Carter’s Water Legacy and the Battle for Parental Rights

On February 4, 2025, Rose Pugliese, Greg Walcher, Lori Gimelshteyn, and Jon Boesen joined the show. House Minority Leader discusses HB 25-1051 bag fee repeal, parental rights attacks, and the overwhelming pace of legislation at the statehouse Natural resources expert exposes Carter’s devastating water policy impact on Western states and reveals over 1,500 expired federal programs still receiving funding CPAN co-founder exposes how the I Matter.

The Unproud Western Legacy of Jimmy Carter

Start listening at 32:15 – Hour 1

Greg Walcher, author of Smoking Them Out: The Theft of the Environment and How to Take It Back, provides context often missing from tributes to the late President Carter. While acknowledging Carter as a good person, Walcher documents how his administration’s water policy damaged Western states for decades. Carter’s hit list of water projects canceled hundreds of infrastructure initiatives across the West, leaving states like Colorado without adequate storage for their legal water entitlements under interstate compacts.

The consequences extend far beyond Colorado. California’s current water crisis traces directly to projects that should have been built but were killed during the Carter years. The Animas La Plata project, part of the Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement, took 20 years and the efforts of multiple senators to partially salvage. Walcher explains that the divide between urban and rural America deepened during this period and has never fully healed.

“There are over 1,500 federal programs that are legally expired for which Congress is still appropriating money. And the amount of money in the continuing resolution that funds those expired programs is over half a trillion dollars every year.”

Greg Walcher, Natural Resources Policy Expert

Colorado Legislature: Bag Fee Repeal and Affordability

Start listening at 17:00 – Hour 1

Colorado House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese discusses the Republican caucus’s push for affordability measures, including House Bill 25-1051 to repeal the recycled paper carryout bag fee. Pugliese explains that this legislation consistently receives standing ovations at forums because Coloradans are exhausted by nickel-and-dime fees. The bill represents her annual commitment to repeal harmful legislation, following previous efforts on retail delivery fees and green energy codes.

Beyond the bag fee, Pugliese warns about parental rights attacks moving through the legislature, including provisions allowing 13-year-olds to override their parents’ decisions through court proceedings. The assault weapons ban advancing through the Senate generates the most constituent outreach to Republican legislators. With 127 bills scheduled for hearing in one week, Pugliese acknowledges that legislators cannot possibly read and contemplate all the legislation moving through the statehouse.

“Having legislation where my 13 year old can override my decision by going to court is not acceptable. And so we’re seeing a lot of that type of legislation coming forward that should be really concerning, no matter if you’re a Republican, a Democrat, unaffiliated, or what party you are.”

Rose Pugliese, Colorado House Minority Leader

Parental Rights Under Siege in Colorado

Start listening at 71:40 – Hour 2

Lori Gimelshteyn, co-founder of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, exposes the systematic dismantling of parental rights through state legislation. The I Matter program allows children 12 and older to receive mental health care without parental knowledge or permission, with some counselors actively coaching children on filing for emancipation and guiding them toward gender transition.

Gimelshteyn draws parallels between gender ideology and religious establishments, arguing that its enforcement in schools through policy and discipline violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. She celebrates the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting DEI and gender ideology in schools, while cautioning that these must be codified into law for permanent protection. Protect Kids Colorado is preparing ballot initiatives for 2026 on girls’ sports protection and parental notification rights.

“Gender ideology is a lot like faith. It’s just like this belief system. And that’s where I really, truly see it violating the Establishment Clause.”

Lori Gimelshteyn, Co-founder, Colorado Parent Advocacy Network

DOGE and Zombie Programs

Start listening at 48:00 – Hour 1

Walcher provides insight into what the Department of Government Efficiency is discovering about federal spending. Over 1,500 federal programs have legally expired but continue receiving appropriations through continuing resolutions, totaling more than half a trillion dollars annually. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 alone contains over 100 programs that no longer have legal authorization, yet the Department of Energy continues spending approximately $50 billion yearly on expired initiatives.

Entire agencies operate without legal mandate, including the Federal Election Commission (expired 1981), Legal Services Corporation (expired 1980), and National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (expired 25 years ago). Even the National Weather Service has no current legal authorization. Congress’s failure to pass individual appropriation bills and reliance on omnibus continuing resolutions enables this perpetual funding of programs Americans never approved.