Rep. Jared Polis skipped town — and a crucial vote — Wednesday because he didn’t want to get stuck in a DC snowstorm.
WASHINGTON — After championing Colorado to receive Emergency Watershed Protection funding — federal cash that will help Colorado Springs and Fort Collins areas repair wildfire-damaged lands — Rep. Jared Polis applauded his own victory in getting it into a measure to fund the federal government through September.
Then on Wednesday he skipped the vote on it.
Polis, D-Boulder, was a rare no vote on the House’s continuing resolution to fund the government through September, which passed 267-151. One Democrat colleague Rep. Ed Perlmutter voted with the bipartisan majority. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, voted against the funding measure.
Polis’ staffers say he had reservations about the spending bill. Asked why he didn’t just vote no, they pointed out he didn’t want to “get stuck in Washington” because of a blizzard in the region.
The Emergency Watershed Protection money has likely support in the U.S. Senate, which already approved the measure once. It means between $15 and $20 million in federal money will be granted to Colorado’s communities badly affected by wildfire damage last year.
That money will fund new culverts, standing pools and help build up roads to protect ashy, sooty runoff from getting into drinking water.