Dusti Gurule
Posted on August 21
We see who this system was built to serve, and it’s not us. Earlier this year, Congress passed H.R. 1, a Republican budget plan backed by every GOP member from Colorado. It handed massive tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations and, in doing so, automatically triggered matching state tax cuts that drained hundreds of millions from Colorado’s budget, creating a billion-dollar shortfall.
Now, Governor Polis has called a Special Session starting August 21, the third in under two years. This pattern is not a sign of healthy governance, but of crisis management on repeat. And once again, Latine, immigrant, young, and low-income people in Colorado, the backbone of our state, are being told to tighten our belts, wait our turn, and survive on less.
The truth is, Latine communities are already over-delivering for this state. Immigrants alone contribute nearly $19 billion to Colorado’s GDP and pay $2.2 billion in state and local taxes every year (Colorado Fiscal Institute). Despite this, H.R. 1 slashes over $930 billion from Medicaid and makes deep cuts to the Affordable Care Act, threatening hundreds of thousands of people in Colorado’s health coverage. At the same time, it pours billions into border wall construction, immigrant detention, and ICE, doubling down on surveillance and criminalization instead of investing in care and stability.
These budget decisions are part of the same system that undermines bodily autonomy and community health. And Colorado voters have rejected this agenda time and again. We’ve chosen care, equity, and community over cruelty and corporate greed. But our Republican members of Congress are ignoring that mandate, siding with extremist priorities over the will of the people they represent.
Leadership means finding solutions, not excuses. As we head into this Special Session, we are unwavering about what must happen: no cuts to Medicaid, reproductive health care, public education, or other safety-net programs. Yes, federal rules set key eligibility limits for programs like Medicaid and SNAP, and state lawmakers can’t rewrite those in a Special Session. But that’s not an excuse to shrug. It’s a reason to act with urgency and creativity.
The process must be transparent: proposed cuts should be posted publicly with a clear breakdown of their impacts, and every single vote should be on the record. No back-room deals. No hiding from the people you represent.
Let’s be clear about where the harm starts and how it’s carried forward. In Washington, Colorado’s Republican members of Congress, Jeff Hurd, Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, and Gabe Evans, have made decision after decision that harm the very communities they’ve been elected to represent. Those votes set the stage for what happens here at home. When Congress cuts funding for Medicaid, public education, or immigrant protections, state lawmakers are the ones who decide whether Colorado will step up to protect our communities or let the harm roll downhill. They can act as a safety net, finding ways to close budget gaps, protect vital programs, and keep our people whole, or they can double down on the same failed priorities. Too many have chosen the latter. That’s why voting matters. Who we send to Washington shapes the size of the storm. Who we send to the State Capitol determines whether our communities have shelter from it.
At COLOR Action Fund, we hold Colorado lawmakers accountable. Our 2025 Legislative Scorecard shows the truth: who stood with our communities and fought for reproductive justice, and who sold us out. It also shines a light on leaders who proved that standing with our communities is not only possible; it’s powerful.
As we head into this Special Session, we are unwavering about what must happen: no cuts to Medicaid, reproductive health care, public education, or other safety-net programs.
Representative Lorena García of HD 35 earned our Reproductive Justice Champion Award for making every decision, conversation, and vote align with our communities’ values. She set the bar for what leadership should look like, and frankly, the rest of the Capitol should take notes.
Representative Yara Zokaie of HD 52, our Courageous Pathfinder Award winner, came in as a first-time legislator, scored a perfect 100% on our scorecard, and never hesitated to use her platform to call out injustice and amplify the voices of those affected.
Latine communities know what we want and need. Seventy-five percent of Latine voters support access to reproductive health care for all, regardless of immigration status, and seventy-eight percent of immigrant Latines want stronger legal protections and funding for long-term undocumented residents (Colorado Latino Policy Agenda, 2024). Our community’s needs are clear. The priorities of our elected officials? Not so much.
That’s why we must continue to fight to close the gap between what our communities demand and deserve, and what those in elected office deliver. Join us. Bring your whole self to this work, with rage, with love, and with joy, because this fight is not just about the present. It’s about the future we are building. And when Latinas lead, we all move forward.
Dusti Gurule is President and CEO of the Colorado Organization Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) and the COLOR Action Fund.
- Colorado Graduated Income Tax Proponents Rally Canvassers Ahead of Petition Deadline - July 23, 2026
- Prop NN Proponents Believe the Time Is Right to Raise Funding For Schools After Failed Efforts - July 23, 2026
- Where is the Border? - July 23, 2026
