Colorado’s congressional Democrats spent weeks pontificating about the disaster of a government shutdown. But when it came time to vote, every single one of them opposed reopening the federal government.

Let that sink in.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate approved a deal to fund the federal government through Jan. 30, with eight senators who caucus with Democrats crossing party lines to break the filibuster and secure the 60 votes needed to pass the bill.

Colorado’s Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper weren’t among those senators.

Two days later, the House voted 222-209 to end the shutdown — with six Democrats joining Republicans. President Donald Trump immediately signed it into law Wednesday night.

So, yes, Washington ended the longest shutdown ever — just in time for the holidays, and with all the trimmings: SNAP benefits, semi-functional airports, paychecks for furloughed federal employees. The law even reverses the Trump administration’s shutdown layoffs. Those who hemmed and hawed about unfair terminations are getting their wish.

But make no mistake: This happened in spite of Colorado’s Democrats, who had nothing to do with it.

Despite their dire rhetoric about the human costs of a shutdown, Democratic U.S. Reps. Jason Crow, Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen opposed reopening the government.

Ditto for Bennet and Hickenlooper, who couldn’t bring themselves to stand with colleagues like Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman or even Minority Whip Dick Durbin, the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat.

Instead, they turned a simple government funding bill into an irrelevant health-care crusade while simultaneously weaponizing SNAP benefits as political leverage.

The supposed sticking point was the “enhanced premium tax credit” to help upper-middle-income earners afford the outrageously expensive Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) plans during the pandemic — and were set to expire on December 31.

“The Democrats held our government hostage for over a month because they demanded an extension of these subsidies, and Republicans didn’t cave on the bipartisan Continuing Resolution,” Colorado GOP Congressman Jeff Crank told me. “By now, we could’ve had a solution to this mess they’ve put us in.”

Crank voted to reopen the government alongside fellow Colorado Republicans Lauren Boebert, Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd. He emphasized the regular premium tax credit — “for everyday working people” — continues. It’s the “enhanced” credit that’s expiring.

“(T)hat is for a family of four making $128,000 or more — some making $200,000 or more,” Crank said. “The EPTC is only a bandaid masking a large wound that is the ACA. To fix health care we need to heal the wound, not replace the bandaid.”

When Republicans held their ground and excluded the subsidies, Democrats like Hickenlooper cried foul.

“Just voted NO again on the final Senate vote on the Republican CR deal,” Hickenlooper proudly tweeted. “It did nothing to lower costs for Coloradans and failed to address skyrocketing health care premiums. Working families deserve better.”

Oh, Hick. Enough grandstanding already. You’re talking about pandemic handouts for people with incomes above 400% of the poverty line, not poor or indigent people. Besides, a continuing resolution isn’t supposed to solve healthcare. It’s supposed to fund the government.

And don’t forget: Democrats set these subsidies to expire, not the GOP. President Biden signed that bill, not Trump. This one’s on Hickenlooper, Bennet and friends, who wanted Republicans to bail them out of a problem of their own making.

After all, those subsidies merely paper over the high cost of Democrat-created Obamacare plans — and that’s what they’re afraid of.

Still, Republicans ultimately agreed to hold a roll call vote on the issue, even though not a single one voted for the subsidies when they were created in 2021. That’s pretty generous.

Alongside the healthcare squabble came alarmism over SNAP benefits for poor families, casting Republicans as heartless.

“Hunger is not a political weapon, and I will continue pushing to ensure Trump fully funds SNAP and put an end to this cruelty,” Bennet tweeted.

So, Mike, if “hunger is not a political weapon,” why didn’t you lay down your political arms, vote to end the shutdown and fully fund SNAP? That would certainly “end this cruelty” — which is exactly what Bennet voted not to do.

On the Senate floor, Bennet — who’s running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination — insisted, “We shouldn’t be making matters worse, which is why this debate is so crazy.”

Absolutely. Holding the government hostage over subsidies passed specifically for the pandemic is what made this debate crazy.

In the end, after forty-three days of drama, they walked away with bupkis. Now, we’re back to square one.

Let’s be honest: Bennet and Hickenlooper have shed any semblance of the bipartisanship they once claimed. They voted against reopening the government knowing it would still reopen — all on the backs of those Democrats daring enough to work with Republicans and end the shutdown.

They aren’t upset that the government reopened without meeting their demands. They’re upset that eight Democrats defected — exposing their culpability after weeks of blaming Republicans heading into this month’s elections. And they can’t spin this one.

Bennet and Hickenlooper know better. It’s time they stop deceiving Coloradans and do their jobs.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.