DENVER (CBS4) – Some Colorado lawmakers say they are deeply troubled by an order by President Donald Trump to censor several agencies’ communication and freeze grant awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On Tuesday, Trump ordered an unspecified number of projects that receive funding from the EPA frozen until further notice. CBS News reports funding will not cease from cleanup operations like the Gold King Mine spill, which polluted the Animas River in southwest Colorado in 2015.... Read more

Colorado’s congressional delegates on both sides of the aisle have been deluged with calls and messages since Donald Trump’s election — at times triple the normal rate — from constituents worried about everything from health care to cabinet nominees and Russian hacking. The wave comes among a national increase in civic engagement, from the sprawling Women’s March on Denver and other cities to crowded community meetings with politicos, that has left the state’s U.S. senators and representatives f... Read more

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) released the following statement after the Trump Administration instructed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to temporarily suspend its contract and grant awards as well as issued a media blackout on all external communications from the federal agency: “I’m troubled by recent reports that the Trump Administration has placed a gag order on the EPA essentially silencing employees. Furthermore, I will need to look into their suspension of n... Read more

Washington, D.C. – Legislation cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) passed the U.S. House of Representatives today as part of H.R. 589, the Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act. H.R. 589 provides policy direction to the Department of Energy (DOE) on basic science research, nuclear energy research and development (R&D), research coordination and priorities, and reforms to streamline national lab management. Perlmutter’s legislation, the Department of Energy Laboratory Modern... Read more

What would you like to ask your Congressperson? That’s the question we presented to 5280 readers on social media in December. We fielded dozens of questions on topics that matter to Coloradans before selecting a few to take to our local legislators. Voters re-elected every incumbent Representative in 2016, keeping our mix of three Democrats, who primarily represent the Denver-Boulder metro area, and four Republicans who represent Colorado Springs, the Aurora suburbs, and rural communities on the... Read more

The world hasn't come to an end. U.S. Representative Ed Perlmutter was told it would when Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana use in November 2012 and he started introducing legislation in Congress that would aid the industry as businesses began to struggle with banking problems, among other issues. Now, as President Donald Trump takes the oath of office, Perlmutter says he's not finished fighting for marijuana legalization at the federal level. Perlmutter's Financial Services and G... Read more

In early January, the United States House of Representatives passed a large rules package to govern in-house procedures for the 115th Congress. That might not seem like juicy news, but one particular item in the package could set up for big changes in the American West, including Colorado. In passing the rules package, the House changed how they value federally owned public lands. Under the new rules, the House will not consider sales of these lands—from National parks and forests to swaths of B... Read more

Since its passage almost seven years ago, Republicans have campaigned on the promise of repealing the Affordable Care Act. But now in power in Washington and the Colorado Senate, GOP lawmakers are realizing the challenge of fulfilling that pledge, as Democrats and like-minded activists have begun a counterattack to protect President Barack Obama’s signature law. The anti-repeal campaign has included several rallies in Colorado, with much of the pressure aimed at U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, an Aurora... Read more

When Julie Piller arrives Saturday at the Women’s March on Washington, the Lafayette resident plans to bring a small gift for her fellow demonstrators: about 30 pink hats knitted in the last several weeks by her crew, the Skein Gang. Attached to each one will be a note requesting that the stranger who receives the pink hat send a message back to the Colorado circle of friends. The hope, Piller said, is to link the activists in Washington with like-minded folks in Lafayette. “That is really every... Read more

DENVER – As handfuls of Democratic Congressional representatives say they plan to boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration, Colorado’s all say they will be attending. Many Democratic members of Congress started saying over the weekend that they wouldn’t attend the inaugural ceremony, which is a tradition but not a requirement, after a spat between Georgia Rep. John Lewis and the president-elect. Rep. Lewis said in an interview late last week he wouldn’t attend the inauguration after he questioned Tru... Read more