorado families, and so much more.

For a full video of Hickenlooper's remarks, click HERE. A full transcript of his remarks as prepared for delivery is available below:

"Mr. President,

This weekend, my eldest son Teddy will graduate from college. Over the past two decades, I've been lucky to serve as Mayor of Denver, as Governor of Colorado, and now, U.S. Senator.

But the greatest title of all is Dad.

Teddy - and now my 3.5-year-old son, Jack, give my life and public service meaning.

Like millions of parents, I catch myself thinking about them and their future constantly.

Will Teddy's generation be able to afford a home? Will our health system still be a broken mess when they need to take their own kids to the hospital? Will the hiking trails I took Teddy on as a boy still be there for his children?

These aren't just my worries. They're Coloradans' worries.

Americans were right to be frustrated before President Trump took office. Our country was recovering from a global pandemic. Costs were too high. Help was too slow.

So when President Trump came along and made promises - no more expensive wars, lower costs on day one, a government that finally works for working people - Americans took the deal.

But President Trump didn't just fail to keep his promises. He broke them. And now Americans are paying the price.

The president promised no more expensive, deadly wars. Instead we're stuck in a war with Iran with no exit, no strategy, and no end in sight. And every time you fill up your tank or buy your groceries, you're paying the price.

The president promised lower costs on day one. A year and a half later, household debt has hit a record breaking $18.8 trillion. The average American household has $105,444 in consumer debt. And families are spending money they don't have on necessities they can't go without.

The president promised a government that worked for Americans. Instead, he gutted Medicaid. He slashed food assistance. He dismantled programs designed precisely for moments like these - when families are already underwater.

It's as if President Trump started a wildfire for the American people, then took away every bucket of water.

I hear from Coloradans every single day. And for years - long before this administration - they've been telling me the same three things.

I can't afford to get sick.

I can't afford my rent.

I'm scared about the kind of world my kids are inheriting.

While President Trump is busy spending trillions on bombs, ballrooms, billionaires, my colleagues and I are trying to solve real problems. The ones Coloradans tell us about every day.

When Coloradans told us they couldn't make rent, we got to work. Over my tenure in the Senate, we've secured over $800 million from the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Congressionally Directed Spending for affordable housing in Colorado. That money turned a Durango Best Western into apartments. It delivered badly needed workforce housing in Alamosa. And helped convert the Stay Inn in Denver into housing for the homeless.

We heard from Coloradans who risked their lives to afford health care - stretching their prescriptions, skipping the ER, and avoiding pricey ambulance rides. So when we wrote the Inflation Reduction Act we allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for the first time EVER, and capped the cost of insulin at $35. Americans couldn't afford their premiums, so we expanded the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which helped lower health care costs by $2,400 a year for millions of Americans.

Across the state, we met with communities ravaged by drought and wildfire. We knew we needed to adapt to our hotter, drier future. So we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the single largest climate investment in human history. Four billion dollars for the Colorado River Basin. Hundreds of billions in clean energy that created jobs and lowered energy costs.

Then we created the Colorado River Caucus in the Senate to help conserve the West's most significant and scarce resource.

That's what governing actually looks like. It's putting Coloradans at the center of everything we do.

And when this administration threatened to take it all away, we fought them at every turn.

When they slashed $1 trillion from Americans' health care to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, we refused to fund their corrupt government. When they moved to sell off three million acres of our public lands to pay for tax breaks for billionaires, we stopped them - because Colorado's public lands are not for sale. Not now. Not ever. And just last week, when they tried to pass a tax-payer funded slush fund for election criminals, we stood up.

Time and time again, we've fought this administration. Not over politics. We fight - Colorado - because your pain should never be their profit.

Good governance isn't flashy. It's built on thankless hours spent fighting to keep people at the table - without bullying, bribing, or compromising our values to get there. And it's the only way we're going to pull Americans out of this mess.

It starts by helping Americans get their heads above water, then building a country that actually works for them.

We will end the tariffs and the war that are driving up costs. Because a family in Grand Junction shouldn't be paying high prices at the grocery store for this administration's reckless policy decisions.

We need to restore the health care this administration cut. Then we need to go further - universal health care. I recently spoke with a Coloradan whose husband put off chemotherapy so she could get a life-saving surgery. They couldn't afford for both of them to have health insurance. It's a tradeoff no family should be making in the wealthiest country in the world.

This administration told Americans you can't lower costs and protect our resources. Their brilliant solution? Send energy costs through the roof while the Colorado River runs dry. That's not a tradeoff, it's a failure. The only way forward is a clean energy economy that lowers your bills and keeps Colorado's farms, forests, and rivers healthy for the next generation.

This weekend, my son will cross a stage and start his adult life. And back in Denver, Jack is probably outside somewhere, covered in dirt - which, after all, was his first word.

The reason I believe my kids are going to be okay is the same reason I believe yours will too: America never gives up.

From Gettysburg to Selma, from Ludlow to Minneapolis. Each time Americans face adversity, we emerge stronger.

I see it in Colorado every week. Neighbors showing up for each other. Protecting each other. Sharing what they have - food, child care, a bed to sleep in- even when they don't have much.

It's that spirit that gives me hope for my children's future-and yours. It's the American spirit. One this administration can't defund or destroy.

Here's my promise to Colorado, and to our country. One that can't be broken. If we're willing to roll up our sleeves and take on the tough fights, there's no peril, no problem, no president, we cannot overcome.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor."

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