Rep. Jared Polis came to Boulder Monday to discuss his distaste for the current presidential administration. Polis, who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, is reaching out to his constituents and held two town halls last Sunday.
“I’m going to be busy resisting some of the bad ideas that President Trump is proposing, like gutting the protections of the Affordable Care Act and making health care more expensive,” Polis told the CU Independent.
Health care was a major issue for the representative. Congress, which is now Republican-majority, has been divided since a bill in the House of Representatives was presented. The plan, which looks to replace the ACA — or “Obamacare” — signed by former President Barack Obama, has been criticized by both parties.
It was recently announced that 24 million people would lose insurance within a decade if the bill is passed. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan entity, filed the report.
“So far, they haven’t offered any good ideas to improve upon,” Polis said about the bill. “It doesn’t provide for coverage of people with pre-existing conditions, it doesn’t provide subsidies to help people afford health care, it doesn’t include mental health services, so there’s a lot of holes in it.”
For Polis, the focus of any health care bill should be to reduce the cost of coverage. Access to care is another major factor as to whether he would approve any bill replacing the ACA.
The Trump administration has been off to a hot start. Some actions taken, like signing two immigration ban executive orders and showing support for the health care bill, have led to some backlash from citizens, which was a factor in the president’s approval rating dropping. Polis hopes this will lead to changes during the midterm elections.
“People are certainly very worried with the direction the country is going under President Trump,” Polis said. “Hopefully that’ll resort in a different election next year.”
Polis also spoke about the president’s policies on immigration. The president had a strong anti-immigration stance during the campaign. So far, the president has not touched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects some undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children, passed by Obama. There is concern, however, that that may change.
“We’re trying to prevent ‘Dreamer’ students, our DACA students at CU, from being deported,” Polis said. “We’re worried President Trump could cancel the DACA program.”
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor Jake Mauff at jacob.mauff@colorado.edu.
