Foreign Policy & Defense

On April 17, 2010, Colorado’s Congressional delegation will host “Academy Information Day” to provide high school students, their parents and school counselors information about the U.S. service academies and the Congressional nominating process for admission. Representatives from West Point and the Air Force, Naval, and Merchant Marine academies will also be present to provide general information and answer individual questions. The forum will be held on Saturday, April 17, 2010, from 1 p.m. to... Read more

The members of the Colorado Congressional Delegation will host an “Academy Information Day” on Saturday, April 17, 2010, for high school students, their parents, and school counselors to provide information about the United States service academies and the Congressional nominating process for admission to the academies. Congressional staff and representatives from the Air Force, Naval, West Point, and Merchant Marine Academies will be present to provide general information and answer individual ... Read more

Revisions to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations: Summary of Changes Prepared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense Background: On February 2nd, the Secretary of Defense announced that he had directed the Department of Defense to quickly review the regulations used to implement 10 U.S.C. § 654, the law commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, and within 45 days present to him recommended changes to those regulations that will, within the confines of the existing law, enforce the law i... Read more

Mr. Speaker, this nation does face a very real and immediate terrorist threat. The terrorist threat stems from al Qaeda, which is a statelessness menace, a menace that is not rooted in any one location or has any dominion in one particular area. In fact, the two countries that this, our nation continues to occupy, namely Iraq and Afghanistan, are not significant bases of operations for al Qaeda. It has been recently reported that there are, in fact, only around 50 al Qaeda operatives in the enti... Read more

Today the Colorado Congressional Delegation sent a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki seeking support and funding to build a new 20-bed stand-alone Fisher House near the new VA Medical Center at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. The Fisher House will provide on-site residential housing facilities for families of active duty and veteran patients receiving care at the VA Medical Center. The delegation stated in their letter, “construction of a new VA Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado, is t... Read more

Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) released the following statements tonight in response to President Obama’s first State of the Union Address: "I agree completely with President Obama that the road to recovery begins with our economy. Today, big business and corporate lobbyists are working together to the detriment of the American people and the American economy. This was only made worse by the recent Supreme Court decision that opened the channels for unregulated use of corporate funds to influenc... Read more

I recently attended the White House Christmas tree lighting and congressional holiday party. Christmas is traditionally a time of peace and love, quite a juxtaposition for a nation fighting three wars, one in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and a global war on terror. We went into Afghanistan eight years ago to oust the Taliban and capture their guest Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda associates. Eight years later, al Qaeda has largely been driven out of Afghanistan. When should our nation go to war? O... Read more

Today, the Colorado Congressional Delegation sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, urging his support for funding for a new PTSD residential treatment facility to be built at the new VA Medical Center (VAMC) located at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. After learning the new VAMC will not include a PTSD residential treatment facility due to downsizing requirements, the delegation highlighted the current PTSD residential treatment facility which treated more than 200... Read more

Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) issued the following statement today in response to President Obama’s speech and proposed increase of US Troops in Afghanistan. “President Obama delivered a powerful speech this evening and I commend his commitment to ending the war in Afghanistan. However, I do not believe there can be a military solution to this conflict and I do not support sending a single additional American soldier there, much less 30,000 new troops. We need less troops, not more, to end this... Read more

The first I would like to thank Chairman Skelton and Ranking Member McKeon for their tireless work on this bill. Their job is not easy. Our nation faces a war on two fronts; growing threats to our security—both foreign and domestic—are numerous and always changing; and as our economy struggles to recover from numerous meltdowns, the resources have available to devote to these problems are increasingly limited. It is time we bring our troops home from both Iraq and Afghanistan. We tried and faile... Read more