A potential deal to fund large swaths of the federal government, including the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapsed Thursday night after Colorado senators demanded that Congress stop President Trump’s efforts to dismantle a key climate agency.
A Democratic senator involved in the negotiations over passing a five-bill package of appropriations bills before Christmas said Trump’s attempt to break up a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colo., was like a “stick of dynamite” that exploded any chance of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending.
Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) objected to moving forward with the so-called minibus spending package that, if enacted into law, would result in 85 percent to 90 percent of the federal government being funding through September 2026.
“We need to fix this problem,” Bennet said, explaining his opposition to moving forward with the spending package. “We’ll have to work together. We’ll have to work together to figure out how to do this.”
“We have to find a way together to fix this problem,” he added.
Bennet said his Republican colleagues know how critical the center is to providing scientific analysis of weather patterns.
“Everybody on that floor knows what an excellent job [it] does,” he said, pointing to the Senate floor.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) made a herculean effort to get the spending package passed before Christmas, and it looked earlier in the day as the Senate might be on track to clinching a deal after conservative GOP senators dropped their objections to the bill.
But Bennet and Hickenlooper took the lead in bringing the package to a dead halt by objecting to an agreement to set up date and amendment votes on the Senate floor.
They were infuriated by the Trump administration’s announcement Wednesday that it plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, a leading research institution specializing in climate science.
“We just want to take the money that’s in the budget for it, we want to make sure that money is used to keep it open [and] we don’t cancel it,” Hickenlooper said.
Hickenlooper said the center’s grant funding is at risk of being cut by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
“What the National Science Foundation is saying is ‘We’re cutting your budget, dramatically. We’re going to cut it by 30 or 40 percent.’ Enough so you’re threatening the viability of the research facility,” he said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, thought a deal on the funding package was coming together until it was suddenly derailed by the fight over the atmospheric center.
“It blew everything up,” she said, noting she had solved objections to the portion of the package funding the Department of the Interior, which she oversees.
“We were all talking well. I navigated some things on Interior that we didn’t think we would be able to do and we did,” she said.
A second senior member of the Senate Appropriations panel said the Trump administration’s announcement sank the chances of passing the appropriations package before the new year.
“The timing of the announcement was not helpful,” the lawmaker grumbled.
Russell Vought, the director of the White House budget office, announced in a post on the social platform X that the NSF “will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research,” calling it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”
That spurred a strong backlash from Senate Democrats.
Bennet and Hickenlooper had strong support from other Democrats in their decision to block the spending package unless Republicans agree to ensure the continued operation of the climate center.
“What the president did in Colorado is disgusting and our Republican colleagues ought to get him to change it,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a leading Democratic voice on the climate issue, called the research a “global crown jewel of science” that “helps us learn a great deal about weather which matters a great deal to everyone.”
Murkowski acknowledged the research center is important to her home state, where the fishing and tourism industries are major economic engines.
“For us in Alaska, this atmospheric research is a big deal for us,” she said.
The funding package appeared to have momentum Wednesday night and early Thursday after conservative holdouts — Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — dropped their holds after working out understandings with Thune.
A bipartisan group of senators gathered on the Senate floor Wednesday evening to talk about a path for passing the bill before leaving for Christmas, or at least voting to begin consideration of the package so it would be teed up for final passage in early January.
One GOP senator familiar with the talks said Republican senators had agreed to a list of eight GOP amendments to consider on the Senate floor.
Democrats initially had a list of 40 amendments they wanted to be considered and eventually worked their demands down to a list of 12 amendments by Thursday afternoon.
But Bennet and Hickenlooper informed colleagues late Thursday that they wouldn’t just settle on a vote to protect the National Center for Atmospheric Research. They wanted Republicans to guarantee that they would add language to the bill to protect the center’s funding and future operation.
Updated at 11:28 p.m. EST