GARDNER’S WEEK OF FAILURE: Seven Years Ago Today, Gardner Voted To Defund the ACA (Again)
Denver, CO - Seven years ago to date, then-Representative Cory Gardner voted to defund the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This vote was one of at least 13 votes he has cast to defund, dismantle, or repeal the health care law which provides protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Gardner also supports his party’s lawsuit that would overturn the entire health care law, which the Supreme Court is set to hear one week after Election Day -- just don’t ask him about it.
Facing an uphill reelection battle and voters' disapproval of his crusade against the life-saving health care law, Gardner is trying to paper over his record of trying to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions with a “horse excrement” stunt bill that experts and advocates have widely debunked. Gardner is desperately running ads lying about health care that fact checkers have eviscerated, calling the claims he makes “FALSE.”
To see more how Gardner has failed Coloradans, visit CoryFailedColorado.com.
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TOMORROW: Gardner to Hold Secret Fundraiser With Known Racist & Anti-Choice Potential SCOTUS Pick Senator Tom Cotton
State Senator Rhonda Fields: “I believe that he should cancel this fundraiser that he's having. First of all, he's keeping it a secret Why? If you believe and endorse his opinions, say that out front.”
Cotton said “it’s time for Roe v. Wade to go” & has been by Gardner’s side crusading against the ACA
Denver, CO - Fox 31 and 9News report that Senator Cory Gardner is slated to host a private fundraiser with known racist and potential Supreme Court nominee Senator Tom Cotton on Monday. Vice chair of the Black Legislative Caucus State Senator Rhonda Fields is calling on Gardner to cancel the secret event. Earlier this year, Cotton came under fire for penning a New York Times op-ed called “Send in the troops,” supporting the silencing peaceful protestors with the aid of federal troops.
WATCH here:
Cotton recently called slavery a “necessary evil,” words that justify one of the darkest points of American history. Fields slammed Gardner for “keeping it a secret,” saying that “he should cancel this fundraiser that he's having” and “if [Gardner] believe[s] and endorse[s] his opinions, say that out front.”
After being named to President Trump’s short list to fill the U.S Supreme Court vacancy, Cotton said “it’s time for Roe v. Wade to go” — an overwhelmingly unpopular stance in Colorado. Gardner has already dodged several questions about whether he’ll adhere to the standard he set in 2016 and let the President elected in November appoint the next Justice.
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Cory Gardner Ducks & Dodges Questions on Supreme Court Vacancy
Refuses to Commit to Upholding His Own 2016 Standard
Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner has already dodged multiple questions about whether he’ll uphold his own standard and allow “the president who is elected in November [to] be the one who makes this decision” about a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
After refusing to comment repeatedly to multiple reporters, Gardner appeared at a live event in Grand Junction this afternoon and was asked directly if he stood by his words from 2016.
Gardner refused to answer.
Here’s what Coloradans are reading about Gardner’s silence on the lifetime appointment:
Denver Post: In first appearance after Ginsburg’s death, Gardner declines to say when justice should be replaced
Forty-five days before the fight of his political life, and one day after being thrust into a national spotlight by the death of a Supreme Court justice, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner addressed the high court’s vacancy for the first time Saturday but declined to say whether President Donald Trump should be able to choose the next justice.
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Gardner was asked by a Club 20 moderator Saturday whether he stands by what he said in 2016. He did not directly answer the question, saying instead that it’s too soon to discuss the Senate’s work and the political battles to come.
Fox31: Gardner dodges question about Ginsburg replacement, says there will be ‘plenty of time’ for politics
Sen. Cory Gardner avoided a question Saturday afternoon about whether the Senate should vote on a new Supreme Court justice before the upcoming presidential election… Gardner did not directly answer the question.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Gardner silent on replacement for Ginsburg
To date, Gardner has not said whether confirmation hearings should be held until after the election. He declined to answer a direct question on the matter during Saturday’s Club 20 debates in Grand Junction.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) avoided answering a question regarding when the Senate should vote to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday evening… Gardner was among Republicans who refused to hold a vote in the Senate on Garland's confirmation, reasoning that the president elected in November 2016 should select the nominee.
Gardner on Friday released a statement on Ginsburg’s death, calling her a “trailblazing leader.” But he didn’t address how he thinks Senate Republicans should handle replacing her. His spokespeople, both in his Senate office and for his reelection campaign, did not return multiple messages from The Colorado Sun seeking comment.
Colorado Politics: Gardner sidesteps question about whether he'd support replacing Ginsburg quickly
Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner on Saturday wouldn't say whether he stood by a position he took four years ago when he argued that the president elected in November should fill a Supreme Court vacancy after a justice died 10 months before the election.
Denver Post: Spotlight turns to Colorado’s Cory Gardner after Justice Ginsburg’s death
Following the death Friday of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one big question faces Republican Sen. Cory Gardner: Does he believe the Senate should fill her vacancy before the next inauguration day?
Gardner’s office and his campaign did not respond to requests for comment on that question Friday evening.
Colorado Politics: Gardner facing pressure over GOP plans to fill Supreme Court vacancy before election
Pressure mounted late Friday on Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner to say whether he supports plans by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold a vote before the election to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Gardner in 2016: “The Next President Ought to Choose The Supreme Court Nominee”
Gardner, 8 Months Before the 2016 Election: “Our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come.”
Denver, CO - In March 2016, Senator Cory Gardner fell in line with Mitch McConnell in refusing to take up President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, saying that “our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come.”
Now, after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tragically passed away, Gardner is faced with the question: Will he play by the rules he and McConnell made and let the next president make this lifetime appointment after the voters have their say? Or will he put his party ahead of Colorado and let Trump ram through a nominee who will decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act and so many other issues for generations to come?
Here’s the standard Gardner has set for himself on filling a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court:
Gardner Press Release: “The next president of the United States should have the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court...Our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process as the next Supreme Court Justice will influence the direction of this country for years to come.”
PBS: “Well, look, I think the next president ought to choose the Supreme Court nominee. And I think that is only fair to the nominee themselves. And I think that is only fair to the integrity of the Supreme Court. Now, this is a very serious issue. And I think it's what Joe Biden stated in 1992, what Chuck Schumer stated in 2007. The next president ought to be making this decision.”
Denver Post: “Asked his opinion about the high court vacancy, Gardner said the successor to the recently deceased Antonin Scalia ‘ought be chosen by the American people through the election of the next president… ‘Again, I think we’re too close to the election. The president who is elected in November should be the one who makes this decision.’”
Will Gardner honor the rules that he and Mitch McConnell made, or will he move the goalposts for his own political gain?
So far, he isn’t commenting.
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Colorado Dems Statement on the Passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Denver, CO - The Colorado Democratic Party released the following statement on the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was 87 years old.
Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party Morgan Carroll:
“I cannot begin to express how important and impactful Ruth Bader Ginsburg was to the empowerment of women in the workplace. As a graduate of CU Law and an attorney, I’ve always looked to Ginsburg as a source of inspiration. The ‘Notorious R.B.G.’, as so many called her, shattered the glass ceiling at a point in time when few women attended law school, and it was thanks to her fierce determination that women were guaranteed equal protection under the law via the 14th Amendment.
“Under her tenure as Justice, Ginsburg moved the ball forward for equal opportunity and protected the civil rights of the marginalized on so many decisions. From reproductive health, to marriage equality, to voting rights, to disability rights, Ginsburg’s impact on the course of our nation’s history will be felt for years to come. My heart is broken for her family and loved ones, and we grieve with them as our country mourns the loss of an icon, a titan, and one of the greatest legal minds our country will ever see.”
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Colorado Dems on Latest State Unemployment Figures
Denver, CO -- Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its state-specific jobs data showing that the unemployment rate in Colorado sits at 6.7% (compared to a record low 2.6% earlier this year) as a direct result of Donald Trump’s catastrophic mismanagement of the pandemic. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, “the state's economy is still down nearly 150,000 jobs from August 2019 — a 5.3% decline.”
In response, Colorado Democratic Party Spokesman David Pourshoushtari released the following statement:
“Donald Trump’s failure of leadership continues to crash our economy and cost Coloradans their lives and their livelihoods. If Trump hadn’t lied to the American people about the severity of the deadly virus and downplayed the pandemic from the start, Colorado families wouldn’t be facing a historic recession, catastrophic job losses that saw our unemployment rate more than double, and billions in devastating cuts to our state budget. Coloradans can’t afford another four years of Trump’s chaos and crisis, and that’s why they’ll elect proven leaders like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this fall.”
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GARDNER’S WEEK OF FAILURE: Six Years Ago, Gardner Voted To Sell Out Our Public Lands & Let Polluters Spew Waste Into Our Water
Denver, CO - Six years ago today, then-Representative Cory Gardner voted to sell off Colorado’s public lands for oil and gas drilling and give coal companies a free pass to spew waste into our rivers and streams. In his time in Washington, Gardner has made it his mission to prop up polluters and crusade against commonsense protections for our air, land, and water. Even the global pandemic hasn’t stopped Gardner’s crusade, as he has stood willingly by as the Trump Administration has given an “open license to pollute” and implemented “essentially a nationwide waiver of environmental rules..”
The Trump administration, with Gardner’s support, has unwound at least 100 environmental protections for our public lands, clean air, and clean water.
Gardner’s votes to sell out our public lands and give polluters a free pass are a few of the many anti-environmental votes that earned him an abysmal lifetime score of 11% from the League of Conservation Voters and a spot on their notorious “Dirty Dozen” list for the second time. Gardner is desperately trying to greenwash his record, but Coloradans won’t be fooled by the election-year stunt.
To see more how Gardner has failed Coloradans, visit CoryFailedColorado.com.
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NEW: Big Oil Admits They Oppose CORE Act, Gardner Is Doing Their Bidding in Washington
Gardner has previously dismissed CORE Act as “not a concern” & has been “unserious about the ‘CORE Act's’ fate”
Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner has been doing the bidding of Big Oil in his steadfast refusal to support the decades in the making Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy (CORE) Act. While many conservationists and environmentalists suspected it, a new report from Colorado Newsline confirms that the oil and gas industry “opposes the measure” that would protect 400,000 acres of public lands in Colorado and prevent drilling on landmark places like the Thompson Divide.
Gardner has refused to support the collaborative wilderness bill under the guise that he has edits, but the Senator’s “halfhearted” changes were “redundant,” “nonspecific, outside of the scope of the bill or not rooted in requests from Colorado,” showing he is “unserious about the ‘CORE Act’s’ fate.” Now we know his Big Oil donors -- who’ve donated at least $1.7 million to Gardner’s campaigns -- are likely whispering in his ear with their opposition.
Gardner is desperately trying to greenwash his abysmal environmental record that has earned him a lifetime score of 11% from the League of Conservation Voters, but his true anti-environment colors continue to shine through as he is still “blocking” the CORE Act in the Senate.
Read key points from Colorado Newsline below or the full story HERE:
Colorado Newsline: Sweeping federal protections inch closer for 400,000 acres of western Colorado public lands
CORE Act prohibitions would apply to oil and gas development
By Jacob Fischler | September 16, 2020
- The public lands package passed the House on its own last year, and again as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual measure that authorizes all defense programs and has passed every year since 1961.
- Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican in a tight re-election race this fall, has not taken a position on the bill. Neither Tipton nor Gardner returned requests for comment.
- “We’ve lobbied [Gardner] for years over it and have this sort of passive-aggressive response of he’s not blocking it,” said Mark Pearson, the executive director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance, a group that has advocated for public lands designations in the San Juan Mountains for nearly 20 years. “But he’s in the majority party in the Senate, so yes, he is blocking it.”Only 73,000 of the 400,000 acres covered by the bill would be designated wilderness, the most severe category of federal land protection that restricts virtually all development. But all of the affected lands would have new prohibitions that would apply to the oil and gas industry, which opposes the measure.
- Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, a Denver-based group representing about 300 energy companies, said in a statement the bill represents a false choice between conservation and production.
- The bill polls well in the areas it would affect. A survey last year sponsored by the San Juan Citizens Alliance showed about two-thirds of southern and western Colorado residents approve of the bill’s main concepts. In the same poll, 84% of respondents said public lands help the local economy.
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9NEWS: Gardner’s Health Care Lie “Is Like Telling Somebody You Are Going to Give Them an Umbrella and You Just Hand Them the Stick Part”
9NEWS: Gardner’s Health Care Lie “Is Like Telling Somebody You Are Going to Give Them an Umbrella and You Just Hand Them the Stick Part”
Despite experts & independent fact-checkers shredding Gardner’s bill that fails to protect people with pre-existing conditions, Gardner’s spox claims otherwise simply because Gardner “says” it does
Denver, CO - Last night, a 9News Truth Test took Senator Cory Gardner to task on his health care lie in his recent ad, saying that his stunt plan “is like telling somebody you are going to give them an umbrella and you just hand them the stick part.” The Truth Test comes just weeks after 9News exposed Gardner’s stunt bill as “horse excrement” and after experts continually called out the “political document” for not actually covering people with pre-existing conditions.
Despite the Kaiser Family Foundation, the former HHS Secretary, the former CMS Administrator, MSNBC, NBC News, and a slate of experts and advocates debunking Gardner’s 117-word stunt bill for *still* allowing insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, Gardner’s campaign argues otherwise -- essentially saying if Gardner says it, it must be true. Gardner’s only other “backup” for his bill comes from a McConnell-tied conservative dark money group.
We think Coloradans will trust real health care experts, not the guy who has been crusading to rip away our care for his entire political career.
Over the past few weeks, Gardner and his team have refused to own up to his record of opposing protections for people with pre-existing conditions and voting at least 13 times to repeal, gut, or defund the ACA without a real plan to protect the 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions. Gardner also supports the GOP’s lawsuit to overturn the ACA in the middle of a pandemic -- just don’t ask him about it.
Watch 9News’ Kyle Clark and Marshall Zelinger expose Gardner’s sham bill, again:
KYLE CLARK: “Politicians will use all sorts of things as shields to keep from getting criticized, wrap their ideas and patriotism or little kids or puppies are whatever. Politics guy Marshall Zelinger has to sort through that. To tell you the truth, even when it is as awkward as a truth test in an ad involving a senator's mother's medical history. We want her to enjoy good health. And we want you to know the truth.
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MARSHALL ZELINGER:This is not true. If Obamacare were to be repealed, insurance companies would not necessarily be required to take you on in the first place...As we've told you in two previous truth tests, Gardner has a history of voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act or limit its funding requiring coverage for preexisting conditions currently exists under the Affordable Care Act.
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CLARK: So, Marshall, first off, God bless Cory Gardner's mom. Second, just to recap, Senator Gardner’s plan to cover preexisting conditions allows insurance companies to reject you in the first place for having a preexisting condition?
ZELINGER: It just doesn't require an insurance company to take you on in the first place.
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CLARK : It is like telling somebody you are going to give them an umbrella and you just hand them the stick part. All right. Thank you, Marshall.
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GARDNER’S WEEK OF FAILURE: Six Years Ago Today, Gardner Voted Against Raising The Minimum Wage, For Leaving Student Loan Borrowers Out to Dry
The Colorado Democratic Party is launching a new series highlighting Gardner’s failures & allegiance to special interests to mark anniversaries of Gardner voting against Colorado
Denver, CO - Six years ago to date, then-Representative Cory Gardner voted against raising the minimum wage to even $8.20 and against allowing student loan borrowers to refinance and save money, a move in line with his agenda to protect large corporations and special interests instead of hard-working Coloradans. Starting today, the Colorado Democratic Party will be reminding Coloradans and Gardner about a series of votes that show he has failed Coloradans.
Including his vote six years ago today against even slightly raising the minimum wage for hard-working Americans, Gardner has been a reliable puppet for wealthy special interests and President Trump at the expense of working Coloradans, playing a “key role” pushing through a trillion-dollar tax giveaway to the wealthy and big corporations.
In addition to voting against a much-needed raise in the minimum wage, Gardner also shot down legislation to allow student loan borrowers to refinance and save money. While an astonishing 761,000 Coloradans owe $26 billion in student loan debt, Gardner has opposed efforts to make college more affordable and has stood by Betsy DeVos as she cut debt relief for students, proposed cutting billions more from student loan forgiveness and Pell grants, and cruelly collected on defaulted borrowers’ loans during the pandemic.
To see more how Gardner has failed Coloradans, visit CoryFailedColorado.com.
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TWINS: Gardner & Trump Spew Same Health Care Lie On Same Day
FIRST: Gardner launched ad lying on health care & his “horse excrement” stunt bill that allows insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions
THEN: On a ABC News townhall, Trump blatantly lied to a voter about his crusade to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, leaving her “fuming"
Denver, CO - Yesterday, President Trump and Senator Cory Gardner both spewed the same lie about their toxic health care records to try to paper over their joint crusade to gut coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Gardner is using a 117-word stunt bill that has been debunked six ways to Sunday by experts for “expressly allow[ing] insurance companies to deny” coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Fact-checkers call the bill “horse excrement” and advocates say Gardner is trying to deceive voters about his record of voting at least 13 times to repeal, gut, or defund the Affordable Care Act.
Spewing the same lies, Trump is trying to paper over the current lawsuit that he and Gardner support to overturn the ACA -- and could gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions -- in the middle of a pandemic, which the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear the week after the election. On a ABC News town hall, Trump lied to a voter with a pre-existing condition about his abysmal record on the issue and lack of health care plan, leaving the voter “fuming” after Trump’s “complete reversal of reality.”
Trump and Gardner have both earned “four Pinocchios” from the Washington Post for falsely claiming that they will protect people with pre-existing conditions.
Since Gardner unveiled his false TV ad, MSNBC and NBC News joined the chorus of news outlets, healthcare experts, and advocates calling out Gardner’s desperate attempt to “obscure” his record of fighting to rip health care from Coloradans.
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EDITORIAL: “The Trump and Gardner (Green)washing Machine”
“Gardner has a Senate track record that will continue to be difficult to defend”
Gardner “has given his confirmation vote to all of Trump’s anti-science, anti-environment wrecking balls”
Denver, CO - The Colorado Springs Independent is out with a new editorial slamming Senator Cory Gardner and President Trump for their desperate attempts to greenwash their abysmal environmental records. The editorial board writes that Gardner -- who “has a Senate track record that will continue to be difficult to defend” and earned himself an 11% lifetime score from League of Conservation Voters and a spot on their “Dirty Dozen” list -- “has given his confirmation vote to all of Trump’s anti-science, anti-environment wrecking balls.”
Gardner’s election-year greenwashing has already come under scrutiny after his deceptively titled ad “Both Parties” was exposed for using two registered Republicans, including a disgraced former Colorado Division of Parks head who was ousted from the agency after a corruption scandal, and a “hollow shell” phony environmental organization that real environmental organizations have “never heard of.” That group was started using taxpayer money, which has put Gardner’s campaign “under fire.”
Read highlights below or the full editorial HERE.
EDITORIAL: Colorado Springs Independent: The Trump and Gardner (green)washing machine
By Colorado Springs Independent Editorial Board | September 16, 2020
Only 47 more days until the election, and for some officeholders — specifically President Donald Trump and Sen. Cory Gardner — the polls aren’t looking all that rosy. They’re both fighting uphill battles for the hearts and minds of environmental voters, so they’ve engaged in a bit of last-minute greenwashing. That’s the deceptive technique used most frequently by corporations to convince shoppers of their products’ pro-environment bona fides — everything from cookware to flushable wipes. Think of it as the spin cycle of their (green)washing machine. And it works so well that politicians have added it to their PR arsenals.
If these weren’t such perilous times for the planet, it would be kind of amusing to watch Gardner and Trump turn themselves inside out trying to look all Earth-friendly. But with the world — especially the Western United States — on fire right now, it’s not funny... at all.
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But here’s what you can believe: Donald Trump is a profoundly anti-science president who has worked to roll back 100 of the nation’s environmental protection rules. In its 2020 Dirty Dozen list of candidates “who consistently side against the environment,” the League of Conservation Voters named Trump “The Dirtiest of All Time.”
Trump and Gardner both used the August passage of the Great American Outdoors Act to pump up their environmental records. The GAOA (finally) invests in the Land and Water Conservation Fund and starts to address the national parks’ maintenance backlog. Trump thanked Gardner for championing the legislation, Gardner thanked Trump for signing it, and both took the greenwashing points.
And Gardner needed them.
The senator, after all, has a lifetime pro-environment score of 11 percent from the League of Conservation Voters and made the LCV’s Dirty Dozen list this year. He has given his confirmation vote to all of Trump’s anti-science, anti-environment wrecking balls — from the disgraced Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency to his replacement, former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, and from disgraced Ryan Zinke at the Department of the Interior, to his ethics-challenged replacement, oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt.
Gardner’s shallow enviro record — and his attempt to make it seem deep and profound — was on display in a recent campaign ad titled “Both Parties.” Designed to show bipartisan approval of his stewardship, the ad lets voters hear from two pro-Gardner constituents. One, Larry Kramer, is identified in (Democratic) blue as a former deputy director of Colorado State Parks, though he’s actually a registered Republican and GOP stalwart.
The other face on camera is Alexandra Killey (whose credentials appear on-screen in Republican red), founder of Wild for Colorado LLC, which turns out to be a shell organization of the greenwashing variety. Media outlets outed Killey, who is a legislative aide to GOP state Sen. Paul Lundeen.
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Gardner has a Senate track record that will continue to be difficult to defend.
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As Hispanic Heritage Month Begins, Colorado Latina Leaders Highlight the Challenges Colorado Latinx Families Are Facing Under Trump
Today, as Hispanic Heritage Month begins, former Chair of the Democratic Caucus of the Colorado House of Representatives and the first Latina elected to the Colorado State Senate Polly Baca, Representative Bri Buentello, and former Colorado Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration Patricia Barela Rivera released the following joint statement to highlight the challenges that Colorado’s Latinx families are facing as a result of the Trump administration’s failed pandemic response.
“Today, as we celebrate the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month and the extraordinary contributions that Hispanic and Latinx Americans have made to Colorado and the United States, we must also acknowledge the terrible toll that the coronavirus crisis is taking on Latinx communities.
“This Hispanic Heritage Month, the consequences of Donald Trump’s chaotic pandemic response have been thrown into sharp relief as Latinos in Colorado and across the country bear the brunt of his failures. Under Trump, Latinos are facing staggering job losses, shuttering small businesses, and higher coronavirus infection and death rates.
“Meanwhile, Latinas continue to serve as the backbone of our communities and on the frontlines of the fight against the virus as essential workers. But thanks to Trump’s failures, we’re also enduring some of the highest rates of unemployment among any group, a lack of affordable child care, and relentless attacks on our health care. It’s disgraceful.
“In this moment of crisis, Latinx families need leaders who will invest in our communities, fight to expand economic opportunity, and treat us with the dignity we deserve. That’s Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. When we elect Joe and Kamala this fall, Latinx families will have allies in the White House once again who respect our heritage, our culture, and our communities.”
BACKGROUND ON TRUMP’S FAILED RECORD WITH LATINOS
Trump’s failed pandemic response made the economic and public health fallout worse, particularly for Latinos who are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus crisis.
- According to the CDC, Latinx residents have been three times as likely to contract COVID-19 as white residents, and twice as likely to die.
- Latinos are facing disproportionate job losses during the pandemic, and the number of working Latinx business owners dropped over 30% from February to April.
- As Trump failed to mount a serious response to the coronavirus, unemployment has been particularly high for Latinx workers and business owners. As of August, Latinx unemployment was 10.5%.
Instead of bringing wage growth and job creation to Latinx communities, Trump has made it harder for Latinos to succeed.
- Job creation for Hispanic Americans has slowed under Trump.
- Latinos were disproportionately left out on the benefits from Trump’s tax law, and many will actually face higher taxes by 2027.
- Trump’s decision to rescind DACA and eliminate protections for TPS recipients could devastate Latinx communities and the entire U.S. economy.
Trump failed to address racial disparities present in the coronavirus pandemic and botched the rollout of aid to Latinx small business owners.
- Latinx people in the U.S. have been disproportionately infected, hospitalized, and killed by the coronavirus that Trump has failed to contain.
- Latinx-owned businesses suffered as the Trump administration botched the delivery of assistance to small businesses hurt by the coronavirus.
Trump’s attacks on health care have disproportionately affected Latinx communities.
- Trump’s health care sabotage jeopardizes significant gains among Latinx communities. Even during the pandemic, he’s continuing his effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
Trump has repeatedly stoked racial and cultural divisions to demonize Latinos.
- As president, Trump said undocumented immigrants were “invading” and “infesting” our country. He said our immigration policy should be “you can’t come in.”
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NBC News: Gardner Running False Ad on Pre-Existing Conditions, A Claim “At Odds With [His] Own Recent Votes and Policy Positions”
Kaiser Family Foundation: “Gardner's bill ‘contains a giant loophole’ because insurance companies can simply ‘deny coverage altogether to people with pre-existing conditions’”
“Gardner campaign spokesman Meghan Graf didn't respond when asked if Gardner still favors ACA repeal, or why his bill doesn't include the guaranteed issue provision. She wouldn’t say whether Gardner supports a lawsuit backed by the Trump administration to invalidate the ACA.”
Denver, CO - After Senator Cory Gardner launched an ad lying about his health care record today, a new report from NBC News slammed Gardner for desperately trying to “obscure” his record of crusading against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and introducing an 11th-hour hollow bill that would not cover people with pre-existing conditions. Gardner is leaning on his “horse excrement” 117-word stunt health care bill in his latest ad, even though experts have shredded the bill as a “political document” since it still allows insurers to “deny coverage altogether to people with pre-existing conditions.”
NBC News reports Gardner’s pre-existing condition claims are “at odds with [his] own recent votes and policy positions.”
To no surprise, Gardner’s team refused to own up to the stunt bill, and “didn't respond” when pressed on the vulnerable senator’s shameful record trying to gut the ACA or his support for the Trump-administration’s lawsuit to repeal the health care law in the middle of the pandemic.
Gardner has voted at least 13 times to repeal, gut, or defund the ACA without a real plan to protect the 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions. Before he was elected to the Senate in 2014, Gardner was asked if health care reform should require coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. He responded, “no.”
Read the highlights below or full articles HERE.
NBC: Republican senators in tough races obscure their position on pre-existing conditions
Sens. Gardner, Perdue, McSally and Daines are all running ads proclaiming support for the protections despite voting to repeal Obamacare and weaken them.
By Sahil Kapurl | September 15, 2020
WASHINGTON — Republican senators facing tough re-election fights this fall are expressing support for insurance protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, running ads at odds with their own recent votes and policy positions.
The latest example came Tuesday when Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who has voted repeatedly to repeal the Obamacare law that established those federal protections, released an emotional ad in which he sits with his mother and discusses her successful battle with cancer.
"Cory wrote the bill to guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions — forever," she says, looking directly at the camera.
"No matter what happens to Obamacare," the senator adds.
But experts say the bill he cites doesn't do that.
Gardner is one of several Republicans to obscure their record on preexisting conditions as rising public support for Obamacare turns the issue into a liability for senators who have voted to repeal it.
Republican senators are fighting to maintain control of the chamber, and that has left many telling voters they favor the most popular provisions after they backed legislation that would have chipped away at the protections in the 2010 law. The replacement plans they've supported fall short of fully restoring those rules, say health policy experts.
"When you're in retreat it's best to do it slowly and not make it look like a complete spin around," said Tom Miller, a health policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Gardner’s 117-word-long legislation would require insurers "not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion" or "factor health status into premiums or charges.” The bill was introduced in August and has never received a hearing or a vote.
Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, said Gardner's bill "contains a giant loophole" because insurance companies can simply "deny coverage altogether to people with pre-existing conditions."
The current rules, created through the Affordable Care Act, include “guaranteed issue,” meaning insurance companies have to sell policies to people regardless of health status, Levitt said in an email.
"The Gardner bill leaves out that requirement, meaning that insurers could deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, as they commonly did in the individual insurance market before the ACA," he said.
Gardner campaign spokesman Meghan Graf didn't respond when asked if Gardner still favors ACA repeal, or why his bill doesn't include the guaranteed issue provision. She wouldn’t say whether Gardner supports a lawsuit backed by the Trump administration to invalidate the ACA.
Miller said GOP senators are running these ads because they can read polls that show pre-existing condition rules are popular and "don't want to get crosswise" with voters.
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"I don't think a lot of Republicans have thought deeply and consistently about how to do that because that takes work. It's heavy lifting and it requires trade-offs," Miller said.
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Miller, of AEI, thinks Republicans are doing what in military terms is known as "advance to the rear," suggesting they are retreating while claiming otherwise.
"A lot has changed since the rhetorical barking in opposition [to Obamacare] from 2009 to 2016, and even in the ambitions of what they'd do legislatively since 2017," Miller said.
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FACT CHECK: New Gardner Ad Lies on Health Care & His “Horse Excrement” Stunt Bill That *Still* Allows Insurance Companies to Deny Coverage
Gardner has voted at least 13 times to dismantle, defund, or repeal the ACA without a real replacement that would protect people with pre-existing conditions
Cancer survivor Laura Packard: “Your bill is a sham and you know it. I’m a stage four cancer survivor & you have voted again and again to strip health care from me and hundreds of thousands of Coloradans like me. Now you’re trying to cover up your own record.”
Denver, CO - Senator Cory Gardner is leaning on his “horse excrement” 117-word stunt health care bill in his latest ad to try to distract from his record of fighting his whole career to gut coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Health care experts have shredded his stunt bill for “expressly allow[ing] insurance companies to deny” coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Gardner has voted at least 13 times to dismantle, defund, or repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and supports the Republican lawsuit to overturn the ACA in the middle of a pandemic, which the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear the week after the election.
“Senator Cory Gardner has built his career trying to rip health care from hundreds of thousands of Coloradans and eliminate protections for millions of people with pre-existing conditions,” said Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen. “Gardner’s latest ad based on his sham 117-word bill that allows insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions is a disgusting and dishonest election-year stunt to deceive voters on his real record of voting to take away health care, and Coloradans won’t be fooled.”
Gardner’s “nonsense” stunt bill that allows insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions has been slammed by health care experts and advocates in Colorado and across the country -- including the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, Protect Our Care, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, the former CMS Administrator, University of Michigan health care law expert, Planned Parenthood, Third Way, and two separate independent fact-checkers.
Get the facts on Gardner’s healthcare record HERE or below:
CORY GARDNER OPPOSES PROTECTIONS FOR PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
- Gardner has voted at least 13 times to repeal, gut, or defund the Affordable Care Act without a real plan to protect the 2.4 million Coloradans with pre-existing conditions.
- Before he was elected to the Senate in 2014, Gardner was asked if health care reform should require coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. He responded, “no.”
- Gardner’s previous claims that he supports protecting people with pre-existing conditions earned him “four Pinocchios” from the Washington Post for misleading Coloradans.
- Even during this summer’s coronavirus pandemic, Gardner said he “do[es] not support universal health care.”
- Gardner believes the ACA is “unconstitutional” and supports the Trump Administration-backed lawsuit to overturn the health care law and its protections, which include coverage for prescription drugs and mental health care, Medicaid expansion, funding for rural hospitals and much more.
- When Congress failed to repeal the ACA three years ago, Gardner despaired that “donors are furious… we haven’t kept our promise” and helped lead efforts to pass the GOP tax scam, which sparked the current U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit to repeal the ACA.
- Over 400,000 Coloradans gained coverage under Medicaid expansion, and another half-million may rely on Medicaid to get through the coronavirus pandemic. But Gardner voted to repeal the expansion.
- Gardner’s U.S. Senate website even touts repealing the ACA, saying “Fixing our healthcare system will require repealing the Affordable Care Act”.
- Gardner has voted to confirm every single one of Trump and McConnell’s anti-healthcare judges, including vocal ACA opponent and Mitch McConnell’s “protégé,” Justin Walker.
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NEW POLL: Hick Leads Gardner 10 Points, Coloradans Overwhelmingly Describe Gardner As “Cowardly”
Gardner’s unwavering loyalty to Trump & special interests ahead of Coloradans seen as “significantly more accurate and more concerning than” smears against Hickenlooper
Denver, CO - A new Global Strategy Group poll has John Hickenlooper 10 points ahead of Senator Cory Gardner, whom Coloradans overwhelmingly describe as “cowardly” for refusing to stand up to Trump’s attacks on USPS. Voters also believed Gardner is deceptive and prioritizes his loyalty to President Trump and his special interest donors ahead of standing up for our state.
While Gardner and Mitch McConnell continue to spend millions to push lies against Hickenlooper, Coloradans see through the mudslinging and find Gardner’s allegiance to Trump “more accurate and more concerning” than the Republicans’ smear campaign.
Other takeaways from this grim poll for Gardner:
- "Perceptions of Gardner as a two-faced Trump lackey harden” as they share a failing approval rating of 38%.
- Gardner is underwater by 12% with Colorado voters, with 50% of voters having an unfavorable opinion of the vulnerable Senator.
- Coloradans overwhelmingly believe that Gardner has pledged unwavering loyalty to Trump and special interests ahead of Coloradans.
- Coloradans have noticed Gardner’s silence on pressing issues and unwillingness to stand up to the president he endorsed for re-election.
- In their own words, Coloradans “overwhelmingly choose the word ‘cowardly’ when asked to describe Gardner’s refusal to take a position” on Trump’s attacks on the USPS:
The Global Strategy Group poll comes just weeks after Morning Consult released a poll that shows Gardner trailing 29 points to Hickenlooper with unaffiliated voters, who make up more than 40% of the state’s electorate. Gardner’s favorability and support has consistently been underwater this campaign and even Republican strategists admit that it could be “impossible for Cory to win.”
CNN: McConnell Pulls Strings on Gardner’s Reelection Bid, Helps Him Greenwash “to Cut Campaign Ads”
McConnell “reviews every” deceiving TV ad, gives “counsel and advice to [Gardner] about the messaging”
Denver, CO - A new CNN report reveals that in a desperate attempt to hold the Senate majority, Mitch McConnell is micromanaging Senator Cory Gardner’s messaging, personally approving ads that support him, and even admitted to doling out political favors for the vulnerable Senator who’s been a reliable ally to big-money corporate interests.
While it was widely suspected before, McConnell came clean and admitted that the Great American Outdoors Act was a mere political favor to “help Cory,” so he can “cut campaign ads.” McConnell is desperately trying to paper over Gardner’s record of “supporting Trump and his anti-conservation agenda at seemingly every turn,” but nothing can hide Gardner’s lifetime score of 11% from the League of Conservation Voters and spot on their signature “Dirty Dozen” list.
McConnell’s stunning admission also shows that Gardner could theoretically use his imperiled position to get legislation that helps Colorado across the finish line, but instead has chosen to fall in line with his party bosses and fail to deliver COVID relief, pass the CORE Act, and act on cannabis reform for Coloradans.
McConnell also “reviews every ad that hits the airwaves...on a daily basis, providing counsel and advice to [Gardner] about the messaging,” more proof that Gardner is a loyal footsoldier to his party boss, not working for Coloradans.
The report also reveals that GOP members admitted their partisan “skinny” COVID bill had “virtually no chance of becoming law,” but McConnell pursued it “to insulate his vulnerable members from the onslaught of Democratic attacks,” instead of actually trying to deliver for struggling Coloradans. To no surprise, Gardner made a stink about it on the floor and followed McConnell’s lead.
While Coloradans are struggling to put food on the table, pay rent, and stay healthy, Gardner is playing political games in Washington and following orders from Mitch McConnell.
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Colorado Dems Statement Observing the 19th Anniversary of September 11
Denver, CO - Today, the Colorado Democratic Party released the following statement observing the 19th anniversary of 9/11:
Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party Morgan Carroll:
“In one of our country’s darkest hours, it was our nation’s first responders who ran to the front to defend our people. 19 years ago, in the single deadliest act of terrorism in history, we in Colorado watched in horror as thousands of our fellow Americans in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania lost their lives. We would have lost more, were it not for our brave first responders. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, and we must never forget.
Today, we face a new threat in COVID-19, and it is once again our first responders who are working to keep our communities and our people safe and healthy. We at the Colorado Democratic Party remain forever grateful to them for their service, as we know that in whatever challenge our country faces tomorrow and in the years to come, it will always be our first responders who will be at the frontline to protect us.”
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UPDATE: Gardner “Did Not Respond” to Questions on Trump Purposefully Downplaying “Deadly” Pandemic
After the damning report that President Trump admitted he purposefully downplayed the pandemic even as he knew that COVID was "deadly,” CNN reports that Senator Cory Gardner “did not respond” to questions on the president’s stunning admission. Silence is a response that Coloradans have become accustomed to, as Gardner again shows he is not willing to stand up to his party -- like he notoriously said he would -- and instead shows his unwavering support for Trump “100%” of the time.
See below for more on how Gardner and Trump threw caution into the wind, holding a rally with thousands of people weeks after Trump admitted the pandemic was “deadly.”
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Eli Rosen <eli@coloradodems.org>
Date: Wed, Sep 9, 2020 at 1:48 PM
Subject: BREAKING: Trump Knew COVID Was “Deadly,” Then Held Campaign Rally With Gardner While Ignoring Pandemic
To: Eli Rosen <eli@coloradodems.org>
CNN Headline: “'Play it down': Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus in new Woodward book”
Gardner in March: “The president took unprecedented action at the very front end of coronavirus”
Denver, CO - A breaking CNN report on Bob Woodward’s new book reveals that President Trump admitted that he knew that COVID was "deadly” in early February, but still held an in-person rally two weeks later with Senator Cory Gardner, at which he exclaimed the Gardner has been with him “100%.” While the virus was already spreading across the country, Trump admitted on tape he wanted to “play it down” and conceal information from the public likely for political reasons.
To no surprise, Coloradans have yet to hear a peep from No Comment Cory on the damning report on the president he endorsed for re-election.
Despite widespread reporting that the Trump administration failed to take early action against COVID, in March Gardner said “the president took unprecedented action at the very front end of coronavirus.” While it is widely known that the Trump Administration “openly disdain[s]” science and is working to “distort reality” for political purposes, Gardner has refused to answer questions on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, even snapping at a reporter, abruptly ending a call with constituents, and running away from a scientist who tried to ask him about the pandemic just last week.
Despite infamously saying he would speak out when his party is wrong, Gardner has refused to call out the president’s dangerous mismanagement of this crisis at every turn.
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Gardner’s “Skinny” COVID Bill Slashes Emergency Unemployment Insurance, Leaves Coloradans Out to Dry
After month-long recess & four months of ignoring House-passed COVID relief, Gardner & GOP set to vote on stunt legislation that falls short
Colorado Sentinel Editorial: “Democrats are right about the meager and latent GOP Senate plan: It’s not enough. Not by far.”
Denver, CO - After Senator Cory Gardner and Mitch McConnell let emergency unemployment relief to expire as Coloradans are “crushed under the weight” of the pandemic, they took a month-long recess to campaign and now plan to vote on a stunt bill that is too little, too late for working families, unemployed Coloradans, the USPS, and our struggling local governments.
The Gardner-supported stunt bill slashes emergency unemployment insurance in half, leaves our state and local governments out to dry, and lacks sufficient funding for the USPS while failing to provide cash relief or rental assistance to Coloradans. The Colorado Municipal League is begging Gardner to “understand that now is the time to assist state and local governments” as they are facing “cuts in programs, cuts in personnel.”
The Colorado Sentinel editorial board says the bill is “not enough. Not by far.”
Gardner’s latest stunt comes 113 days after the senator infamously said it would be “unfathomable” for Congress to leave Washington without further action, four months after the House passed sweeping pandemic aid, weeks of “infighting” among the GOP, and a month-long recess.
Senator Michael Bennet slammed the bill, saying that Senate Republicans “put forward a half measure that’s coming months too late for working families” and the Senate should be working “in earnest and support American families through this crisis.” After hearing directly from Coloradans on a virtual event, John Hickenlooper said “we don’t have the time for dragging out the negotiations” and called for real action.
Colorado Democratic Party spokesperson Eli Rosen:
“Mitch McConnell and Senator Cory Gardner wasted months, skipped town for a month-long recess, and now are considering a partisan, inadequate proposal that slashes emergency unemployment aid, doesn’t help Coloradans struggling to make rent and fails hamstrung state and local governments that don’t have the money to keep our fire departments and other public services running. Coloradans are depending on Senator Gardner for help but he has failed us again.”
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