The U.S. Senate adjourned for the year without passing a major appropriations package after over the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.
U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet objected Thursday night to an agreement on preliminary votes connected to the five-bill package, which would fund more than 85% of the federal government through next September, . The outlet said their demand to keep NCAR open led to the collapse of hopes for a bipartisan deal before the Senate’s adjournment, kicking the debate into January.
On Tuesday night, Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, confirmed plans to shut down the renowned climate research center and move “vital activities such as weather research.”
“President Trump is attacking Colorado because we refuse to bend to his corrupt administration,” Hickenlooper and Bennet said in a joint statement. “His reckless decision to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research will have lasting, devastating impacts across the country. We are holding the Senate’s appropriations package to demand full funding for NCAR.
“As Trump’s rampage continues, we will pull every lever available to do what is right for Colorado.”
In a call with reporters Thursday afternoon, Bennet had said he was still considering how best to combat the decision. He noted that NCAR’s imminent dismantling came “mere hours after President Trump raged about Tina Peters and Gov. (Jared) Polis.”
Trump has repeatedly called for the release of Peters, a former Mesa County clerk serving a nine-year sentence for election interference crimes. The president has lashed out at Polis and the state for refusing to pardon Peters or turn her over to federal prison officials. Last week, Trump claimed to pardon Peters himself, but legal experts say he can’t do so for state convictions.
Trump previously threatened “harsh measures” should Peters not be released, and a senior U.S. Justice Department official, Ed Martin, said on a podcast that federal officials were putting pressure on Colorado to secure her release.
“This is political retribution,” Bennet told reporters Thursday. “It is a coordinated attack against Colorado and the rule of law. Colorado has been a leader in standing up to Trump’s blatant corruption … and we have refused to bend to his will.”
He added that when Trump doesn’t get his way, “he weaponizes the federal government to punish states, and now Colorado is that state that he’s put in his crosshairs.”
In announcing the NCAR decision, Vought called the center “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” But scientists defended NCAR and pointed out that its work goes well beyond investigating climate change.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the California Institute for Water Resources within the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources division, said this week that NCAR, which has more than 800 employees, is “the premier weather and climate and natural hazard institute in the world.”
Public affairs editor Jon Murray contributed to this story.
