{"id":23771,"date":"2025-01-31T13:19:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T20:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rep-jeff-hurd-visits-disabled-american-vets-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:41:54","slug":"rep-jeff-hurd-visits-disabled-american-vets-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rep-jeff-hurd-visits-disabled-american-vets-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Jeff Hurd visits Disabled American Vets in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"U.S.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd (left) meets with members of the Disabled American Veterans in Cortez on Wednesday, Jan. 29. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd visited the Disabled American Veterans center in Cortez around noon on Wednesday, Jan. 29.<\/p>\n

A few members of the DAV and public were there, mingling and enjoying pineapple and pepperoni pizza, doughnuts and strong coffee.<\/p>\n

Hurd talked with each person, shaking hands and listening to their concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the first congressman who\u2019s been here in the five years we\u2019ve been open,\u201d said Wes Soule, an officer and veteran at the DAV in Cortez.<\/p>\n

Hurd secured what had been Lauren Boebert\u2019s seat in District 3 when he beat Democrat Adam Frisch by five percentage points in the November election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to serve the third district,\u201d Hurd said. \u201cIt\u2019s my first official trip as a congressman to Southwest Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he made a point to visit the DAV since there\u2019s a \u201csignificant veteran population here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to let the veterans in this part of the state know that I care, and care about access to health care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Montezuma County, there\u2019s 3,200 veterans that the DAV is aware of.<\/p>\n

Soule said it\u2019s \u201chard\u201d to navigate \u201cthe bureaucracy that is the health system\u201d as a veteran, and made a point to bring that up to Hurd.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pushing to get a veteran pathfinder here. It\u2019d be someone to meet with and help veterans find a path to the care they need,\u201d said Soule.<\/p>\n

Hurd, his Southwest Colorado Regional Director Naomi Dobbs, and his District Director Betsy Bair were all there, and they had just come from a meeting with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council.<\/p>\n

Hurd said the meeting with the tribe went \u201cgreat.\u201d<\/p>\n

That meeting largely focused on water, access to quality health care and access to law enforcement resources on the reservation, said Hurd.<\/p>\n

When The Journal<\/em> asked Hurd about Chairman Manuel Heart\u2019s recent special announcement and rumors of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the reservation, Hurd said there was no verified reports of such activity.<\/p>\n

It did come up in the meeting, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my understanding, the law enforcement on the reservation and ICE have a good working relationship,\u201d Hurd said.<\/p>\n

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe posted an \u201cICE Concern Update\u201d online on Jan. 29 and said that \u201ccurrent ICE efforts are focused on undocumented individuals who have committed serious crimes, have an existing deportation order, and pose a potential risk to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur highest priority is the safety and well-being of our Tribal community,\u201d the update said.<\/p>\n

Hurd echoed that sentiment and said, \u201cI think a top priority most Coloradoans share is to make sure their community is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 30, the Southern Ute tribe posted a press release<\/a> detailing Hurd\u2019s visit with its tribal council two days before, on Tuesday, Jan. 28.<\/p>\n

The release said that Hurd and the tribal council talked about \u201cseveral key topics of shared interest and importance,\u201d such as President Donald Trump\u2019s presidential orders and \u201ctheir impact on Tribal sovereignty and governance and the well-being of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also noted talking about water rights, \u201cthe implementation and adequacy of federal programs serving Tribal needs\u201d and \u201ccollaborative approaches to energy development and sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate Representative Hurd\u2019s willingness to engage in open and honest discussions with Tribal Council,\u201d said Chairman Melvin J. Baker in the press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is critical that we work together to ensure the protection of Tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and the rights of our people,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

In that same press release, Hurd said, \u201cAs Chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, I am committed to fostering a positive working relationship with Indian tribes, especially with those I am honored to represent in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurd left the DAV in Cortez after an hour or so, and headed to north to Grand Junction for a Monday meeting to talk about wolf introductions in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

visited the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes first<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23771"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78256,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23771\/revisions\/78256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23771"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}