Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Congresswoman Lauren Bolbert represents Colorado's third congressional district for another
few weeks then she will represent Colorado's fourth congressional district
on the other side of the state. And she's been
working on an issue that impacts lots of places across
the state. And Lauren was on with me a few
months back talking about the zip code issue. And Lauren,
(00:20):
first of all, good morning, and thanks for being here.
And it seems like you're making some big progress.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, this is so exciting, Ross and thanks for bringing
me on to talk about such a wonky issue and
seemingly a non issue because not everyone is affected by this,
but in the communities who do not have a unique
zip code that's recognized by the postal service, it impacts
them every single day. It maybe even in ways that
(00:48):
they don't realize, whether it comes, whether it's first responders
response times, mail delivery accuracy and inaccuracies, and then their
sales tax, the news going to a neighboring city that
they share a zip code with, or even their insurance
rates being increased because of their zip code. And so
(01:13):
most cities, most communities petition the USPS to have their
own unique zip code recognized, and often that is just
by default denied, and the appeal process is ten years.
You have to wait ten years to appeal the decision
and try again. And so it literally has taken an
(01:34):
Act of Congress to get fifty one communities nationwide to
have their unique zip codes recognized. And that's what my
legislation does. I've worked to get this through committee, a
past committee with one hundred percent support from every Republican
and every Democrat. I fought to get this on the
House floor to vote on it this Congress. Yesterday we
(01:57):
did that. It passed the House unanim and I got
to give some credit to Senator Michael Bennett. I have
been on the phone with him and his staff for
weeks working on this, and he is actually doing everything
that he can to do what they call hotlining a bill.
He's going to hotline this bill next week and ensure
(02:21):
that this unique zip Code Bill gets a vote in
the Senate so he can be signed into law in
this administration. So this will be massive for the cities,
especially in Colorado, who have been fighting for up to
decades to get this resolved.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
When I first heard about the issue, I think I
saw it maybe on your house website, maybe got three
years ago or something, and I think it mentioned Silvercliff
in particular. Yes, right, and in Silvercliff in CDs read.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yes you know so not anymore. It was first term
in first In my first term, I had Custer County,
and Custer County has Westcliff and silver Cliff, beautiful cities.
I think I want to retire there one day and UH.
But in redistricting I lost that. But this was the
first issue that the real first policy issue that was
(03:25):
had a local impact that I could do something from
a federal level. And so I felt compassion for the
residents who had been petitioning their UH, their members of
Congress for two decades and also the USPS and UH,
and I I had such compassion that I promised them
(03:46):
I would do everything that I could to get their
zip code recognized. Silver Cliff has a zip code for
post uh PO box users, but for their actual homes
they share zip code with west Cliff, and so Westcliffe
collects all of the tax revenues that Silvercliff brings in
(04:07):
and it impacts them in a very negative way. And
so I actually called Mayor Buck yesterday in Silvercliff to
let him know the status of this, and he was
so excited. He said, it's been thirty three years there
in Silvercliff that they've been fighting for this, and he
has been in the fight for nine years, and now
(04:29):
here we are, silver Cliff has such great potential to
have this done for them.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And I just want to mention a listeners, like, Okay,
maybe you don't get to Silvercliff that often, and Lauren's right,
it's a beautiful place and I might want to retire
there too, But just for listeners, listen to some of
these other towns that are going to benefit from this
bill that had this problem. Castle Pines, Centennial, Cherry Hills,
Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Loan Tree, Superior.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
There's more from there.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
But I'll just stop with those. These are big towns,
and one of the things I noticed, Lauren, and I'm
not sure that this is a representation of the same problem,
but you can you can tell me I used to
live in one of those towns and now I live
in another one of those towns, and both of them
usually show up as far as the Postal Service is concerned,
as Englewood, and sometimes you see like these places in
(05:18):
Centennial that are nowhere near what you normally think of
as Englewood, like really far and it shows up as Englewood.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Is that part of this that that is exactly what
it is. Yes, And so these these communities do not
have their own identity because of that. When they're putting
their address down, they put Inglewood because of the zip code.
And now they will have their own identity. They will
be Cherry Hills, they will be at Greenwood Village. When
(05:46):
when you're looking at Douglas County at Lone Tree in
Castle Pines and or even Centennial, they are labeled as Littleton.
And so Littleton also is collecting those tax revenues for
in loan treats, is losing about five million dollars a
year in tax revenue, tax revenue that they collect by
(06:07):
their small business owners and everything that they're doing and.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Their city, and they have to send that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Money to Littleton. And so this is this is a
big problem. It's a bigger problem for bigger cities.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And this resolves a well, you know what, I don't
want to congratulate you too much because I'm slightly superstitious
and I don't want to jinx it getting through the Senate.
But I mean, very well done so far, sticking with
this issue that you've been on for three years and
making a real difference for people, and you know what,
(06:44):
and an issue that everybody agrees upon, which which is
also you know, must be nice for you in a
way to like do something and have Democrats say, well, Lauren.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That's a good idea. Yes. You know, Jamie Rapkin, he
and I are politically as opposite as you can imagine,
but we do have a good working relationship and uh.
And you know, he has actually helped me a lot
through this process because there's so much indifference you're in
(07:14):
DC regarding this issue. Everyone wants to say, oh, well
we can't do it, we don't want to do it. Uh,
And it's it's not that big of a deal for us,
so we're not going to move on this. And I
really worked hard alongside.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Of Jamie Raskin and of course my.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Chairman, Jamie Comer. But it was great to have that
bipartisan support and now by camera support with Senator Bennett
helping as well. He sees the need for this, I know,
silver Cliffs, the mayor, has personally petitioned Bennett and Hicken
Looper on this issue as well for years, and so
(07:53):
they know the problems that are that are here and
and the urgency to get this done. So it's been
great to work in this bipartisan manner. And also I
do want to remind listeners all of the legislation that
I have passed has been bipartisan. The majority of my
nearly one hundred amendments that have passed the House, UH,
(08:14):
those in large part have been bipartisan. And I still
have a one hundred percent conservative voting record. I don't
compromise my principles, but I do form coalitions and build
relationships to work on the with the other side of
the aisle. Whether the Denver Post wants to put that
in the headline or not, it happened. I mean, I
think my new pronouns are by partisan. All right, Laura,
(08:38):
you know it's been great and and this issue is
so huge, and I just want to I want to
make some more to this. Yeah. Even here in DC.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I had staffers that tried to prevent this bill.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
From even coming to the floor to get the vote.
And I just want you all to know how diligent
and uh and immovable I was on this to.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Get it to the floor so we can have a.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Real resolve, and hopefully this sets of precedence for the
United States Postal Service do not need an Act of
Congress to do their job in the future. Because there
are more cities, even in Colorado who are still facing
the same issue that were not listed. I just didn't
I wasn't aware of all of them, so they're not
all in this bill. But hopefully the USPS will start
(09:24):
doing the right thing, or we'll just do this all
over again and I'll add more cities. Well.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
As a resident of one of the cities that you're helping,
I appreciate it. Laura and Volbert represents Colorado's third Congressional
District for another few weeks, then she'll be moving to
CD four as the representative in January. Good work on this, Lauren.
Keep me posted as far as how it's going in
the Senate.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
You got it. Thanks so much. Ross.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
All right, you're welcome.
Congresswoman Lauren Bolbert represents Colorado's third congressional district for another
few weeks then she will represent Colorado's fourth congressional district
on the other side of the state. And she's been
working on an issue that impacts lots of places across
the state. And Lauren was on with me a few
months back talking about the zip code issue. And Lauren,
(00:20):
first of all, good morning, and thanks for being here.
And it seems like you're making some big progress.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, this is so exciting, Ross and thanks for bringing
me on to talk about such a wonky issue and
seemingly a non issue because not everyone is affected by this,
but in the communities who do not have a unique
zip code that's recognized by the postal service, it impacts
them every single day. It maybe even in ways that
(00:48):
they don't realize, whether it comes, whether it's first responders
response times, mail delivery accuracy and inaccuracies, and then their
sales tax, the news going to a neighboring city that
they share a zip code with, or even their insurance
rates being increased because of their zip code. And so
(01:13):
most cities, most communities petition the USPS to have their
own unique zip code recognized, and often that is just
by default denied, and the appeal process is ten years.
You have to wait ten years to appeal the decision
and try again. And so it literally has taken an
(01:34):
Act of Congress to get fifty one communities nationwide to
have their unique zip codes recognized. And that's what my
legislation does. I've worked to get this through committee, a
past committee with one hundred percent support from every Republican
and every Democrat. I fought to get this on the
House floor to vote on it this Congress. Yesterday we
(01:57):
did that. It passed the House unanim and I got
to give some credit to Senator Michael Bennett. I have
been on the phone with him and his staff for
weeks working on this, and he is actually doing everything
that he can to do what they call hotlining a bill.
He's going to hotline this bill next week and ensure
(02:21):
that this unique zip Code Bill gets a vote in
the Senate so he can be signed into law in
this administration. So this will be massive for the cities,
especially in Colorado, who have been fighting for up to
decades to get this resolved.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
When I first heard about the issue, I think I
saw it maybe on your house website, maybe got three
years ago or something, and I think it mentioned Silvercliff
in particular. Yes, right, and in Silvercliff in CDs read.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yes you know so not anymore. It was first term
in first In my first term, I had Custer County,
and Custer County has Westcliff and silver Cliff, beautiful cities.
I think I want to retire there one day and UH.
But in redistricting I lost that. But this was the
first issue that the real first policy issue that was
(03:25):
had a local impact that I could do something from
a federal level. And so I felt compassion for the
residents who had been petitioning their UH, their members of
Congress for two decades and also the USPS and UH,
and I I had such compassion that I promised them
(03:46):
I would do everything that I could to get their
zip code recognized. Silver Cliff has a zip code for
post uh PO box users, but for their actual homes
they share zip code with west Cliff, and so Westcliffe
collects all of the tax revenues that Silvercliff brings in
(04:07):
and it impacts them in a very negative way. And
so I actually called Mayor Buck yesterday in Silvercliff to
let him know the status of this, and he was
so excited. He said, it's been thirty three years there
in Silvercliff that they've been fighting for this, and he
has been in the fight for nine years, and now
(04:29):
here we are, silver Cliff has such great potential to
have this done for them.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And I just want to mention a listeners, like, Okay,
maybe you don't get to Silvercliff that often, and Lauren's right,
it's a beautiful place and I might want to retire
there too, But just for listeners, listen to some of
these other towns that are going to benefit from this
bill that had this problem. Castle Pines, Centennial, Cherry Hills,
Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Loan Tree, Superior.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
There's more from there.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
But I'll just stop with those. These are big towns,
and one of the things I noticed, Lauren, and I'm
not sure that this is a representation of the same problem,
but you can you can tell me I used to
live in one of those towns and now I live
in another one of those towns, and both of them
usually show up as far as the Postal Service is concerned,
as Englewood, and sometimes you see like these places in
(05:18):
Centennial that are nowhere near what you normally think of
as Englewood, like really far and it shows up as Englewood.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Is that part of this that that is exactly what
it is. Yes, And so these these communities do not
have their own identity because of that. When they're putting
their address down, they put Inglewood because of the zip code.
And now they will have their own identity. They will
be Cherry Hills, they will be at Greenwood Village. When
(05:46):
when you're looking at Douglas County at Lone Tree in
Castle Pines and or even Centennial, they are labeled as Littleton.
And so Littleton also is collecting those tax revenues for
in loan treats, is losing about five million dollars a
year in tax revenue, tax revenue that they collect by
(06:07):
their small business owners and everything that they're doing and.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Their city, and they have to send that.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Money to Littleton. And so this is this is a
big problem. It's a bigger problem for bigger cities.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
And this resolves a well, you know what, I don't
want to congratulate you too much because I'm slightly superstitious
and I don't want to jinx it getting through the Senate.
But I mean, very well done so far, sticking with
this issue that you've been on for three years and
making a real difference for people, and you know what,
(06:44):
and an issue that everybody agrees upon, which which is
also you know, must be nice for you in a
way to like do something and have Democrats say, well, Lauren.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That's a good idea. Yes. You know, Jamie Rapkin, he
and I are politically as opposite as you can imagine,
but we do have a good working relationship and uh.
And you know, he has actually helped me a lot
through this process because there's so much indifference you're in
(07:14):
DC regarding this issue. Everyone wants to say, oh, well
we can't do it, we don't want to do it. Uh,
And it's it's not that big of a deal for us,
so we're not going to move on this. And I
really worked hard alongside.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Of Jamie Raskin and of course my.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Chairman, Jamie Comer. But it was great to have that
bipartisan support and now by camera support with Senator Bennett
helping as well. He sees the need for this, I know,
silver Cliffs, the mayor, has personally petitioned Bennett and Hicken
Looper on this issue as well for years, and so
(07:53):
they know the problems that are that are here and
and the urgency to get this done. So it's been
great to work in this bipartisan manner. And also I
do want to remind listeners all of the legislation that
I have passed has been bipartisan. The majority of my
nearly one hundred amendments that have passed the House, UH,
(08:14):
those in large part have been bipartisan. And I still
have a one hundred percent conservative voting record. I don't
compromise my principles, but I do form coalitions and build
relationships to work on the with the other side of
the aisle. Whether the Denver Post wants to put that
in the headline or not, it happened. I mean, I
think my new pronouns are by partisan. All right, Laura,
(08:38):
you know it's been great and and this issue is
so huge, and I just want to I want to
make some more to this. Yeah. Even here in DC.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I had staffers that tried to prevent this bill.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
From even coming to the floor to get the vote.
And I just want you all to know how diligent
and uh and immovable I was on this to.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Get it to the floor so we can have a.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Real resolve, and hopefully this sets of precedence for the
United States Postal Service do not need an Act of
Congress to do their job in the future. Because there
are more cities, even in Colorado who are still facing
the same issue that were not listed. I just didn't
I wasn't aware of all of them, so they're not
all in this bill. But hopefully the USPS will start
(09:24):
doing the right thing, or we'll just do this all
over again and I'll add more cities. Well.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
As a resident of one of the cities that you're helping,
I appreciate it. Laura and Volbert represents Colorado's third Congressional
District for another few weeks, then she'll be moving to
CD four as the representative in January. Good work on this, Lauren.
Keep me posted as far as how it's going in
the Senate.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
You got it. Thanks so much. Ross.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
All right, you're welcome.
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