Everyone in Washington seems to be pointing fingers when it comes to whose responsible for the government shutdown. That’s not new.
What is different is how Colorado’s congressional delegation has voted for these continuing resolutions when their party controls the White House, Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.
Take Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Denver), for example.
She voted against the continuing resolution that ended the shutdown on Monday, calling these short-term spending bills “political malpractice.”
But in 2013, DeGette said the “shut down of our federal government is nothing short of reprehensible,” adding that the “:House Republican majority proactively chose to place extreme ideology over the good of our nation and the stability of our economy.”
When you look at the last 10 years of voting records on continuing resolutions, DeGette’s voted against five of the last 42, according to data from Congress’ website.
And four of those no votes have happened since President Donald Trump took office.
What changed for DeGette?
Her spokeswoman told 9NEWS the congresswoman has simply had enough.
“Over time, she has seen more evidence of how disruptive they can be,” spokeswoman Lynne Weil wrote in an email to 9NEWS. “That’s why she decided a year ago not to vote for any more CRs.”
DeGette’s not the only one who seems to have had a change of heart.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Windsor) voted against every CR that came before him while President Barack Obama was in office, but he’s voted for all but one of the resolutions brought during the Trump administration.
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) didn’t vote for a single continuing resolution until after Republicans won back control of the House in November 2010. Since then, he’s voted against four of 28 CRs.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Boulder) appears to have soured on continuing resolutions. He voted against five of the last eight bills.
While Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Arvada), Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Denver) and Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) have all been largely supportive of these short-term spending bills. Perlmutter and Gardner have voted against three a piece while Bennet has voted against just two, according to data from Congress’ website.
One of Bennet’s two no votes came on the resolution that would have stopped the most recent shutdown.
“Well, I don't think of it as voting for the shutdown,” Bennet said. “But if you're asking do I regret my vote, no, because at least it resulted in some progress however modest it is.”
But Colorado’s senior senator did vote for the CR that re-opened the federal government Monday. He told 9NEWS the difference between the two bills was the second came with a promise of a DACA vote form Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“He did not promise for that to pass,” Bennet said. “Which means we have a lot of work to do to be able to make sure that we get that passed.”
CHART: How the Colorado delegation votes on continuing resolutions
Click here if chart doesn't appear
