[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 10, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2715-S2716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Mr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, this weekend, my eldest son
Theodore--Teddy--is going to graduate from college.
Over the past couple of decades, I have been lucky to serve as mayor
of Denver, as Governor of Colorado, and now as a U.S. Senator, but the
greatest title of all is ``Dad.'' Teddy and now my 3\1/2\-year-old son
Jack give my life and my public service real 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 healthcare system still be a broken mess when they have
to take their own kids to the hospital? Will the hiking trails I took
Teddy on as a boy still be there when he has children? These aren't
just my worries; they are the worries of many Coloradans.
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
are stuck with a war in Iran with no exit, no strategy, no end in
sight. Every time you fill up your gas tank or buy your groceries, you
are paying the price.
The President promised lower costs on day one. A year and a half
later, household debt has hit a recordbreaking $18.8 trillion--$18.8
trillion in terms of household debt. The average American household has
$105,000 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 and our healthcare coverage. He slashed
food assistance. He dismantled programs designed precisely for moments
like these when families are already underwater. It is as if President
Trump started a wildfire for the American people and then took away
every bucket of water.
I hear from Coloradans every single day, and for years--long before
this administration--they have been telling me the same three things: I
can't afford to get sick. I can't afford my rent. I am scared about the
kind of world my children will be inheriting.
While President Trump is busy spending trillions on bombs, ballrooms,
and 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 the rent, we got to work.
Over my first 5\1/2\ years in the Senate, we secured over $800 million
from the 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, CO. It helped convert the Stay Inn in
Denver into housing for the homeless.
We have heard from Coloradans who have risked their lives to afford
healthcare--stretching their prescriptions, skipping the ER, and
avoiding pricey ambulance rides--so when we wrote the Inflation
Reduction Act, we allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the
first time ever, and we capped the cost of insulin at 35 bucks.
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 is $200 a month.
Across the State, we met with communities ravaged by drought and
wildfire. We knew we needed to adapt to our hot, dry future. We need to
do a better job of adapting to that hotter and dryer future, so we
passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the single largest climate
investment in human history--$4 billion for the Colorado River Basin,
hundreds of billions of dollars 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 is what governing actually looks like. It is putting Coloradans
at the center of everything we do. And when this administration
threatened to take it all away, we fought at every turn. When they
slashed $1 trillion from Americans' healthcare to pay for tax cuts for
the wealthiest Americans and corporations, we refused to fund their
corrupt government. When they moved to sell off 3 million acres of our
public lands to pay for tax breaks for the billionaires, we stopped
them in their tracks because Colorado's public lands are not for sale--
not now, not ever. And just last week, when they tried to pass a
taxpayer-funded slush fund for election criminals, we stood up.
Time and time again, we fought this administration--not over
politics; we fight because Colorado's pain should never be their
profit.
Good government isn't flashy. Good government is built on thankless
hours spent fighting to keep people at the table without bullying or
bribing, without compromising our values to get there. That is the only
way we are going to pull Americans out of this mess. It starts by
helping Americans get their heads above water and then building a
country that actually works for them.
We will end the tariffs and the war that are driving up costs for
everybody, 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 healthcare this administration cut. Then we
need to go further: We need to get and fully operate universal health
coverage.
I recently spoke with a Coloradan whose husband put off chemotherapy
so she could get lifesaving surgery. They couldn't afford for both of
them to have health insurance in both cases, so it became a tradeoff
that no family should be making. No family--not just in Colorado but
anywhere in the country--should be making that kind of a tradeoff in
the wealthiest country in the world.
This administration told Americans you can't lower costs and protect
our resources. Their bright solution? Send energy costs through the
roof while the Colorado River runs dry. That is not a tradeoff; it is 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 is going to cross the stage and start his adult
life. Back in Denver, Jack is probably outside somewhere covered in
dirt--after all, his first word was ``dirt.'' The reason I believe my
kids are going to be OK is the same reason I believe yours will be too:
America never gives up. From Gettysburg to Selma, from Ludlow to
Minneapolis--each time Americans face adversity, we grow stronger.
[[Page S2716]]
I see it in Colorado every week: neighbors showing up to help each
other, protecting each other, sharing what they have--food, childcare,
a bed to sleep in--even when they don't have that much themselves. It
is that spirit that gives me hope for my children's future and yours.
It is the American spirit. It is the spirit that this administration
can't defund, can't destroy.
Here is my promise to Colorado and to our country--one that can't be
broken: If you are willing to roll up your sleeves and take on the
tough fights, there is no peril, no problem, no President that we can't
overcome.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
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