Dear Neighbor,
I hope you and your family are doing well.
After a hectic few days in Washington D.C., I was grateful to make it back home to Colorado Thursday evening — and the next morning, to immediately visit Weld County, where the largest strike in the United States is currently taking place. I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with the meatpacking workers in Greeley, and to stand in solidarity with all workers, in Colorado and beyond. |
Last week, I was also proud to host two town-halls on the Western Slope in Eagle and Summit counties — first in Gypsum, and then in Silverthorne. I’m deeply grateful to the hundreds of constituents who attended both forums — with no pre-screened questions or topics, just honest conversations about charting a path forward for our country.
In the last 15 months, we’ve held more town-halls than Colorado’s entire House delegation — COMBINED — and we’re just getting started! I promise to keep showing up in every community — large and small, suburban and rural, and everywhere in between. So be on the lookout for events like these in a community near you! |
Pictured left: Congressman Neguse speaks at Silverthorne town-hall. Pictured right: Congressman Neguse speaks at Gypsum town-hall. |
While making our way across the mountains, I also had the opportunity to visit with the recipients of the Community Project Funding (CPF) grants that my team and I recently secured. Between support for wildland fire response and rescue equipment and support for programs at Colorado Mountain College in Breckinridge and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, I’m proud to deliver in ways that will help keep our communities safe, train the next generation of skilled professionals, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs.
👇🏾 Learn more about the CPF stops below — and stay tuned for additional projects in the months ahead. - 🚒 Eagle County Interagency Fire Center: Funding a new, state-of-the-art hub in Wolcott for structural firefighting, wildland fire response, and river rescue equipment to keep our mountain communities safe.
- 🛠️ CMC Workforce Training Center: Building a 9,000 sq. ft. hands-on facility at Colorado Mountain College to train the next generation of skilled professionals in construction, welding, and automotive tech.
- 🏔️ Pine Cove Ranger Station: Replacing an aging temporary structure at Dillon Reservoir with a permanent facility to improve emergency response, hiker safety, and visitor services.
- 🔋 CSU Energy Research Equipment: Investing in cutting-edge materials science equipment at CSU to accelerate breakthroughs in energy storage and grid resiliency.
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Pictured left: Congressman Neguse presenting Eagle County Fire Center CPF. Pictured right: Congressman Neguse presenting Colorado Mountain College Workforce CPF. |
Pictured left: Congressman Neguse presenting Pine Cove Ranger Station CPF. Pictured right: Congressman Neguse presenting Colorado State University Materials Research CPF. |
Stay tuned for more updates, and read on for additional highlights from this week. |
| | UPDATE ON OUR FIGHT TO SAVE NCAR! | | | |
As folks may have seen: On Monday, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) — a nonprofit research consortium of colleges and universities that help manage NCAR — sued the Trump administration for attempting to dismantle the cutting-edge research center.
How did we get here? As you’ll recall, animated by a petty plot to retaliate against Colorado, the Trump administration announced in December of 2025 its reckless plans to dismantle NCAR via a social media post. My team and I, joined by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, as well as Republican Representative Jeff Hurd, led an effort to mobilize a bipartisan coalition in opposition to this directive. Together, we worked to defend NCAR and its life-saving work — urging congressional appropriators to include statutory language in last year’s funding bill to protect the institution. Unfortunately, while I’m proud our work was fruitful in rolling back dangerous cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Republicans rejected the statutory language concerning NCAR, which we’re now continuing to fight for as part of the FY2027 appropriations process.
In late January of this year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) sent out an outrageous “request for feedback” from the scientific community on how best to dismantle the center. In this notice, the NSF also asked for input on opening ownership of NCAR up for private use — essentially green-lighting the sale of this world-renowned lab to the highest bidder. Our office urged Coloradans to make their voices heard and to submit public comments directly to the NSF — and we are grateful to the thousands of Coloradans who responded!
My office also became aware of allegations that, despite the public comment period, the NSF was already negotiating the sale of components of NCAR’s space weather program to a private, for-profit company. If true, such misconduct adds to the lawless pattern we’ve seen displayed by the Trump administration since before it announced plans to dismantle NCAR — which is why I’ve demanded the Inspector General launch an immediate investigation into these allegations of potential conflicts of interest and regulatory improprieties. |
What happens next? Our work to defend and save NCAR must — and will — continue. Earlier this month, I built a bipartisan coalition of 80 lawmakers to submit our own public comment defending NCAR, and I intend to mobilize the same coalition during the funding process. |
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NCAR, and the more than 800 scientists and researchers who call it home, are at the forefront of groundbreaking advancements that have real-world impacts — including models that track wildfire smoke, project rising sea levels and floods, and forecast extreme weather events. Their work is vital to our state, our country, and our planet.
We must keep fighting to protect NCAR with every tool available. |
| | CONVERSATIONS ON DEMOCRACY AT COLORADO STATE | | | |
⏪ Rewind: Last week, I joined Colorado State University’s third annual Democracy Summit. And during my keynote conversation with College of Liberal Arts Dean Kjerstin Thorson, I was asked what I think our state’s greatest strength is in terms of democracy. My answer was simple: I genuinely feel that our greatest strength in Colorado is our people.
When you spend as much time on the road as I do, traversing our district and all the different cities and counties, you find early on that people in Colorado are deeply engaged in trying to better our state. That’s not the case in a wide variety of other congressional districts — coast to coast — and it’s something we ought to guard, support, and nurture! |
In the video above: Congressman Neguse at CSU Democracy Summit. |
| | WHAT ELSE HAVE WE BEEN WORKING ON? | | | |
- 🎨 Calling all high school artists! The annual Congressional Art Competition is now open to all high school students in Colorado’s 2nd District. The overall winner of our local competition will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol. Visit our website HERE for more information on the competition and how to submit your entry before the deadline of April 17th, 2026!
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- 🍀 Team Neguse was out and about this week! Our team attended the Longmont Meals on Wheels annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration and helped serve meals to folks dropping in. Check out our post on it by clicking the image to the left. Pictured left: Team Neguse speaks to Meals on Wheels Longmont
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Please continue to stay safe, stay healthy, and — despite everything — stay hopeful!
Sincerely, |
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Joe Neguse
Member of Congress
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