Speaker 1: State Senator Barb Kirkmeyers. She'd also like to be your
Speaker 1: next governor and is in the Republican race for the nomination.
Speaker 2: Barb, good to hear from you again.
Speaker 3: Hey, nice to hear from you too. Thanks for everything
Speaker 3: you're doing as well.
Speaker 1: So you know, I have to say, Barb, I'm in
Speaker 1: a different position than you. When I hear Democrats of
Speaker 1: any stripe in Colorado talking about making Colorado more affordable,
Speaker 1: I just take it as a laugh line, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: because it's hilarious because since they've taken over every branch
Speaker 1: of government in twenty nineteen, government has grown exponentially, the
Speaker 1: cost of everything has grown exponentially. And I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that everything is the Democrats in Colorado's fault, because it isn't.
Speaker 1: Like We've also had national inflation that's been a mess.
Speaker 1: But now to see them earnestly running on making Colorado
Speaker 1: more affordable, it makes me laugh.
Speaker 2: I guess I shouldn't look at it that way. I
Speaker 2: should take it more seriously.
Speaker 3: Well, I think sometimes the only thing you can do
Speaker 3: is lab and try and and just work way through it.
Speaker 3: But quite honestly, you're exactly right, you know, Democrats are
Speaker 3: going around saying, oh my god, the state's unaffordable, all
Speaker 3: these things, you know. I mean, we just heard from
Speaker 3: Michael Bennett. He put out this post and was on
Speaker 3: a podcast saying that it's you know, a lot of
Speaker 3: other words, but it basically said it was disgraceful, and
Speaker 3: it is disgraceful. But you know what, he has said nothing.
Speaker 3: He has said nothing for the last six and a
Speaker 3: half seven years when all of this has been happening.
Speaker 3: Because seven years ago, before this one party control that
Speaker 3: we have, we weren't the fifth most unaffordable state in
Speaker 3: the nation. We weren't the second most unsafe state in
Speaker 3: the nation. We weren't the sixth most regulated. I mean,
Speaker 3: what did they think was going to happen when they
Speaker 3: passed all those regulations and pass those onto businesses that
Speaker 3: just get passed on to consumers. Did they think things
Speaker 3: weren't going to cost more? I mean, it's crazy, but
Speaker 3: it's their fault. It is just their fault.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so they're already lining up because I think
Speaker 1: that that messaging in the last election cycle, and let's
Speaker 1: be real, I mean, it was a schlacking across Colorado
Speaker 1: for conservatives once again, and part of the reason that
Speaker 1: I think some of the races were one, at least
Speaker 1: in some of the school boards, was that they focused
Speaker 1: on real life issues. And I think that the Democrats
Speaker 1: are now moving away from this sort of identity politics
Speaker 1: that they've been so immersed in for so many years.
Speaker 1: So how do you, Barb Kirkmeyer, point out to the
Speaker 1: voters who may not necessarily be the most informed voters
Speaker 1: about why we're sort of where we are today? How
Speaker 1: do you push back on that narrative without just going
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? Because that's what I would say,
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm not a politician.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I've been in several forums with you know, Democrats
Speaker 3: who are running for office, whether it's attorney general, treasurer,
Speaker 3: or gouvenatorial and you know, just even a few weeks ago,
Speaker 3: I was in in front of the Denver Junior League
Speaker 3: about two hundred to two hundred and fifty one, and
Speaker 3: we were talking about women issues and government. And I
Speaker 3: set there for an hour and a half and listened
Speaker 3: to the Democrat candidates and or their surrogates, and I
Speaker 3: was the only Republican candidate actually there, which I think
Speaker 3: we've got to go out and keep make sure that
Speaker 3: we're in front of every group. When I rent the governor,
Speaker 3: I'm readying to be a governor for everybody in the state,
Speaker 3: not just a certain flex few. But you know, I
Speaker 3: listened to him for an hour and a half talk
Speaker 3: about the cost of groceries and how expensive it was
Speaker 3: and how unsafe our communities are. And literally I ended
Speaker 3: up being the last person to speak. I got the
Speaker 3: last shot at closing statements, and I just said, they're right,
Speaker 3: it is And I said, and it's their fault. It's
Speaker 3: one party control. They have done this year over a year,
Speaker 3: and they've made our state unaffordable, unsafe, and quite frankly,
Speaker 3: we are just unraveling. And the thing is, you know,
Speaker 3: and this is what I tell folks, even as I
Speaker 3: talk about the healthcare situation in our state. The governor
Speaker 3: just cut Medicaid, cut medicaids, and he cut Medicaid provider rates.
Speaker 3: And my Democrat colleagues on the Joint Budgets Committee set
Speaker 3: there and said nothing. It's infuriating. I mean, finally, today
Speaker 3: we're getting a post out from the Colorado Sun that says,
Speaker 3: you know, this is how bad it's going to hurt
Speaker 3: all these people on Medicaid. It is not just the
Speaker 3: people on Medicaid that will be hurt by this. With
Speaker 3: twenty five counties with maternal health care desert, that means
Speaker 3: whether you're on Medicaid or not, you're not getting maternal
Speaker 3: healthcare in those areas of our state. That's what this
Speaker 3: one party control has done in the state of Colorado,
Speaker 3: and they're making it worse. The governor came out, so
Speaker 3: I mean, I do everything I can to get the
Speaker 3: message out, you know, and we have books like yourselves
Speaker 3: and other people in the media that are getting it out.
Speaker 3: But even like you know today, when I saw that
Speaker 3: headline come out, it was the other day, and you know,
Speaker 3: I've just had the opportunity to say, start reading things again.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I sent, you know, sent out a tweet
Speaker 3: that said, look, the headline should have read this is
Speaker 3: Polis Medicaid cuts. You know, the polist Medicaid cuts will
Speaker 3: hurt families across Colorado. And the Dems on the joint
Speaker 3: Budeviney that they've said nothing. They refused to hold him accountable.
Speaker 3: But the people in this state, we all need to
Speaker 3: start holding him accountable because he's affecting everyone's access to healthcare,
Speaker 3: not just those who are the most poor among us,
Speaker 3: you know, the most vulnerable among us. He's doing it
Speaker 3: to everybody. It's hurting everybody, and they are feeling it.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what's showing up in the polls.
Speaker 3: And I know, you know, the election, and I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: I'm kind of going on here a little long, but
Speaker 3: I know that last election, you know, Tuesday, last week,
Speaker 3: everybodything all it was a slacking and to some extent
Speaker 3: it was. But I think for those of us that
Speaker 3: are involved in this, you know, we know that which
Speaker 3: school board members are Republicans and which ones are Democrats
Speaker 3: or you know, unaffiliated or you know where they stand.
Speaker 3: But on the healthy mials thing, we have voted on
Speaker 3: that twice and so the third time, I mean, there
Speaker 3: wasn't that much on the ballot and I just don't
Speaker 3: think people were that you know, interested in it. And
Speaker 3: but for the third time, it's like, well, we voted
Speaker 3: on that twice, and you know, the two times before,
Speaker 3: if they passed it. And so when the message is, gus,
Speaker 3: do you think we should tack somebody else other than
Speaker 3: yourself so that in school, you know, what do you
Speaker 3: think they're gonna say, well, I mean, wait, but.
Speaker 1: You know as well as I do, that that bill
Speaker 1: was not about making sure kids could eat at school.
Speaker 1: It was about putting the progressive income taxes Camel knows
Speaker 1: underneath the tent. And I keep saying on social media,
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what, all you people who voted
Speaker 1: to stick it to the rich, wait until you find
Speaker 1: out you're the rich, because they will come for you
Speaker 1: with a progressive income tax.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. But you know, but Manny, it has been on
Speaker 3: twice before. This was can we keep the money that
Speaker 3: you already said should go to kids to feed kids
Speaker 3: in schools? You know? And people are like, well, yeah,
Speaker 3: why not? You know, I mean I think that's how
Speaker 3: people approached it. And they's like, we've already voted for twice,
Speaker 3: why would we not vote for again? And you and
Speaker 3: I know what's behind it, but they don't, right, But
Speaker 3: you know I will. I will see this as well.
Speaker 3: I think it is starting to permeate into folks who
Speaker 3: are not underneath what I call the golden bubble down there.
Speaker 3: You know that, you know, we get so closed in.
Speaker 3: It's like our own little echo chamber going on. But
Speaker 3: I think it is starting to permeate because even with
Speaker 3: this snap the supplemental nutrition program. I mean, you've got
Speaker 3: you have Senator Bennett calling out and saying it's a
Speaker 3: disgrace that we're so unaffordable, and then he continues to
Speaker 3: vote for the shutdown. This isn't on the Democrat. They
Speaker 3: continue to vote for the shutdown time and time again.
Speaker 3: Our two US senators keep doing that. And basically, you know,
Speaker 3: and it's a one hundred and twenty million dollar program
Speaker 3: a month, and Post is like, well, let's fill the
Speaker 3: gap with ten million bucks. And I'm like, you need
Speaker 3: to call a state of emergency, tap into the emergency fund,
Speaker 3: and start figuring out how to make this work in
Speaker 3: our state. Because it's six hundred thousand people that aren't
Speaker 3: going to have food on their table, and half of
Speaker 3: those three hundred thousand of them are kids. So what
Speaker 3: does he think they're going to do for Thanksgiving? For
Speaker 3: goodness sakes? You know. But here's what's happened just recently,
Speaker 3: and I had mag comments and I started talking to
Speaker 3: some of my county's richter friends. Jefferson County declared an
Speaker 3: emergency disaster that people aren't going to get fed. This
Speaker 3: is a this is a big deal, you know kind
Speaker 3: of thing, and you know, but here's here's Bennett, Well,
Speaker 3: we're unaffordable, and you know whose fault is it? It's
Speaker 3: the Democrats. And then on top of it all, he
Speaker 3: keeps shutting down government and is the real him and
Speaker 3: Hickenlooper are right there at the top of the list
Speaker 3: of people who are denying people's food in our state.
Speaker 3: That's ridiculous. That's just ridiculous to me.
Speaker 1: I think the entire government shutdown is ridiculous. I think
Speaker 1: that the fact that we're doing a continuing resolution over
Speaker 1: and over and over again and expecting a different result
Speaker 1: is ridiculous. But as governor of Colorado, what would you
Speaker 1: do to do a better job managing those Medicaid funds,
Speaker 1: managing the healthcare needs of the state, recognizing that, especially
Speaker 1: in some mountain communities, health insurance is insane. How do
Speaker 1: you even begin to do something here at the state level.
Speaker 3: Some of the things that I've already done is trying
Speaker 3: to ensure again that the Medicaid provider rates that there
Speaker 3: is an increase. Of course, now I'm getting pushed back
Speaker 3: from not only the Governor's office, but even people on
Speaker 3: the Joint Budget Committee who don't want to keep those
Speaker 3: rates up because I guess people just everyone needs to
Speaker 3: understand when you cut the Medicaid provider rates, it cuts
Speaker 3: access to certainly right off the top the one point
Speaker 3: two million people who are on Medicaid, but it ends
Speaker 3: up cutting access for everybody in the state of Colorado
Speaker 3: because those providers leave the system. So I already talked
Speaker 3: about hospitals that have closed their maternal healthcare wards. We
Speaker 3: have hospitals now that are in Loveland and Greeley that
Speaker 3: are turning the close things like their emergency centers and
Speaker 3: they're in patient services because they can't afford to bring
Speaker 3: on Medicaid patients because it's running their hospital into the
Speaker 3: ground kind of thing, and so they can't thrive, they
Speaker 3: can't continue on. So it's going to impact everybody. And
Speaker 3: then last year able to carry a bill working again
Speaker 3: with the Hospital Association and looking at how do we
Speaker 3: pull down federal dollars, you know, the taxes that we
Speaker 3: pay in I'm trying to make sure we get them
Speaker 3: back here for our books, but how do we pull
Speaker 3: down federal dollars to stabilize the safety net. And we
Speaker 3: were able to again, working with hospitals who are going
Speaker 3: to contribute, you know, donate funds for us to the
Speaker 3: state so that we can pull down federal funds essentially
Speaker 3: a match, you know, it's a dollar for dollar match
Speaker 3: kind of thing to start stabilizing our healthcare safety net.
Speaker 3: So those are things that I've worked on, but quite frankly,
Speaker 3: it's we have got to get some legislators and a
Speaker 3: governor's office who understand that when you cut medicaid, what
Speaker 3: I mean, our healthcare system is in crisis mode and
Speaker 3: they're just making it worse for everyone in this state.
Speaker 3: And so I do my best to try and you know,
Speaker 3: increase the education part. But as a governor, there are
Speaker 3: other things that we should be cutting other than Medicaid.
Speaker 3: I mean, the governor came in with his budget request
Speaker 3: to cut Medicaid by another three hundred to three hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty million dollars.
Speaker 2: Where's that money?
Speaker 1: I mean, where is that money going to come from?
Speaker 2: In the medicaids?
Speaker 1: This has been Don't get me wrong, I think that
Speaker 1: there's probably a lot of fat in the Medicaid system
Speaker 1: and probably a lot of fraud. But if we're not
Speaker 1: going to redirect any of that three hundred million into findings,
Speaker 1: specifically those those areas.
Speaker 2: Of fraud where we can go after fraudsters.
Speaker 1: I don't know where that money comes from, and I
Speaker 1: think some of that go ahead.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I know I was going to say.
Speaker 1: I just think it's interesting that he's he's able to
Speaker 1: do that so cavalierly and have no political or media
Speaker 1: pushback at all.
Speaker 3: Exactly, and he has had some pushback. I mean, we've
Speaker 3: gotten some pushback on it, but there honestly, here's what
Speaker 3: this governor is doing. He is punting. He is trying
Speaker 3: to push this problem out as far as he can
Speaker 3: so he can claim that, you know, just like he says,
Speaker 3: I'm saving you money. I mean, and he created the
Speaker 3: Office of Saving people Money. Seriously, have we all saved money?
Speaker 3: Because I have not. I don't think anyone else that
Speaker 3: i'd talk to. And so he's like the emperor who
Speaker 3: wears no clothes, right, but he's walking around and what
Speaker 3: he thinks are these great clothes and he basically has
Speaker 3: no clothes on. Rite that story, and that's what he's doing.
Speaker 3: It's like, look, if I just keep telling you over
Speaker 3: and over and over again that I've saved you money.
Speaker 3: You're gonna believe me I saved you money. So if
Speaker 3: I keep telling you over and over again that I'm
Speaker 3: balancing the budget, You're going to believe me that I
Speaker 3: balanced the budget. And people do need to push back.
Speaker 3: In fact, I've had some of those conversations, and I
Speaker 3: was talking you know, at the hospital Association and you know,
Speaker 3: these patient groups, and it's like, it can't just be me,
Speaker 3: it has to be all of you that start pushing back.
Speaker 3: You need to get the message out through your associations,
Speaker 3: through your organizations, through your patient organizations, that the governor
Speaker 3: is doing this. I mean, the disability organizations, you know,
Speaker 3: non for profit groups are out there. They're they're getting
Speaker 3: the message out. That's why we're starting to see more stories.
Speaker 3: But the governor isn't feeling any pain here. He's not
Speaker 3: feeling anything, you know. You know at one point, you know,
Speaker 3: I asked, you know, some of his staff last year,
Speaker 3: like why does the governor hate kids with autism? Yeah?
Speaker 3: When I put that out on Twitter, I finally get there,
Speaker 3: you know, get their attention. But it's things like that,
Speaker 3: and you know, and it's kind of wait, wait, let
Speaker 3: me let me stalk you right there.
Speaker 2: I have to ask for clarification.
Speaker 1: So you did you try to talk to the governor
Speaker 1: before before you you sent out on social media? Why
Speaker 1: do you hate kids with autism? Is that what it
Speaker 1: took to get a conversation with the governor.
Speaker 3: So here's what happened. No, I didn't get a conversation
Speaker 3: with the governor. Here's what happened. We had a case
Speaker 3: and this was started in twenty four where the Medicaid
Speaker 3: rate that was being paid for children with autism was
Speaker 3: being reduced to the point that kids that are you know,
Speaker 3: kids who are maybe being on the spectrum but we
Speaker 3: don't know, weren't getting their assessments and their evaluations done.
Speaker 3: And those need to be done when they're they're three
Speaker 3: and no later than four, you know, three to four
Speaker 3: years of age. They need to have these evaluations and
Speaker 3: these assessments done. And what was happening is because the
Speaker 3: provider rate was so low that the assessments, the waiting
Speaker 3: list was getting pushed out like twelve and eighteen months.
Speaker 3: I mean, this assessment is what then determines around four
Speaker 3: and five years of age, the types of resources that
Speaker 3: these children need so that they can have a successful future,
Speaker 3: successful life, you know, a better quality of life in
Speaker 3: the future. And we were cutting we weren't pick puff
Speaker 3: was pulling back on them on the Medicaid rates for
Speaker 3: these certain codes. Okay, So I was able to push
Speaker 3: through and at that time the members of the Joint
Speaker 3: Budget Committee backed me up, and we were able to
Speaker 3: push through an increase to the Medicaid provider rate for
Speaker 3: these codes, for these so these kids could get these assessments,
Speaker 3: so that providers would quit leaving our state, and that
Speaker 3: they would you know, quit leaving the system, and that
Speaker 3: they would stay in the system and these kids could
Speaker 3: get their assessments. I was so bafter we got that
Speaker 3: pushed through, and it was a JBC, a Joint Budget
Speaker 3: Committee supplemental that I was, you know, really pushed on.
Speaker 3: But again the other members agreed with me. We get
Speaker 3: a push through. I'm told by you know, one of
Speaker 3: the staff members of the Governor's office like, well, we're
Speaker 3: going to do a comeback on that and and cut
Speaker 3: that out. And I'm like them, are like, oh, please
Speaker 3: do so I can explain to everybody how you hate
Speaker 3: kids with autism, Like why is that? And then but
Speaker 3: here's what happened. That was part of his cut right
Speaker 3: after the special session, is to cut that rate. Specifically,
Speaker 3: the thing that I had increase they cut. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think they're like target anything I do, frankly, so
Speaker 3: I'm just like, you know, why does the governor hate
Speaker 3: kids with autism? You know, why does the governor hate
Speaker 3: kids that are in school, like, you know, in special education?
Speaker 3: Then he doesn't want to fund them, you know kind
Speaker 3: of thing. And you know, I mean that's how that's
Speaker 3: how far I feel like I have to go to
Speaker 3: get his attention and then you know, then his staff
Speaker 3: will come back with something. But in the meantime, he's
Speaker 3: cut those kids with autism, he's cut families who have
Speaker 3: children adult children with disabilities, when he's cutting MEDICAIDS. That's
Speaker 3: what's happening. Those people are starting to push back. There
Speaker 3: have been some articles, but it just needs to be everybody,
Speaker 3: and it's not just the governor. The leg lators that
Speaker 3: are on the Joint Budget Committee need to have an
Speaker 3: understanding of how this is hurting all Colorado families, not
Speaker 3: just a few. It's hurting everybody. And the Governor's budget request,
Speaker 3: the Governor's coming in front of us the Joint Budget Committee.
Speaker 3: On Wednesday we have our session where he has to
Speaker 3: present his budget request. His budget request is cutting medicaid
Speaker 3: bought out, and I asked them in the one on
Speaker 3: one meeting that I did eventually have with the governor
Speaker 3: and the Office of State Planning and Budget Director Mark Ferandino.
Speaker 3: I finally had a meeting with them after I had
Speaker 3: to complain about things and you know, and put out
Speaker 3: messages and Mary Anne Goodlin from the Colorada Politics put
Speaker 3: an article out on this stuff. I asked him, I
Speaker 3: was like, how much general fun are you actually cutting
Speaker 3: in your budget request. They won't even answer the question.
Speaker 3: They're like, well, that's a pudicator, so it's not that complicated.
Speaker 3: I need to know. And that's the question I'm going
Speaker 3: to ask next week. By the way, So on Wednesday,
Speaker 3: I'm asking that question. I hope they have an answer.
Speaker 3: I said, well, have you back on?
Speaker 2: Well, have you back on? You get that information.
Speaker 1: Senator Barb Kerkmeier, who I think probably has the best
Speaker 1: chance of wrangling Colorado's budget under control.
Speaker 2: But we'll see. Barbo's good to talk to you. We'll
Speaker 2: talk to again soon.