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Since the day President Trump was sworn in for his second term, the amount of money flowing from the federal government to states has dropped precipitously. Via executive order, the Trump Administration slashed hundreds of millions in funding for Colorado that would have been used for projects including clean-energy initiatives, electric vehicle infrastructure, disaster preparedness, and growing local food. Many states, including Colorado, are fighting the legality of these cuts, since Congress already approved much of the funding.
Moreover, as the president’s sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act inches its way through Congress, state leaders and lawmakers are concerned about deeper cuts to programs like Medicaid, which more than 70 million Americans rely on for health insurance.
With more uncertainty on the horizon, the office of Governor Jared Polis created a dashboard to track funding losses in Colorado. Released earlier this month, it divides federal dollars into three categories: at risk, canceled, and successfully defended. So far, about $76 million in funding has been canceled, an additional $56 million is at risk, and about $282 million has been successfully defended through court judgments. According to the Governor’s Office, the dashboard will be updated regularly as new details emerge.
For instance, the dashboard’s second-largest line item refers to $36 million in canceled funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which would have gone to the Colorado Department of Transportation to build charging stations. In May, Colorado joined a multistate lawsuit against the federal government regarding the NEVI money, and a federal judge ordered those funds be reinstated just last week. Pending an appeal, the dashboard will soon show the $36 million as successfully defended.
We sat down with Governor Polis to dissect the federal funding dashboard. Here are five key takeaways.
1. Coloradans only get back 90 cents on every dollar paid to the federal government.
When the governor released the dashboard, he emphasized that Colorado is known as a donor state, meaning its residents annually pay more in federal taxes than the state gets back. In 2022, Colorado was one of only 11 donor states in the country, according to a study from the Rockefeller Institute of Government. “This is all happening with the backdrop of Colorado only getting about 90 percent back on the money we send to Washington,” Polis says. “This threatens to make that disparity even greater.”
2. The dashboard might not show all the federal funding that’s at risk.
While the dashboard tracks the federal government’s direct funding to state agencies, there are nonprofits, local municipalities, water districts, and other entities that typically pursue federal funding grants on their own. In some cases, federal funds those groups rely on have already been frozen or revoked—including $2.4 million for the Village Exchange Center, which offers support services for immigrants and local residents in Aurora.
Although the dashboard isn’t designed to track the loss of funding to every entity, unfreezing those resources is still a priority for the governor. “We are checking all the Colorado-bound grants. Fire districts, schools, counties, cities, all of those,” Polis says. “We’re fighting for all of those dollars.”
3. Colorado doesn’t have the budget to cover lost federal funds.
Due to Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), the state is legally required to balance its budget each year. “We make tough decisions to fund our schools and fund healthcare,” Polis says. “But there are no additional pots of money.”
One major funding area at risk surrounds public safety and emergency management. Congress allocated about $50 million to the Colorado Department of Public Safety for things like natural disaster preparedness and terrorism prevention, but that money hasn’t been released to the state. Colorado has joined a multistate lawsuit against the Trump Administration to have the funds released.
4. Colorado’s health care system is in a perilous position.
As the One Big Beautiful Bill Act moves forward, Governor Polis is particularly concerned about cuts to Medicaid and the ramifications for Coloradans. According to the Congressional Budget Office, around 12 million Americans could lose access to Medicaid if the bill passes. That means health care facilities in Colorado would have to pick up the tab for more uninsured patients. “These cuts would throw hundreds of thousands of Coloradans off health care, drive many rural hospitals out of business, and increase cost for everyone who buys commercial insurance,” Polis says.
Some hospitals—including the state’s largest safety net hospital, Denver Health—are already facing dire funding shortages due to an increase in uninsured patients and uncompensated costs. Uncompensated care cost Denver Health roughly $60 million in 2020; that number jumped to $145 million in 2024. Voters approved a 0.34 percent sales tax increase last November to bolster Denver Health’s funding, but that is only predicted to generate an additional $70 million in revenue annually. Medicaid cuts via the Big Beautiful Bill would put additional strain on a health care system that’s already buckling.
5. Living in Colorado is likely going to get more expensive.
While it’s hard to predict exactly how federal funding cuts will impact the local economy, Governor Polis stresses that health care costs in Colorado will almost certainly increase for many residents, should the One Big Beautiful Bill Act pass. Moreover, some business owners who were counting on federal grant dollars have been left in the lurch. “Look, uncertainty leads to increased costs,” Polis says. “People at this point aren’t sure whether to order supplies and materials…. A lot of recipients of investment in areas like clean energy and health simply don’t know what’s coming.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act also proposes changes to the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP), shifting more costs to states in their efforts to ensure food access. Administering the program could ultimately cost the state an additional $259 million per year over the next decade, according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute, meaning the state would have to cut from other programs if it hopes to keep SNAP benefits in place. Otherwise, as vulnerable Coloradans go hungry, grocery stores and farmers will feel a serious economic impact.
