By Molly Homburger and Mireya Saenz
A year ago, historic flooding in Colorado forced the evacuation of thousands of homes, damaged farms and destroyed houses. Eight people died. Major highways U.S. 36 and U.S. 38 were damaged enough to prevent safe passage. President Obama declared fourteen counties as disaster emergencies with the counties of Weld, Boulder, and Larimer having some of the greatest impacts. 
While Colorado struggled to recover, the United States government officially shut down for about sixteen days due to a failure to compromise on an appropriation for funds for the 2014 fiscal year. Sen. Mark Udall is now attempting to take down Cory Gardner by linking the timing of the Colorado flood relief effort and the government shutdown.
Letap look at what Udall is claiming from this recent campaign ad:
“Gardner voted for government shutdown”
The shutdown resulted from an impasse over the funding of the so-called Affordable Care Act. Republicans, including Gardner, wanted to prevent the new law from going into effect. With Republicans ruling the House and the Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House, lawmakers remained stuck in gridlock.
The ad points to a pair of Gardner votes. The first, , 2013, was intended to delay Obamacare for another year. The , passed the next day, would have stripped away the money needed to enforce the requirement that everyone have health insurance. Gardner joined the Republican strategy to take down ObamaCare. Only nine Democrats joined the Republicans. The effort failed in the Senate and the back-and-forth led to the shutdown.
opposed Obamacare on the argument that it is “bad for the economy” and unaffordable for small businesses. The party argues that Obamacare:
. Increases Health Care Costs
. Causes Insurance Premiums To Rise
. Hurts Quality Of Health Care
. Nearly $570 Billion In Tax Hikes
. Adds Over $500 Billion To The Debt
Gardner and other Republicans did not vote for a government shutdown, per se, but used the threat of a shutdown to try to defund and or delay Obamacare. Udall’s claim is accurate, but excludes important information about the cause of the shutdown, including the fact that some Democrats voted with Republicans in the House and also the fact that had Democrats found some compromise with the GOP, the shutdown might have been averted.
We give this claim a C, as it is borderline true, but tainted by misinformation.
“Gardner’s shutdown hurt Colorado”
Due to the shutdown, federal offices and governmental agencies were all closed. Udall insists that Gardner’s support for the shutdown hurt Colorado in flood recovery relief, our national parks, our veterans and business owners.
What the ads fails to mention is Gardner’s pursuit of aid for Colorado’s flood relief. Together, Gardner, Udall and Sen. Michael Bennet worked to pass legislation to get emergency funding to Colorado to aid in their relief. Gardner also joined Gov. John Hickenlooper, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, Bennet and Udall in tours of damage.
As we will note in each subsection, the language that Udall uses could lead the claims astray, and failure to mention the fact that Gardner was one of the few Republicans to vote to end the shutdown. Was it really Gardner’s shutdown that hurt Colorado?
Given that we’ve established it would incorrect to say that Gardner or anyone else, Republican or Democrat, specifically voted to shut down the government, we must note that all of the remaining claims have to be taken with that fact in mind. Setting that point aside, we look now at the shutdown’s impact on the institutions and people addressed in the ad.
A. Flood Recovery
The state was in the middle of rebuilding damaged areas affected by the floods when the government shut down. The federal closures caused the Colorado National Guard to furlough about 600 people who were working on reconstructing damaged and flooded communities. to pay Colorado’s National Guard troops so that they could continue helping with emergency relief and recovery operations related to flood damages. Typically, these workers would be by paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The Federal government might have been shut down, but FEMA, the Small Business Administration and Housing and Urban Development continued to help people rebuild their homes and businesses despite the shutdown, even with some worker furloughs in these agencies. Worker furloughs were only used towards non-essential and non-emergency government personnel. Those directly working with flood efforts were able to work and receive pay.
In fact, Dan Watson, a spokesman for FEMA in Washington said, “the federal shutdown did not greatly affect the flow of federal disaster relief money.” Gardner argued in The Denver Postap debate and on Oct. 7 from this that Vice President Biden promised that the “federal assistance we’re providing, none of it is going to be impacted even if there is a government shutdown” and that included flood relief for Colorado.
Despite the shutdown, recovery reliefs efforts continued and there was no major delay in the progress. Both promised relief efforts would continue without interruption.
When the floods occurred, Coloradans united, and that included Garner. Gardner and Udall rode in a helicopter together to assess damaged areas. Gardner tried to add an to the Water Resources Reform Development Act intended to help Colorado develop water storage, but was denied. Gardner, along with Udall and the rest of the Colorado delegation, asked the for a second round of flood recovery funding. In short, Garner was involved in the flood recovery process and took the issues to Washington.
The shutdown didn’t help flood recovery, but it also didn’t affect or delay the work that much. As for Gardner, however one views his role in the shutdown, he was also involved in helping Colorado recovery from the devastating floods.
We give this claim a C.
B. National Parks
The ad claims the shutdown closed National Parks, and thatap accurate. The closure of parks affected not only federal agencies that help run the parks, but also local small businesses and towns that rely heavily on tourist dollars.
According to the , visits to the country’s parks plummeted by 9 million in 2013 after the government shutdown. The closure especially hurt the city of Estes Park because of its proximity to Rocky Mountain National Park causing losses of around in visitor spending and park revenue.
This claim is true, the shutdown did close national parks in Colorado and the loss of tourism hurt nearby communities already reeling from flood damage.
We give this claim an A, because the facts bear it out.
C. Veterans
The ad cites an Associated Press article that notes veteran claims for assistance backed up during the shutdown by 2,000 claims in just 10 days. The shutdown affected the most of all, which provides employment and counseling services at a time when troops are returning from dangerous duty overseas.
We give this claim an A.
D. Business Owners
The claim circles back to the caused by the closure of national parks. Also, the Federal Small Business Administration and government contract workers were affected by the shutdown and did not receive pay.
(Many federal employees wondered about their employment status during the shutdown, but in a provided by the Department of Employment Services, it says all federal government workers were in pay status during the shutdown, meaning they still could participate in the local economy).
That said, the that live around the popular national parks were cut off when floodwaters damaged the towns, causing some to lay off their employees and focus on restoring their ruined businesses. Many local shops and restaurants were already struggling to repair flood damages. The lack of tourism during the shutdown made it nearly impossible to make ends meet.
Colorado has displayed one of the highest small business borrowing rates in recent years. Due to the lack of Small Business Administration loans, Colorado was the during the shutdown. Without the government up and running, loans were not able to be backed up and therefore put on hold. Private and small businesses had little financial flexibility, faced difficulty in procuring credit and managing cash flow.
We give this claim: A
We give the entire “Jobs” campaign ad the grade of a B. While most of the claims that Udall made were true, his claims about the cause of the government shutdown are inaccurate and unfair.
