A potential deal to fund large swaths of the federal government, including the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapsed on Thursday night after Colorado senators demanded that Congress stop President Trump’s efforts to dismantle a key climate agency.

A Democratic senator involved in the negotiations over passing a five-bill package of appropriations bills before Christmas said that Trump’s attempt to break up a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colo., was like a “stick of dynamite” that exploded any chance of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending.

Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) objected to moving forward with the so-called minibus spending package that, if enacted into law, would result in 85 to 90 percent of the federal government being funding through September of 2026.

“We need to fix this problem,” Bennet said, explaining his opposition to moving forward with the spending package. “We’ll have to work together. We’ll have to work together to figure out how do this

A federal judge on Monday refused to release from prison former Colorado clerk Tina Peters, the only ally of President Donald Trump currently behind bars for crimes related to the attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Last year, a state jury convicted Peters, the former Republican clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, of participating in a criminal scheme with fellow election deniers to breach her county’s secure voting systems, in hopes of proving Trump’s false claims of massive fraud.

Trump has championed the case of Peters, 70, who is now one year into a nine-year prison sentence, calling her an “innocent political prisoner.” CNN recently reported that Trump is being strongly encouraged to more aggressively intervene in the matter, to try to get her out of prison.

Peters filed a federal lawsuit earlier this year, known as a habeas petition, arguing that she should be released because of constitutional concerns from her trial, specifically that her free speech rights were violated. But US Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak rejected Peters’ longshot bid to be released.