BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
At least once each year, Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, the 9th most senior woman and the 25th most senior member overall in the 435-person House of Representatives, holds a one-hour casual sit-down meeting with around half a dozen reporters and editors of local newspapers, where she talks about what is happening in Washington, D.C., and responds to questions on any subject, including, this year, what is going on with our major league sports teams. DeGette has been a Member of Congress since 1996.
On August 31, in her downtown Denver office, DeGette talked about “Member Directed Spending,” now in its third year since returning in March 2021 after a ten-year ban on what was previously called earmarks.
In its new incarnation, this practice has multiple institutional safeguards to prevent abuse. The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting in-depth research to improve public policy and governance at all levels, has called this program important because it allows elected officials who know their districts’ needs best to direct funding where it is most needed in a way that is fully transparent as to the source of each request, why it is being recommended, its supporters and beneficiaries.
DeGette explained that potential projects are submitted to her office by recognized community organizations. After her staff vets them, they are submitted to the Appropriations Committee of the Congress, where they are independently vetted again, before they make their way through the Appropriations process. She said, “In all three cycles (2021-2023), I’ve focused my efforts around projects targeted at solving homelessness, including funding for mental health services at Denver Health.” She also talked about a project at Warren Village for which she got funding that will provide early childhood education for homeless single-parent families, $3 million she got for a new shelter for homeless youth being built by Urban Peak, and $2 million for the City of Denver as seed money for their acquisition of the Stay Inn Hotel to house the homeless.
The Congresswoman discussed new challenges placed on funding these projects by the Republican majority in the House, noting that they have banned funding for anything related to the arts. DeGette believes that, “In Denver, the arts are part of our vibrant and diverse community.” She expressed disappointment that she could not even submit a request to help fund a new building for arts education being built by highly renowned Denver dance artist Cleo Parker Robinson.
Some of the organizations DeGette named for which she has requested financial assistance are Coalition for the Homeless, Habitat for Humanity, and Revision, for an urban farm to address food insecurity.
The Villager asked DeGette about the recent news that Medicare would be able to negotiate drug prices on 10 identified popular drugs, but could not begin to do so until 2025. She told us, “Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare was directed to negotiate prices on 10 specific drugs by 2026 and it would go on from there…We allow negotiation on drug prices right now in the Veterans Administration and several other areas of the government. I think it should be done throughout the government. So, this is a start, but it’s not every place we need to go.” She also noted the cap on insulin cost of $35/vial for Medicare recipients that was also included in the Inflation Reduction Act and shared that she was working with colleagues in the Senate as well as the House on both sides of the aisle to get the $35/vial price for insulin extended to everyone who needs it, since it is a life-saving drug.
DeGette’s position as a senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, through which 40% of all legislation must pass, makes her the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that writes bills about energy policy, including climate issues. Should the Democrats regain control of the House in 2024, she shared that she will chair that subcommittee which would, “put me in a great position to forward all the work I’ve done over the years to combat the climate crisis, expedite our move toward renewable energy, and improve the grid.” DeGette pointed to a bill she has been working on for several years with the State Department and the President’s climate expert, “that will take us to zero percent carbon emissions by 2050, which is what all the scientists say we need to do to bend the curve.” She has gotten support for the bill from multiple stakeholders, from Xcel Energy to the Sierra Club, but is still working to get support from Congressional Republicans. Still, she reported, “Almost all the Republicans in the House now realize that climate change is real and we’re going to need to do something about it.”
As the co-chair for two decades of the Pro-Choice Caucus with U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, DeGette said, “The (U.S. Supreme Court) Dobbs decision has not just impacted states like Florida and Texas, where abortion is now pretty much illegal. It has a spillover effect in Colorado, where people are coming from other states to get health care services.”
She noted that the Pro-Choice Caucus has been working to pass a bill, The Women’s Health Protection Act, to codify Roe vs. Wade, pointing out that it is a policy “supported by a majority of Americans.” Nevertheless, under House rules, it is extremely difficult to get a bill heard without the approval of the Speaker of the House, currently Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who has thus far refused to call it.
Listening to cable news, one hears that the pro-life caucus is equally committed to passing a national anti-abortion bill.
DeGette, now in her 14th consecutive term in the Congress, made no mention of retirement and no one asked about it.
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