About 7,000 people from Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District tuned in Tuesday evening to U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd’s call-in town hall meeting to ask questions and hear his answers.
The call, which started at 6 p.m., was one hour long. No two questions were the same.
The first caller had concerns for her husband, a decorated Vietnam veteran.
With threats of cuts to the Veterans Affairs, she said, “I don’t think that was Congress’s intention” when they passed the PACT Act in 2022 to expand veterans’ health care.
Hurd said, “My understanding is that care in Western Colorado is good,” specifically at the Grand Junction VA Medical Center.
“It is,” the veteran intervened.
Hurd then encouraged him to reach out to his office in person, over the phone or online to “help us identify what the issues are (with receiving care) and let us know how we can help.”
The next call concerned the threat of selling 250 million acres of public land across America, 14 million of which are eligible acres in Colorado.
“What’s your position on the sale of public lands?” the caller asked of Hurd.
The land sale provision was removed from the Republican budget bill Tuesday after it was found to violate Senate rules. However, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee “still has a movement afoot” and is pushing for it in the name of affordable housing, which “gives me some concern,” said Hurd.
Hurd said he was the only Republican who voted against the last-minute midnight provision that added the sale of public lands to the budget bill.
“No one in the 3rd Congressional District asked for this land sale,” Hurd said.
Plus, the language was unclear, meaning “the land sale could possibly be all from one state.” Montana was excluded, which “undermines fairness,” and public access would be prohibited to those lands, said Hurd.
“Am I going to listen to the 3rd Congressional District or bureaucrats in Denver and D.C.? I’ll side with my district every single time,” he said.
The next caller, who said he has raised livestock all his life, spoke against Colorado’s reintroduction of Canadian gray wolves.
Hurd said that the “forced introduction of Canada gray wolves” is “a concern I’ve heard loud and clear” from several groups – farmers, ranchers, hunters and outfitters.
Front Range rules continue to impact the Western Slope, he said, and the program is not fair to producers or wolves.
In January, Hurd signed onto a joint statement alongside Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert and two other members of Congress condemning wolf introduction in the state.
“We need to delist them from the endangered species act so we can more effectively manage them,” he said Tuesday night. “We’re working to do everything we can” to fight introducing foreign wolves into the state.
A caller from Pueblo and retired law enforcement officer said the crime rate and how its risen is “unbelievable.”
“Crime has just gotten out of control,” she said.
Hurd said that’s why it’s so important to secure the border.
Over the last six months, there are less people coming in across the border, thanks to President Donald Trump, he said.
“In part, it’s a state problem,” Hurd said. “Criminals are getting out on bail too quickly.”
He called for “more law and order representatives,” and said, “I am a law and order representative, and that’s essential to me.”
Another retired law enforcement officer said they’re “a strong advocate for the Second Amendment.”
But since the population majority is in the Denver Metro area, he said he’s concerned about his right to bear arms since that majority is largely left-leaning and looking to minimize those rights.
Living in a rural area where law enforcement isn’t always nearby, “I need to protect myself,” he said.
Hurd agreed.
“The rural nature of the district reinforces the need of fundamental Second Amendment rights,” said Hurd, adding that it’s just another example of people in Denver making decisions that impact folks on the Western Slope.
He said he feels that any gun control legislation that’s passed will ultimately fail, since those rights are protected.
“In the meantime, help colleagues in the city understand rights in rural Colorado,” he said. Those rights are not just fundamental, it’s “part of the independence of rural Coloradans,” said Hurd.
A caller from Mesa County said her family has oil and gas wells. She asked, “When will they start using local gas to build up reserves?”
Hurd said that America is “producing more energy than we ever have before,” and he underscored the importance of energy independence and dominance overseas so that our allies don’t have to rely on Russian or Iranian gas.
He added that if one cares about lowering global greenhouse gases, they ought to support energy coming from west and southwest Colorado.
“We can do it better than anyone else right here,” he said.
Aside from the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act, which protects 730,000 acres of public land in the Gunnison Basin and was timely enacted this most recent Public Lands Day, this caller asked what other bipartisan legislation Hurd is working on.
He said he’s sponsoring a bill to ensure the accurate measure of snowpack since “water is our lifeblood” and there 40 million that rely on it from the Colorado River Basin.
Another bill he’s sponsoring alongside Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennett compensates Four Corners communities impacted by the Gold King Mine disaster.
A caller from Montrose County concerned with potential cuts to Medicaid and what that means for their rural hospital called in, a concern Hurd echoed since 31% of individuals in the 3rd Congressional District rely on it.
“That’s the highest percentage of any district in Colorado, and among the highest in the United States,” said Hurd.
Earlier on Tuesday, he signed onto a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson with 15 other Republicans highlighting the importance of preserving Medicaid “for those who need it most.”
Over the years, however, there’s “been an explosion of Medicaid spending,” and “we need to make sure we have a strong, sustainable system,” he said.
Essentially, Hurd wants to make sure they’re making good use of Medicaid dollars.
“Hopefully, we’ll create a strong, more robust system,” he said. “We have to, otherwise it risks collapse entirely.”
The penultimate caller expressed concerns of heightened activity by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
“I understand the need for safe and legal ways for people to enter the country,” she said, but people are now afraid to go to work and are being taken from their families, which “is not OK.”
“What can you do?” she asked Hurd.
“America is a nation of immigrants,” Hurd said. “But we’re also a nation of laws.”
Again, Hurd spoke of the necessity of securing the border, and welcoming legal immigrants and encouraging them to be part of America.
He spoke in favor of Trump’s crackdown on drugs and trafficking in an effort to make the country safer, and removing “criminal” illegal immigrants” from the U.S.
“We need to fix the system,” he said, which will be a bipartisan effort.
The final caller called for fixing roads, and Hurd said infrastructure improvements are “a core function of government.”
Just before 7 p.m., Hurd thanked everyone for tuning in and said that it’s “an honor to represent you and a privilege to represent the district I was raised in.”
“I will never forget where I came from,” he said.
