State & Federal Update – November 14, 2024

It’s Thursday, November 14, 2024. The 2025 General Assembly will convene on Wednesday, Jan. 8^th – just 55 days away. 

These updates are curated from multiple news sources and designed to be a “choose-your-own-adventure.” Please read any coverage of interest and skip anything you deem to be irrelevant. Hyperlinks are provided to add additional context. With the 24/7 news-cycle I hope to keep us all in the loop on items we may want to know about or better understand. Please feel free to share if you think someone outside FGMC needs to be aware of this information.

Disclaimer – The news and articles contained within this update do not represent any political positions or policy opinions of Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher, LLP. This update is designed for informational purposes only.

In the wake of last week’s election, it has been a VERY busy news cycle. Here we go…

Today’s Big Three Things-To-Know:

1. Denver’s budget gets the thumbs up. This week the Denver City Council unanimously approved a $4.4 billion budget for the city in 2025, reflecting a conservative approach to spending. The approved budget includes $1.76 billion in general fund expenditures, which is a modest 0.6% increase over the $1.75 billion allocated for city services this year. According to Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration, this marks the smallest growth in spending since 2011, excluding the years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This cautious budget reflects broader economic challenges, particularly the slowdown in consumer spending. With more than half of the city’s revenue coming from sales taxes, the budget also includes limits on hiring across most city departments. In a statement, Mayor Johnston acknowledged the economic realities and expressed gratitude to the council for its support. “The city budget reflects our values and priorities,” Johnston said. “Even in a slower economic environment, we’ve crafted a budget that will foster a vibrant, affordable, and safe Denver.” Key priorities in the budget include a $60 million investment to create or preserve nearly 1,400 affordable housing units, as well as $58 million dedicated to economic development efforts, including support for local entrepreneurs and minority-owned businesses. The budget approval comes after a lengthy Denver City Council hearing last week on proposed budget amendments. Councilmembers Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis, and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez put forward 12 amendments, but none were approved, with four of them eventually being withdrawn.
2. There’s a new sheriff in town – the U.S. Senate gets new leadership, and the U.S. House stays red. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has been elected as the new Senate majority leader, positioning him to succeed the retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has held the top Senate GOP leadership role for the past 18 years. Thune, who has served as Senate Republican whip—the No. 2 position in the GOP leadership—since 2019, has largely overseen Senate operations since McConnell suffered a concussion from a fall in 2023. Thune is widely respected among his Senate Republican colleagues, known for his approachable and humble leadership style, which has helped him build strong trust within the conference. He made his bid for the leadership role shortly after McConnell announced in February that he would step down at the end of the year. Over the past eight months, Thune’s primary challenger for the position has been Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a seasoned fundraiser and former Senate Republican whip from 2013 to 2019. While new Republican leadership takes over in the Senate, Republicans are poised to also maintain their majority in the U.S. House, positioning the party to potentially implement significant policy changes over the next two years. A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. As of early Thursday, the AP had called 208 seats for Democrats, with nine still undecided.
3. The Trump cabinet takes shape. President-elect Donald J. Trump has swiftly started to build his team for a potential second term, selecting individuals for key cabinet and senior positions. The cabinet traditionally includes at least 16 roles: the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments. Additionally, presidents have the discretion to elevate other officials, such as the White House chief of staff, to cabinet-level positions. In the days following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, allies praised his transition effort as much more disciplined compared to his first post-victory period in 2016. However, that perception quickly shifted after a chaotic 24-hour period. It began with Trump’s selection of Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary on Tuesday night, followed by the surprising appointment of former Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence on Wednesday, and culminated with his choice of incendiary Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general later that same day.

Here is a summary of the individuals announced for key roles in Trump’s administration transition (so far):

Senate Confirmation Required (9 out of 24 announced):

• Marco Rubio – Secretary of State: Florida senator, former 2016 presidential candidate, and Trump rival.
• Matt Gaetz – Attorney General: Florida congressman, Trump ally, controversial due to past investigations.
• Robert F, Kennedy Jr. – HHS Secretary: Anti-vaccine activists and environmental lawyer,
• Pete Hegseth – Defense Secretary: Fox News host, Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.
• Kristi Noem – Homeland Security Secretary: South Dakota governor, Trump loyalist, vice-presidential speculation.
• John Ratcliffe – CIA Director: Former Texas congressman, Trump’s first DNI.
• Tulsi Gabbard – Director of National Intelligence: Former Democratic congresswoman, Iraq war vet, Trump ally.
• Lee Zeldin – EPA Administrator: Former Long Island congressman, 2022 gubernatorial candidate, climate policy critic.
• Elise Stefanik – U.N. Ambassador: Republican House member from New York, Trump supporter, limited foreign policy experience.

No Senate Confirmation Required (12 named):

• JD Vance – Vice President: Ohio senator, former venture capitalist, author of Hillbilly Elegy, and former Trump critic turned ally.
• Susie Wiles – Chief of Staff: Trump campaign manager for 2024, long career in Republican politics.
• James Blair – Deputy Chief of Staff: Former Trump campaign political director, RNC official.
• Taylor Budowich – Deputy Chief of Staff: Former pro-Trump super PAC leader, communications strategist.
• Sergio Gor – Presidential Personnel Office: Trump fam book publisher, Donald Trump Jr. ally, former Rand Paul staffer.
• Stephen Miller – Deputy Chief of Staff: Former senior aide, immigration hard-liner, returns as homeland security adviser.
• Dan Scavino – Deputy Chief of Staff: Former social media director, close Trump ally.
• Thomas Homan – Border Czar: Former senior immigration official, focused on deportations and border enforcement.
• Michael Waltz – National Security Adviser: Former Green Beret, Florida congressman, hawk on China and Iran.
• Bill McGinley – White House Counsel: Former cabinet secretary, legal adviser during Trump’s first term.
• Elon Musk – Department of Government Efficiency Co-Head: Tesla and SpaceX CEO, influential Trump supporter.
• Vivek Ramaswamy – Department of Government Efficiency Co-Head: Entrepreneur, former presidential candidate, Trump ally.

Transition Officials (2 named):

• Howard Lutnick – Transition Co-Chair: CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, former Democrat turned Republican.
• Linda McMahon – Transition Co-Chair: Former SBA head, major Trump donor, ex-professional wrestling executive.

***Bonus Story – The scuffle and kerfuffle about Senate confirmation. Over the weekend, Donald Trump took to social media, urging Republicans to choose a new Senate majority leader who would be willing to call recesses, enabling him to make unilateral appointments and bypass the confirmation process. His supporters quickly voiced their approval, putting added pressure on GOP lawmakers to comply. This push to undermine the Senate’s constitutional role in confirming presidential appointments underscores Trump’s authoritarian instincts. While there may be no immediate legal hurdle to his proposal, it would represent an extraordinary break from constitutional traditions. There is no precedent in U.S. history for the Senate deliberately abandoning its duty to assess and approve or reject presidential nominees for key government positions. 

So, is it legal? Yes. Would it be a big deal for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility? Yes, a massive deal. 

***Dive Deeper – Recess appointees who take office without Senate confirmation hold the full powers of their positions until the end of the next Senate session. Since each congressional session typically lasts a year, an individual appointed by Trump in early 2025 could remain in office until the end of 2026. The Constitution generally requires the president to seek Senate approval for key appointments to ensure that unqualified individuals do not fill important government roles. However, in the early years of the republic, when travel was largely done by horse and the Senate often went months without meeting, there was a practical need for the president to temporarily fill vacancies when Congress was not in session. To address this, the framers included a provision in the Constitution allowing presidents to make temporary appointments during Senate recesses. While the recess appointment clause was designed for a time when the Senate could not easily be convened, it has become an outdated relic in the modern era, as the Senate now meets year-round and can be quickly called into session when needed. Despite its outdated purpose, the clause remains a part of the Constitution.

Buckle up – only 67 days until Inauguration Day. And now, more news…

Around the city…Denver OKs $1.7 billion budget with millions in business aid.

According to DBJ, the Denver City Council unanimously approved the Mile High City’s budget for 2025 on Monday, investing millions of dollars to support businesses across the city.

The overall budget funds $1.76 billion in city services. It grew by .6% over this year’s budget, the slowest rate of growth in 14 years aside from the pandemic, according to Mayor Mike Johnston’s office. Johnston said the budget reflects the city’s values and priorities while building “a vibrant, affordable and safe Denver.”

Here are some of the spending items in the budget expected to have an impact on businesses:

• $58 million is slated for economic development to strengthen the local economy, attract new employers, invest in local and minority-owned businesses, and support job seekers. Nearly half, $27.6 million, will go toward workforce development.
• $6.4 million will be used to support small, disadvantaged, minority and women-owned businesses “to help level the playing field for local entrepreneurs,” according to budget information.
• $3.9 million is earmarked to go to businesses impacted by the construction of infrastructure projects in the city. The money will be directed at helping businesses stay open along 16th Street during the ongoing reconstruction of the downtown pedestrian mall, and at merchants along Colfax Avenue, where a $280.5 million project is getting started to build a bus rapid transit system on the corridor.

Johnston’s proposed sales tax increase that would have raised $100 million a year to help with housing affordability in the city was narrowly defeated in the general election by just over 3,800 votes in the latest ballot count. While the measure was unsuccessful, the city’s 2025 budget includes $60 million to create and preserve nearly 1,400 affordable homes. It also includes additional investments for rapid rehousing of people experiencing homelessness and project-based vouchers for 3,000 households.

You can read more from Denver Business Journal here, The Denver Post here, Denver Gazette here, and the City & County of Denver here.

Around the metro…Jefferson County rejects controversial Conifer bike park project.

Via DBJ, Jefferson County Commissioners have put to rest a four-year dispute between the developers of a proposed bike park near Conifer and residents who fought against it.

County Commissioners on Tuesday voted 2-1 to deny a special use permit to the developers of Shadow Mountain Bike Park, which would have built 16 miles of mountain biking trails accessible by chairlift and a lodge. The development would have been built off Shadow Mountain Drive.

It was expected to generate $12 million per year once the park was “fully up and running,” according to the project’s developers, mountain bikers Phil Bouchard and Jason Evans.

You can read more from DBJ here.

More around the metro…RTD’s ousted police chief alleges racial discrimination in new lawsuit.

According to Axios, Joel Fitzgerald, recently fired as the Regional Transportation District’s chief of police, filed a federal lawsuit this week alleging racial discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination.

This deepens the mystery behind Fitzgerald’s firing, first made public by CBS4’s investigative reporting. Transit officials have offered few details Fitzgerald’s 18-page lawsuit claims RTD fired him in September based on false allegations and a “racially biased investigation” completed in retaliation for a complaint he filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a month before.

Fitzgerald, who is Black, was hired in 2022. In May, he received a citizen complaint detailing an overheard conversation between two white RTD police officers discussing ways to remove him and other Black officers.

You can read more from Axios here.

Even more from around the metro…Voters set table for ex-Lutheran Hospital campus sale, redevelopment in Wheat Ridge.

As reported by Denver Business Journal, a major parcel of land in Wheat Ridge is closer to becoming a major development site following city voters’ approval of a key ballot measure.

The passage of ballot measure 2C last week creates lower building height limits on the now-vacant Lutheran Hospital campus at 8300 W. 38th Ave. Intermountain Health in August moved the hospital’s patients and employees to a new, $650 million facility about three miles east. Now, the 92-acre campus is for sale.

You can read more from DBJ here.

Ok – one more metro story since you asked…Douglas County officials violated labor laws during union election process, state investigation finds.

According to The Denver Post, Douglas County officials violated state labor laws during an attempted union election process earlier this year, according to a report from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

A local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, which describes itself as the world’s largest organization of law enforcement officers, filed the complaint against the Douglas County Board of Commissioners and sheriff’s officials in May, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

In a department report released on Nov. 1, state labor officials found that Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly, Undersheriff David Walcher and commissioners George Teal, Abe Laydon and Lora Thomas violated the Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act, which was passed in 2023.

You can read more from The Denver Post here.

Remember the fight for Space Command?…It’s back – and likely going to Alabama.

Via The Gazette, President-elect Donald Trump isn’t expected to waste any time going through with the plan to move Space Command headquarters out of Colorado Springs to Alabama.

Space Command employs about 1,700 people and draws not just on Space Force capability, but also from across the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and the Navy. It has been the center of a years-long controversy about whether to put its headquarters in Colorado or Alabama. Trump has favored the deep-red Alabama, while Biden favored the deep-blue Colorado. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5 that Trump would settle the dispute as one of his first moves in office.

You can read more from The Gazette here, Colorado Newsline here, and Fox31 here.

From the Governor…Colorado, Illinois governors launch organization to ‘safeguard’ democracy ahead of Trump presidency.

As reported by Colorado Newsline, in the wake of Republican Donald Trump’s reelection to the presidency, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is helping to lead a new initiative that aims to protect state-level democratic institutions against federal overreach.

Polis, a Democrat with two more years in his term, is co-chairing Governors Safeguarding Democracy, alongside Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, also a Democrat. “We founded GSD because we know that simple hope alone won’t save our democracy. We need to work together, especially at the state level, to protect and strengthen it,” Polis said during a call with reporters on Tuesday. The two governors did not offer details on who else is part of the initiative, though they emphasized it’s nonpartisan and said they have engaged in outreach to Republican governors across the country.

You can read more from Colorado Newsline here.

More from the Governor…Polis wants to privatize the state’s last-resort insurer.

According to Axios, Gov. Jared Polis is pushing a controversial and long-debated plan to privatize the state-affiliated Pinnacol Assurance.

The insurer of last resort provides workers’ compensation coverage to more than 50,000 businesses in Colorado and privatization would raise the possibility of higher costs. The idea is a potential political landmine that will pit the Democratic governor against the state’s labor unions and other members of his party.

Polis pitched privatization to state lawmakers Wednesday to generate $500 million and plug holes in the state’s budget, but he received a tepid response from concerned Democrats and Republicans on the powerful budget committee. Under this plan, the state would take $100 million a year from the tax-exempt insurer for five years to cover the state’s work in creating the entity, which dates to 1915.

Pinnacol’s leadership is not asking to go private but would like more leeway in writing policies. Keep your eyes on this – it’s a big deal.

You can read more from Axios here.

From the Gold Dome…Colorado Sen. Chris Hansen plans to resign from the legislature Jan. 9 as he starts new job as utility CEO.

Via The Colorado Sun, Democratic state Sen. Chris Hansen plans to resign from the legislature Jan. 9, the day after Colorado’s 2025 lawmaking term begins, as he takes on a new role as the chief executive officer of the La Plata Electric Association.

Hansen, who lives in Denver, told The Colorado Sun that he will submit a letter of resignation to Capitol leadership in the coming days. The La Plata Electric Association on Tuesday announced that it had selected Hansen as its CEO, a week after Hansen was reelected to a second four-year term in the Colorado Senate representing District 31. He didn’t make his plans to resign from the legislature known until Wednesday when he spoke with The Sun.

The timing of Hansen’s resignation effectively prevents voters in his Senate District 31 from having a say in their state senator until 2026. His seat will be filled by a vacancy appointee until that time. “This was a really hard decision. This was not something that I went looking for, and just really felt like this was the best choice for me professionally and for my family,” Hansen told CPR News Wednesday.

You can read more from The Colorado Sun here and CPR here.

Also under the Dome…Colorado House caucuses elect officers even as two races hang in the balance.

According to The Sum & Substance, Colorado House Democrats held fast to most of their current leadership slate in a caucus election held Monday, even as continued vote tabulations show that they may end up losing their supermajority in that legislative chamber.

Party members unanimously re-elected Rep. Julie McCluskie of Dillon to serve as House speaker, Rep. Monica Duran of Wheat Ridge to serve as majority leader and Rep. Jennifer Bacon to serve as assistant majority leader for the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions. House Republicans, who met Friday, similarly retained their top leaders, re-electing Rep. Rose Pugliese of Colorado Springs as minority leader and Rep. Ty Winter of Trinidad as assistant minority leader.

McCluskie vowed in her speech to keep working on many of the same issues that Democrats prioritized over the past two years, including strengthening the economy, protecting the climate and guarding the rights of individual Coloradans.

You can read more from TSS here.

From the courts…Why Trump’s immigration crackdown could overwhelm Colorado courts.

Via Axios, advocates and attorneys in Colorado and nationwide are gearing up to defend immigrants against “Operation Aurora” and the mass deportations that President-elect Trump has threatened once in office.

Roughly 162,000 undocumented immigrants live in Colorado. In addition to deportations, Trump’s proposals would transform how the U.S. has conducted immigration enforcement for decades. Advocates stand ready to fight for immigrants, ramp up “know your rights” training and solidify the state’s status as a welcoming place for newcomers. “We have to work to ensure our cities are places of safety and not targets for political agendas,” Nita Gonzales, a Latina community activist, told the Denver Post. Any unlawful actions the U.S. government takes in Colorado will be challenged in court, state Rep. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat, added.

Colorado’s immigration court has a severe backlog of cases and a shortage of attorneys to represent people seeking asylum or facing deportation, a three-part investigative series from the Colorado Sun revealed.

You can read more from Axios here.

From the election…2024 election exit polling reveals Coloradans’ top concerns as they voted.

As reported by CPR, immigration, abortion, housing and the cost of living were top of Coloradans’ minds as they returned their ballots this fall. The Colorado Polling Institute, an independent nonprofit that conducts public opinion research, surveyed 822 voters between Oct. 25 and Nov. 4 on their views of the issues at stake, as well as their comfort with the election system itself. When surveyors asked people to name the most important issues state government should address, they heard a wide variety of responses, but economic concerns — from inflation and the scarcity of housing to jobs and wages — were the main things most people wanted to see addressed.

Meanwhile, Colorado Democrats may have defied national political trends in the 2024 election, largely maintaining their strong performance at the ballot box even as many other states across the country swung toward Republicans. But unofficial results show that Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats fared much better in some parts of the state than others and were hurt by depressed turnout in traditional party strongholds.

In slightly more than half of Colorado’s 64 counties, Republican President-elect Donald Trump received a higher vote share in 2024 than he did four years ago, with the most pronounced pro-Trump shifts occurring in southern Colorado. Those swings in more rural parts of the state, combined with lower turnout in more populous Front Range counties, shrank Democrats’ overall winning margin in Colorado from over 13 percentage points in 2020 to roughly 11 points this year.

You can read more from CPR here and Colorado Newsline here.

On education…Colorado voters seem poised to approve about half of the school district funding measures this year.

According to Chalkbeat Colorado, when it came to giving schools more local funding, Colorado voters were reluctant to raise taxes this year.

Typically presidential election years can be good years for districts to ask voters to raise taxes for schools. But this year, only about half of the requests, or 22 out of 41, were successful, according to unofficial results as of Friday morning. That’s fewer than in 2020 when about 90% of the measures were successful and also in 2016 when 68% of measures passed.

This year, of those 22 that voters approved, only 11 were actually tax increases.

You can read more from Chalkbeat Colorado here.

On climate…Colorado’s past greenhouse gasses worse than thought, but the future may be better than expected.

As reported by The Colorado Sun, Colorado has cut more greenhouse gasses than previously thought, and a flurry of 2024 land use legislation could push the state closer to future targets, but environmental groups are wary of “accounting gimmicks.” And state officials acknowledge many new tough emissions policies are still needed to meet the goals.

The state’s newly revised inventory of greenhouse gas emissions says past consultants underestimated historical oil and gas related emissions, including those in the 2005 baseline year. The 2021 inventory said Colorado’s economy as a whole had emitted 140.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2005, while this recalculation puts the more accurate figure for 2005 at 153.1 million tons.

That means Colorado policy changes and renewable energy progress have cut about 11% from emissions so far, and with recent policy changes and rules the state is on track to achieve nearly all its GHG reduction targets for 2025 and 2030, according to Colorado Energy Office Director Will Toor.

You can read more from The Colorado Sun here.

From the great outdoors…Forest Service won’t hire seasonal workers next year, will rely on Colorado volunteer groups to “fill gaps.”

According to The Colorado Sun, the U.S. Forest Service is halting the hiring of seasonal employees next year as it anticipates receiving less than the $8.9 billion it says it needs to pay its 30,000 employees, manage its 193 million acres and fight wildfires.

While final allocations from Congress are pending, the chronically underfunded and overworked agency is planning to scale back operations in 2025, raising concerns among its many partners in Colorado that recreational projects will be delayed. “We have an opportunity to do what we can with what we have,” Forest Service Chief Randy Moore told employees Sept. 16, noting that the agency has lost about 8,000 jobs in the last 20 years and he is “seeing indications of a stressed workforce.”

You can read more from The Colorado Sun here.

From the military…Top general faces brewing storm after Trump’s Pentagon pick.

As reported by WaPo, since becoming America’s top military officer last year, Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. has hewed to a cautious tack: keeping his views largely to himself, publicly deferring to elected leaders on pressing security questions, and attempting to steer clear of the polarized politics consuming the nation at large.

But Brown was thrust into the heart of a brewing storm Tuesday when President-elect Donald Trump nominated Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran and Fox News host, to become defense secretary, days after Hegseth suggested firing Brown and other senior officers over what he described as a “woke” agenda undermining U.S. military strength. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown serves as chief military adviser to both the president and the Pentagon chief.

You can read more from The Washington Post here.

From Congress…Thune elected Senate majority leader.

Via The Hill, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has been elected Senate majority leader, setting the stage for him to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has held the top Senate GOP leadership job for the past 18 years.

Thune has served as Senate Republican whip, the No. 2-ranking position in the Senate GOP leadership, since 2019, and largely managed operation of the Senate floor since McConnell suffered a concussion from a fall in 2023. Thune is well-liked among his Senate Republican colleagues and his affable, humble approach to managing the conference has earned the trust and confidence of fellow GOP senators. He announced his intention to run for leader shortly after McConnell said in February that he would retire from the GOP leadership at the end of this year. His main competition for the past eight months of the race has been Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a formidable fundraiser, who served as Senate Republican whip from 2013 to 2019.

You can read more from The Hill here and Politico here.

More on the Senate…Republicans flip Pennsylvania Senate seat.

According to The Hill, Republican David McCormick is projected to defeat Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in one of the nation’s preeminent battlegrounds, according to Decision Desk HQ, adding to the party’s margins after it took back control of the upper chamber earlier this week.

The win by McCormick, a wealthy ex-hedge fund CEO, marked the culmination of a decade-long Republican effort to oust Casey. It also means the state’s representation in the Senate will be split, as it had been for the 12 years before Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) victory in 2022. Casey had led throughout much of the campaign, though that lead narrowed in the final weeks. According to an Emerson College poll, he led by a single percentage point two weeks out from Election Day.

You can read more from The Hill here.

How about the House?…Republicans clinch 218 seats in U.S. House, scoring trifecta control in Washington.

From Colorado Newsline, Republicans will hold on to their majority in the U.S. House and regain control of the Senate when Congress convenes in January, setting the party up to potentially make major policy changes during the next two years.

The GOP hadn’t clinched the 218 House seats needed for a majority until late Wednesday, when The Associated Press, the news organization that States Newsroom relies upon for race calls based on decades of experience, called control of the chamber. The AP called 208 seats for Democrats so far, with nine yet to be decided as of early Thursday. When combined with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the election results will have sweeping implications for the country’s future and could give the former president the chance to add one or more justices to the Supreme Court.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during a press conference Tuesday before the AP projected the GOP would retain its majority that he’s been talking with fellow GOP lawmakers for months, setting up a plan for unified control of government, though he declined to share specifics.

You can read more from Colorado Newsline here and The Associated Press here.

The latest on the Trump Administration…What White House picks tell us about Trump 2.0.

According to BBC, a week after Donald Trump won a second-term in the White House, the contours of his new presidency have started taking shape.

The president-elect has announced nearly a dozen appointees, the first steps toward filling out his White House staff and key government departments. He also made comments to the media and on social media that highlight what his priorities will be upon taking office in January, with a special focus on immigration and foreign policy.

After a sometimes chaotic start to his first term, Trump is laying the groundwork for his next administration with a more clearly defined plan – and personnel ready to enact it.

You can read more from BBC here and The Hill here.

More on that…Trump taps RFK Jr. to lead HHS.

As reported by The Hill, President-elect Trump has tapped anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HHS has a budget of nearly $2 billion and administers federal health programs including Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. HHS and its subagencies are responsible for responding to diseases and public health threats like COVID-19 and bird flu, as well as approving new drugs, including vaccines.

The position requires Senate confirmation. While it could be difficult, the nomination is a sign Trump feels empowered by the comfortable Republican majority in the upper chamber.

You can read more from The Hill here and The Associated Press here.

In the hot seat…Lawmakers on both sides want to see the ethics report on Matt Gaetz.

Via The New York Times, lawmakers in both parties on Thursday called on a congressional panel to release the results of an investigation into alleged misconduct by former Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, demanding to see its report about sexual misconduct and other charges against President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to be the attorney general.

Gaetz abruptly resigned on Wednesday after Trump announced he was the pick to lead the Justice Department, shocking many members of Congress who see him as unqualified and unfit for the post. His rapid exit effectively ended the ethics panel’s investigation into him two days before members had planned to vote on whether to release their long-awaited findings. Since the spring of 2021, the House Ethics Committee has been investigating claims that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and accepted impermissible gifts under House rules, among other charges.

Senator Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over confirming an attorney general, on Thursday called on the House panel to preserve and share its conclusions. “The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report,” Mr. Durbin said in a statement. “We cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.”

You can read more from NYT here and Politico here.

From the Senate…Trump’s demand to skirt Senate confirmations poses early test of a radical second term.

As reported by The New York Times, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s demand that Senate Republicans surrender their role in vetting his nominees poses an early test of whether his second term will be more radical than his first.

Over the weekend, Trump insisted on social media that Republicans select a new Senate majority leader willing to call recesses during which he could unilaterally appoint personnel, allowing him to sidestep the confirmation process. His allies immediately applauded the idea, intensifying pressure on G.O.P. lawmakers to acquiesce.

The demand to weaken checks and balances and take for himself some of the legislative branch’s usual power underscored Trump’s authoritarian impulses. While there is no obvious legal obstacle to Trump’s request, it would be an extraordinary violation of constitutional norms. There is no historical precedent for a deliberate and wholesale abandonment by the Senate of its function of deciding whether to confirm or reject the president’s choices to bestow with government power.

You can read more from NYT here.

In health care…Experts say federal drug pricing program has been abused and misused.

A program developed in the 1990s allowing healthcare organizations to purchase discounted outpatient drugs to help low-income patients has grown into a system of abuse and misuse without government oversight, according to industry insiders.

During a breakfast hosted by Colorado Politics in Downtown Denver on Tuesday, a panel discussed the state and national effects that the drug pricing program known as 340B is having on the healthcare industry. More specifically, the three-member panel talked about how much it costs the healthcare industry.

The federal 340B Drug Pricing Program allows eligible healthcare organizations to purchase outpatient drugs at a discount from manufacturers. The program was established in 1992 as part of the Public Health Service Act.

You can read more from Colorado Politics here.

More on health care…UCHealth agrees to $23M settlement with DOJ over inflated billing allegations

Via DBJ, University of Colorado Health will pay $23 million to settle allegations from federal prosecutors pursuing a whistleblower’s claim that the hospital system inflated its emergency department billing to public health insurance programs.

The U.S. Department of Justice accused the Aurora-based organization of falsely coding reimbursement claims for members of Medicare and TRICARE, the health insurance for U.S. armed service members and retirees, when they visited UCHealth emergency departments between November 2017 and March 2021.

The incorrect codes led to inflated reimbursement, according to the DOJ.

You can read more from DBJ here.

And on the economy…Powell says solid economy allows Fed to consider rate cuts ‘carefully.’

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said recent signs of economic health would allow the central bank to take its time in deciding how quickly to continue reducing interest rates.

“The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates,” Powell said at a talk in Dallas on Thursday. “The strength we are currently seeing in the economy gives us the ability to approach our decisions carefully.” The Fed cut interest rates at its two most recent meetings, beginning with a half-percentage-point reduction in September amid signs the labor market might be weakening. Officials lowered their benchmark rate by a quarter point, to a range between 4.5% and 4.75%, at their meeting last week.

You can read more from WSJ here.

That’s all for this now! Please reach out with any questions.