Sen. Wayne Allard

By Christa Marshall in Washington — Colorado will host Senate immigration hearings in August, according to Sean Conway, chief of staff for Sen. Wayne Allard.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter wrote to Allard Friday, responding to the Colorado senator’s request to hold the hearings in his home state. >> MORE

By Anne C. Mulkern

Rep. Diana DeGette speaks with Rep. Mike Castle in 2005 about their bill on stem cell research, which would void Bush’s limiting of federal research funding. Special to The Post / Lauren Victoria Burke

Washington - The Senate nearly killed and then revived Rep. Diana DeGette’s embryonic stem-cell bill Thursday after a day of intrigue and behind-the- scenes maneuvering involving top Republicans.

An agreement reached after extended negotiations allows a vote on DeGette’s bill. She and other backers of the legislation believe they have enough votes for passage. >> MORE

By John Aloysius Farrell

WASHINGTON - Gun control groups erupted in anger at Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan yesterday after she sponsored an amendment that deleted funding for the federal trigger lock law.

Musgrave called the trigger lock law “burdensome.� She told the House on Wednesday that “trigger locks do not stop gun crimes or accidental shootings.�

“Lawn mowers can be dangerous,� Musgrave argued. “Should we mandate that all lawn mowers be sold with a blade lock?� >> MORE

By Mike Soraghan

Washington - A bill expected to pass today in the House of Representatives promoting natural-gas drilling off the coasts also would resurrect proposals to speed up drilling in the Rocky Mountains.

In addition, the measure reduces what oil-shale producers would pay to the government. >> MORE

By Anne C. Mulkern

Washington - The White House and Democrats, including Sen. Ken Salazar, offered dueling proposals Wednesday to fund credit checks for veterans whose personal identification data was stolen.

President Bush proposed paying the $160.5 million tab for credit monitoring with money pulled from eight programs and departments, including funds intended for farmers, student loans and high-speed rail.

Salazar, D-Colo., co-sponsored legislation from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that would provide new government money to cover the cost.
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By Anne C. Mulkern

Washington - Flying home from a trip to Iraq this spring, Sen. Ken Salazar wrestled with what he’d just seen. Or rather, what he hadn’t seen.

The streets of Baghdad were so violent that the freshman Democrat stayed in a military compound under tight security. Three years after the U.S. invasion, peace was elusive.

That led Salazar to believe President Bush’s war strategy is foundering and spurred the Colorado Democrat to push for a change.
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By John Aloysius Farrell

Washington - By a single vote, the Senate defeated a constitutional amendment Tuesday that would have given Congress the power to ban desecration of the American flag.

Colorado’s two senators - Democrat Ken Salazar and Republican Wayne Allard - voted for the measure, which fell one vote short of the 67 needed for passing a constitutional amendment.

“The American flag is a symbol, a physical embodiment of the freedom and liberty that we Americans are privileged” to have, said Allard. “It has served as an inspiration, a guiding light, to our men and women in uniform.” >> MORE

By Mike Soraghan

Washington - Sen. Ken Salazar accused the Bush administration Tuesday of running roughshod over Westerners’ concerns about the region’s oil and gas boom, saying fears about pollution, wildlife and property rights could spark a “revolution” against drilling.

“With the rush to lease every acre of land as quickly as possible, we’re seeing local communities start standing up against it,” said Salazar, D-Colo. “We are seeing a potential revolution against oil and gas development.” >> MORE

By Anne C. Mulkern

Washington - Businesses will find it difficult to be sure all their employees have the legal right to work unless there are major upgrades to the government’s system for checking their status, a Colorado employer told a U.S. House subcommittee Tuesday.

The system for confirming that workers are legal residents only verifies that a Social Security number is valid, said Jack Shandley, senior vice president at Greeley-based Swift & Co. >> MORE

By Christa Marshall

Washington - Sen. Wayne Allard has requested that both houses of Congress hold upcoming field hearings on immigration in Colorado.

In letters sent separately to Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the chairmen of the Senate and House judiciary committees, Allard endorsed the House leaders’ decision to hold the hearings, which critics call a ploy to scuttle the immigration bill passed by the Senate and supported by President Bush.
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By Anne C. Mulkern

Washington – Rep. Mark Udall sat in a hotel ballroom Tuesday morning waiting for President Bush to arrive for a speech. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., arrived first, and issued an unusual greeting to the Eldorado Springs Democrat.

“What’s a Democrat like you doing here?’’ McCain quipped to Udall. >> MORE

By Anne C. Mulkern

The world’s second-richest man, Warren Buffett, has asked Sen. Ken Salazar to vote against repealing the estate tax.

Buffett sent a letter to Salazar, D-Colo., the senator’s spokesman, Drew Nannis, said. The multibillionaire Monday called on Congress not to repeal the tax.
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By Washington and the West

Washington - A Colorado-based organization that provides care packages to U.S. soldiers in Iraq joined actor Gary Sinise and 14 other groups in a private meeting with President Bush today to discuss supporting U.S. troops.

The organizations are part of America Supports You, a Department of Defense program that spotlights the grassroots efforts of 225 non-profit organizations and 25 corporations that assist soldiers with services such as family counseling and the deliverance of medical supplies. >> MORE

Washington — There were 5,000 Republican elected officials, apparatchiks and big-money donors at the convention center here on Monday night, and President Bush left them with no doubt about their party’s strategy for the 2006 election.

For good or ill, Bush cast the November balloting as a referendum on the war in Iraq.

“An early withdrawal would embolden al-Qaeda and bin Laden,� said Bush. “An early withdrawal, before we completed the mission, would say to the United States military, your sacrifices have gone to vain.

“There will be no early withdrawal,� Bush said, “so long as we run the Congress and occupy the White House.�

Rarely do American politicians state a choice so clearly. >> MORE

By Karen Augé

At first, health insurance with the new Medicare prescription drug plan seemed like a good deal to Dave and Sharyn Madison.

Then Dave Madison got cancer.

That was when the Madisons found out about the “hole” in their drug plan.

This month, their co-pay was $1,307 for the oral chemotherapy Dave Madison needs to fight his pancreatic cancer. That seemed like a lot, until they learned that in July, they’ll have to pay the entire cost of that drug: $2,587.

“We’ve hit that doughnut hole,” Sharyn Madison said. >> MORE