U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper was assigned to four Senate committees Tuesday.
Hickenlooper will join the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
“Senate committees may not receive wall-to-wall coverage on cable news, but they are crucial to the job – where key legislation is crafted, debated and approved,” Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said in a statement.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources supervises legislation related to energy, the national parks and public lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
The BLM has been an important topic to the new senator, given that its headquarters is in the middle of moving from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction. In recent weeks, members of Colorado’s Capitol Hill delegation have sent letters to President Joe Biden expressing support for a fully functioning BLM headquarters in Grand Junction.
Colorado is also home to four national parks, and many acres across the state are overseen by the BLM.
Hickenlooper will also join the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over a range of affairs, including interstate commerce, highways, economic development, technology and consumer issues.
Former Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner was on both the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Commerce Committee before Hickenlooper unseated him in the 2020 election.
Hickenlooper has also been chosen to serve on the HELP Committee, which oversees and considers a range of legislation, including education, public health and labor.
He will also join the Small Business Committee, which oversees the Small Business Administration and considers legislation, investigates problems and compiles federal resources for the small business community.
Before getting into politics, Hickenlooper was a small business owner himself. He co-founded Wynkoop Brewing Co. in downtown Denver before becoming governor of Colorado.
“We have secured committee assignments that can have significant impact over issues that Coloradans care about: health care, transportation, climate and small business,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting to work!”
Grace George is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.
