Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper's Entrepreneurial Model for Governing
*By Alyssa Caverley*
With almost 70 percent of Coloradans happy with the way he does his job, Gov. John Hickenlooper enters the final months of his second term with plenty of positive energy.
Could a White House run be next for the Colorado Democrat?
Hickenlooper was coy when he sat down Tuesday with Cheddar's CEO Jon Steinberg at the Milken conference in Los Angeles.
"We're doing stuff that most other states haven't come close to," said Hickenlooper. "The moment I start talking to you or any media ー 'here's what I'm going to do in 2020, I'm really leading in this direction, I need to do this, I need to do that' ー not only do I get distracted, but my cabinet gets distracted."
He said he wants to finish his last days in office strong, following the strategy that has served his administration to this point: "I think what we've done in Colorado again and again and again is taken some very controlled level of risk when there was outsized benefits."
Hickenlooper also discussed his recent budget approval.
"We are the number one economy in America right now, so we've had a dramatic increase in revenue over the last two years and that allows us a certain amount of freedom," he said.
The state's pension, he said, has seen an investment of $250 million a year even though retirees had to give up a bit of their cost of living adjustment.
Colorado is one of several states in the country that has seen its teachers stage protests over their pay and other issues. Hickenlooper said he was confident that his state could address the issue by dealing with education, transportation, and pensions separately in the state's new budget.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/governor-hickenlooper-talks-2020-plans).
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
