The House of Representatives’ Republican majority has made it clear that one of its top priorities is to make crippling cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs. It is likely that U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert will support these efforts.

Voters deserve to know the number of contacts (emails, texts, phone calls) that she has received from 3rd Congressional District constituents, demanding that these programs be gutted.

The Durango Herald and The Journal should make a Freedom of Information Act request of Boebert to find out the extent of this constituent groundswell. It is important to know what is driving her position. It is one thing if Boebert’s support for these proposals, which are going to shred programs that have been functioning well for decades and upon which many people in our district rely, is indeed constituent-driven. It is something else entirely if Boebert’s support is not driven by constituent-clamor, and is only being done to follow the party line.

These programs have been the target of the right for so long that the initial reasons for why they are a target have been lost to memory and can no longer be articulated in any way that makes sense. “We hate them because we have always hated them and they have to go,” evidently, is the right’s mindless destruction mantra. That does not qualify as the basis for good public policy.

Voters need to know whether Boebert supports these actions, why and what she will do to help those she hurts. The Herald can provide that information.

Josh Joswick

Bayfield