All eight of the state’s U.S. House members shared a stage Tuesday at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce’s congressional luncheon in Denver, where they touted bipartisanship but remained divided over issues like health care and energy.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at kunc.org.
The panel discussion spanned tariffs, the budget deficit, workforce challenges, the environment and energy policy, with much of it centered on the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, the sweeping federal tax and spending measure passed last month by Republicans and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
The state’s four Republican members of the U.S. House praised the measure while the four Democrats criticized various parts of it.The most significant partisan disagreements at the event were around the federal spending bill’s impacts on health care and energy.
Democrats on the panel said the law is going to kick people off their health insurance and could force some hospitals to close, especially in rural areas.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Aurora said “over 300,000 Coloradans are likely to lose their health care as a result of this,” warning that at least seven hospitals are at risk.
The Democrats also criticized the bill’s Medicaid work requirements, arguing the mandates will unfairly drop eligible people from coverage.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, noted that 93% of people on Medicaid or receiving federal tax credits are either working or otherwise exempt, and pointed to examples from states that tried similar requirements.
“The paperwork requirements were so high… that they fell off of Medicaid even though they were eligible,” DeGette said.
Republicans defended the work requirements.
“The only people that will get thrown off of health care are the people who refuse to go to work 20 hours a week,” Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs said, calling the so-called big, beautiful bill “a good bill” that cuts taxes and should prompt the state to trim spending.
But his Republican colleague Rep. Jeff Hurd also said that he would support extending federal subsidies for health insurance that expire at the end of this year in order to keep premiums from rising too sharply for Coloradans.
When it comes to energy production, Republicans commended the measure for supporting oil and gas production and what they consider “bringing balance back” to energy production.
“We have the mandate of drill, baby drill, and we want to do so effectively, safely, and of course, keep it clean,” Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said, calling for reduced federal regulations and expanded nuclear options. “We were under attack in our energy industry for the past four years.”
Democrats argued the big, beautiful bill does the opposite, taking balance out of the energy equation and instead focusing on fossil fuel production at the expense of renewables.
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse said he’s concerned the bill will create “regulatory uncertainty” that discourages clean energy development.
“I have no doubt that over the course of the next several years, you will see solar, wind projects here in our state that either do not come to fruition or are pulled back as a byproduct of the actions that were taken in that bill,” the Lafayette Democrat said, pointing to the phase-out of renewable energy tax credits as one reason.
The delegation did find common ground on some issues.
When asked about artificial intelligence, Democratic U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen and Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd agreed AI should be regulated by the federal government rather than states. They both expressed concern that by letting states take the lead, the country would end up with a patchwork of regulations that would be difficult for companies to navigate.
Hurd also said that while he and Neguse disagree overall on the big, beautiful bill, they shared the view that it should not include large-scale public land sales. He said they worked together to remove the provision from the final legislation.
Several of the members also agreed on the importance of keeping U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado and its benefits to the aerospace industry in the state.
The panel was moderated by CBS News Colorado political reporter Shaun Boyd.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.