When the federal government shut down after leaders in Washington couldn’t do their jobs and negotiate a deal on immigration Friday night, Colorado leaders were quick to point fingers and to their positions in the aftermath.

Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Yuma, said he voted to keep the government open with a continuing resolution to buy more time.

“Opposing this funding legislation is support for a government shutdown, and I believe that approach is unacceptable for Coloradans,” Gardner said in a statement. “I voted to keep the government open because our military, veterans, children’s health insurance programs, and fundamental government services like opioid treatment centers should not be held hostage for political reasons. I will continue to work with any of my colleagues who are interested in finding a long-term solution to fund our government.

A co-sponsor of the new DREAM Act with U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Denver, Gardner said he would try to build support for bipartisan immigration reform “that includes border security measures and protections for Dreamers, but shutting down the government over the issue won’t get us closer to a solution.”

Bennet was clearly miffed at the collapse.

“This is no way to run our government,” he said. “In the last 10 years I’ve been in the Senate, we have passed 36 temporary budget extensions. Tonight’s would have been the 37th such half measure. Another four-week continuing resolution would put us right back in the same position. Our own Department of Defense has made it abundantly clear how damaging these resolutions are to our military’s ability to train and maintain its readiness to fight and protect our nation.”

He faulted Trump for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last year for immigrants who maintained good conduct but now face deportation, more than 17,000 people in Colorado – number slightly larger than the population of Durango.

“In addition to this issue, we had substantial bipartisan support to fix how we fund the Forest Service and fight our wildfires, and to provide long-term funding for our children’s health insurance program and emergency relief to help us recover from recent disasters,” Bennet said … I am convinced that there are people of goodwill in this chamber who want to reach a resolution on behalf of the American people, and we should continue working until we do so.”

Here’s what Colorado’s other congressional leaders had to say:

Gov. John Hickenlooper:

“This is more unnecessary political drama. It used to be unimaginable that we would even consider shutting down our federal government. Coloradans know that our State government doesn’t shut down. Our legislature has never put the State in this position. We can’t imagine that ever happening here and intend to keep it that way.

“We can handle the impacts of the latest shenanigans, but they waste time and resources that we never get back. This is basically another federal tax that we have to pay.”

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs:

“Senate Democrats stand in the way of a fully funded government and a reauthorized health insurance program for children. They’re recklessly holding national defense and other federal services hostage in an effort to force changes in immigration law on the American people. Current immigration programs won’t expire until March, yet this shut down immediately impacts national security, children’s health insurance, and more, placing a ‘Closed for Business’ sign on our federal government.”

Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez:

“The Senate’s failure to keep the government funded is absolutely unacceptable,” said Tipton. “Those of us in the House have repeatedly done our jobs. We passed all twelve of the annual appropriations bills to fund the federal government through fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018). We also passed a bill to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through 2022. Sadly, the Senate has not been able to do the same, which is why the House voted again for a Continuing Resolution. While short term funding is never ideal, we believed it vital to keep the government open so we could continue to fund our military, fund CHIP for six more years and continue working on a long term solution.

“Instead of working together, Senate Democrats decided to put party politics ahead of 9 million children in need of healthcare and the brave members of our military, who do not receive their hard-earned paychecks if the government shuts down. I urge Senate Democrats to stop holding the government hostage and now do what is right for the American people. They deserve certainty from their government. They deserve better.”

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver:

“Coloradans stand to suffer because Republicans have spent the last months focusing their energy on securing tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest. Meanwhile, they could only muster shoddy stopgap funding patches to fund the government that were bound to wear thin, “DeGette said. “Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House, but they couldn’t manage something as basic as keeping government open. Now, Republicans’ incompetence has endangered our economy, hurt our communities, and dangerously deprived the military of the certainty they need to keep our nation safe.”

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor:

“Democrats are holding military funding and children’s health funding hostage over illegal immigrants. Unacceptable.”