{"id":35267,"date":"2023-03-11T00:27:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T07:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boebert-talks-priorities-for-working-class-families-and-water-in-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:23:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:23:58","slug":"boebert-talks-priorities-for-working-class-families-and-water-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boebert-talks-priorities-for-working-class-families-and-water-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Boebert talks priorities for working-class families and water in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Lauren
Lauren Boebert (R-CD3) visited the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe on Saturday to discuss H. R. 8601, the \u201cDolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act.\u201d The act aims to protect the Dolores River corridor by conserving wildlife and protecting private water and private property rights. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

WASHINGTON \u2013 When U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert considers the issues that most heavily impact Colorado, water immediately comes to mind.<\/p>\n

Whether it involves allocation, funding or accessibility, it is a topic that comes up consistently and passionately with local communities and state legislators alike. Prioritizing the needs of Coloradans, Boebert aims to reach a bipartisan solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny water victory is a major legislative victory. That is everyone\u2019s No. 1 issue,\u201d Boebert said in an interview Friday with The Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cThis means so much to Coloradans \u2013 to myself \u2013 to be able to fight for our water, for private property rights, for private water rights and work together in this bipartisan manner to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Boebert maintains a Republican standpoint on most issues, water is one where she employs bipartisanship. Last year, she joined <\/a>Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper in protecting the Dolores River Canyon with a companion bill<\/a>. Her \u201cfavorite part\u201d of the bill, Boebert said, was that it is locally driven.<\/p>\n

As part of the Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee of the Committee on Natural Resources, Boebert has discussed water storage and allocation as a way to conserve water and improve accessibility. Even with California receiving an influx <\/a>of unexpected snow this year, Western states like Colorado still suffer from persistent drought.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating when we over-allocate water and see states be irresponsible with that resource and refuse to actually manage it and put it to beneficial use,\u201d Boebert said.<\/p>\n

The congresswoman has a few ideas for addressing water storage, such as expanding on and creating reservoirs and pipelines on the Front Range. Overall, she aims to \u201censure scenic public lands for future generations\u201d with her water conservation solutions.<\/p>\n

In terms of energy, Boebert\u2019s American Energy Act<\/a> recently passed in the House Committee on Natural Resources as an inclusion in the TAPP American Resources Act. The act would bring gas and energy prices down, Boebert said, especially for rural communities, through speeding up the energy permitting process and encouraging responsible energy production.<\/p>\n

As a former <\/a>small business owner, Boebert strives to prioritize working-class families through more than just energy and water. Problems like a lack of affordable housing and inflation have severe impacts on communities such as Durango and surrounding areas in rural Colorado.<\/p>\n

Boebert said bringing back good-paying jobs and reducing inflation will empower the working class in her home state and nationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know for myself as a restaurant owner, when there was mud on my floor, that was a really good thing,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause we had those oil field workers, and there\u2019s energy workers coming in and patronizing my business. When they left, it hurt my business significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of federal spending, Boebert wants a balanced budget to help control the nation\u2019s debt and reduce inflation. But right now, she is focusing on making cuts, not raising taxes and returning to \u201cpre-COVID spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

This does not, she specified, include getting rid of Medicare and Social Security, despite what President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address<\/a>. The people who qualify for these programs, she said, have paid into them and are owed their services from the federal government. At the end of the day, she strives to advocate for those people, prioritizing working class Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians, including Joe Biden, say they want to invest in America, but they\u2019re investing in lobbyists and special interest groups, rather than American families who are struggling to buy eggs \u2026 and that income has to be supplemented, and those aren\u2019t the people who are being invested in right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Mattalian is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at smattalian@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this story erred in referring to Medicaid when what was meant was Medicare<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congresswoman breaks down her fight to bring back \u2018good-paying jobs\u2019 and better water allocation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,120,981,1255,1098,28,367,295,294],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-employment","tag-energy","tag-headlines","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert","tag-water","tag-water-supply"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35267","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=35267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82921,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35267\/revisions\/82921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35267"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}