National

Udall has indicated he will support Brennan’s confirmation

WASHINGTON — Senator Mark Udall helped break one major logjam over the nomination of John Brennan to serve as CIA Director.  He has been unable to help break the other. Read more »

The $982 billion package would fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year

WASHINGTON — Faced with the politically unappealing prospect of letting the doors of the federal government close later this month, all four House Republicans and one Democrat from Colorado Wednesday voted to keep them open for another half year at least. Read more »

Mental-health experts told committee members of large holes in the nation’s services and laws

WASHINGTON — Rep. Cory Gardner said changing a federal-health privacy law and state involuntary commitment laws would help avert mass shootings such as those that occurred in Littleton and Aurora, Colorado. Read more »

In the absence of federal guidance, Colorado officials have moved briskly on implementing a regulatory framework for marijuana

DENVER–Attorney General Eric Holder is coming under national and international pressure to nullify efforts in Colorado and Washington to authorize adult recreational marijuana use.

Nine former Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs and four ex-drug czars have urged the Senate Judiciary  Committee to quiz Holder when he appears before the committee Wednesday for an oversight hearing. Read more »

The Club for Growth did not intervene in any of the seven congressional races in Colorado last year

WASHINGTON — Cory Gardner of Yuma was ranked as the 57th most pro-growth member of the House of Representatives by the influential conservative interest group Club for Growth.  Scott Tipton of Cortez was ranked the 112th.

In a chamber with 435 members, being rated in the top quarter might be cause for a toast. Yet each Republican bristled when asked his reaction to the ranking. Read more »

CONFLICT? The romantic relationship between a Denver Post political reporter and the head of a environmental group should be disclosed publicly, two leading journalists said

WASHINGTON — The romantic relationship between the Denver Post‘s Washington correspondent and the head of an environmentalist interest group should be disclosed publicly, two leading journalists said.

Washington reporter Allison Sherry’s ties with the Center for Western Priorities’ Trevor Kincaid have been the subject of one blog post and off-the-record musings among Republican staff members in Colorado’s congressional delegation for years. But the propriety of a Washington reporter dating a political actor seeking to influnce members of Congress she covers has not been explored. Read more »

The Senate voted 58-41 Tuesday to approve the controversial nomination

WASHINGTON — With only hours to go before the U.S. Senate was slated to vote on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to serve as Secretary of Defense, Sen. Michael Bennet announced he would vote for the embattled nominee.

“Senator Bennet has received assurances that Senator Hagel would stand for Israel and our allies, work to strengthen Israel’s security, and is committeed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Adam Bozzi, a spokesman for the Colorado Democrat,  told KDVR Tuesday. Read more »

Hickenlooper talked about gun control, as well as immigration and the looming sequester during his appearance

DENVER—Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper reiterated his support Sunday for universal background checks on firearms purchases but stopped short of endorsing any of the other gun-control proposals now rolling through the Democratic legislature. Read more »

SURVEY:  More than 60 percent of likely voters say they want to see additional border enforcement

DENVER – By a large margin, likely voters believe that granting illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship will contribute to more illegal immigration in the future, according to the results of a recent Rasmussen Reports poll.  Survey respondents also disagreed with Obama administration claims that security along the U.S.-Mexico border has “never been stronger.”  Read more »

Six in ten likely voters prefer deficit reduction to more stimulus-style spending, according to a recent survey

DENVER – A majority of likely voters, 61 percent, say that cutting the federal deficit would do more to help the economy than would more spending on infrastructure, education and clean energy, according to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll.

The survey results suggest that most Americans are increasingly uneasy with growing deficits and remain skeptical about calls for more federal spending on green energy and “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects to stimulate a U.S economy that shrunk last quarter. Read more »