Local Issues

Last fall windswept fire ravaged Fourmile Canyon in the foothills just above Boulder for days, displacing hundreds of residents, causing millions of dollars in damage and making national news. The wildfire raised anew long-brewing concerns about how to prepare for such crises and has given new urgency to what would appear a simple national forest land transfer to bolster volunteer fire fighter efforts in the area. On Friday, Third District Congressman Jared Polis reintroduced a bill to facilitat... Read more

Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) today introduced H.R. 643, the Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District Land Exchange Act, which would facilitate a fair exchange of lands on the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest between the US Forest Service and the Sugar Loaf Fire District. The bill, which Polis first introduced in 2009, passed the House last July, but failed to move in the Senate before the end of the 111th Congress. Senators Mark Udall (D-CO) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) have also re-introduced compan... Read more

Today, Congresswoman DeGette joined with Congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey in releasing the first findings from the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s year-long investigation into the energy exploration practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The congressional investigation found that oil and gas service companies have injected over 32 million gallons of diesel fuel or hydraulic fracturing fluids containing diesel fuel in wells in 19 states between 2005 and 2009. In addition, the ... Read more

Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) introduced a Resolution today along with Jared Polis (CO-02), Cory Gardner (CO-04), and Scott Tipton (CO-03) aimed at limiting all bills to a single subject. Lamborn and Polis introduced similar legislation in the last Congress. The Resolution would ensure that Congress does not pass bills that contain unrelated amendments and items cobbled together. Members of Congress do this many times to avoid hearings on important policy. This practice also has the effect of... Read more

Congressman Jared Polis Statement on H.R. 2, REPEALING THE JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAW ACT Friday January 7, 2011 Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule and the underlying bill, the most expensive one-page bill in the history of Congress, and it costs the taxpayers a little over $200 billion the first 10 years alone, and over $1 trillion overall. Not only have the Republicans, as the first bill that we are doing a rule on and facing here on the floor, put forward the most expensive one-... Read more

Continuing his push to bring real, meaningful reform to the nation’s broken immigration system, Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) issued the following statement today criticizing Governor Bill Ritter’s decision to allow Colorado to participate in the federal Secure Communities program, which uses fingerprints to check a person's immigration status during jail bookings. “I am incredibly disappointed with Governor Ritter’s decision to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Homela... Read more

Last night, Congressman Polis took to the floor of the House of Representatives in support of the DREAM Act—a bipartisan, targeted legislation that gives students who are already here and have grown up in the United States a chance to contribute to our country’s well-being by serving in the Armed Forces or pursuing a higher education. Text of Congressman Polis’ floor speech follows: Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about the young people whose futures are impacted by our Congress' failure to ... Read more

Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about the young people whose futures are impacted by our Congress' failure to find a path forward with regard to the DREAM Act or to find some way of determining what they should do, what they should be--these Stateless individuals, these young people, these children of our Nation. The DREAM Act is truly one of the most, if not the most, important pieces of legislation that we have discussed on the floor of the House. Certainly, for the individuals involved, i... Read more

Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) issued the following statement today in response to the passage of H.R. 4853 – the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Today’s vote was a victory for President Obama and America’s middle class. President Obama showed leadership in crafting a package that is the only way to ensure that taxes on working families don't increase and that unemployment insurance doesn't run out for those in search of work. In addition to prot... Read more

Congressman Jared Polis Remarks in Support of H.R. 4853 – Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 Thursday, December 16, 2010 Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the rule and the underlying bill. I’m very excited that president Obama has demonstrated that he believes in keeping taxes low for all Americans. Mr. Speaker, you know, as I talk to people in my district and across the country, people like the fact that the Democrats are the party of s... Read more