ALAMOSA — Congressman Jeff Hurd (Republican, District 3) held his first tele-town hall on Tuesday night where he took questions from individuals for about an hour.  

Hurd’s answer to the first question, which was on guns, was by far his most definitive and strongly worded.  

A caller, identified as “Dale from Cedaredge,” asked “…what Congress is going to do to stop the states from trampling on our second amendment rights.” In reference to state legislation SB-3 that would generally limit the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms that accept detachable magazines and are gas-operated, the caller said, “We need federal action to override what the states are doing.” 

Describing the proposed law as “blatantly unconstitutional,” Hurd told the caller to “look for legislation” from him on the issue.  

“The state government is eroding and attacking in a full-frontal way our 2nd amendment rights. I take it very seriously. We’re working in Congress to make sure we protect those rights…and fight those people who are trying to take [them] away.” 

When asked about the federal firings, Hurd said he “shares” and “understands people’s concerns” but also supports President Trump’s attempts to eliminate inefficiencies. However, he does not believe the cuts should impact “people with boots on the ground.”  The inefficiencies, he believes, are to be found among the bureaucrats working in Washington, D.C. 

Hurd also cited his co-sponsorship of a bi-partisan bill that would protect seniority of any probationary employees who were fired that may be rehired.  

Jim from Grand Junction expressed concern that the firings might be a precursor to selling off major sections of public land. Hurd said he is opposed to “wholesale of public lands” and supports protecting public lands with the caveat that, in some cases, sale of specific areas for economic development might be allowable. 

A caller from Durango asked Hurd about his stand on cuts to Medicaid. Hurd described his support for health care as “personal”, referencing his father’s work with a federally qualified health center. He described himself as a strong advocate for “protecting health care for the less fortunate” and is “committed to making sure that the poor, working poor, mothers, pregnant mothers, children have access.” But we “need to make sure we use those funds responsibly” and would consider “something like a work requirement” while also accounting for individual circumstances.  

A caller from Pueblo said she was “concerned with President Trump’s geopolitical positioning”, his “aligning with Putin and not our allies” who are no longer including Trump in NATO meetings.” 

“What is your position on reining in this president on national security,” the caller asked, calling Trump’s alliance with Putin an act of treason. “The GOP once stood for NATO and is now abandoning NATO,” she said. “What is the GOP doing about all of this?” 

Hurd stated unequivocal support for Ukraine. “This is one of the important questions of our time,” he said. He then repeated one of his former quotes, saying “We should not stand with Russia against Ukraine. When America wavers in supporting their allies, Russia dances and China watches.” 

He went on to say, “Pausing aid to Ukraine weakened our hand and emboldens Russia and invites greater dangers down the road from countries like China. It is important not to align ourselves with Russia. Russia’s invasion was an act of war, and Putin is a dictator.” 

Noticeably absent from Hurd’s answer was any response to the question about the GOP’s “abandoning NATO” or what Hurd thinks “the GOP is doing about all of this.” 

The next caller, this time from Grand Junction, asked Hurd to “please address the overreach of the executive branch…and taking away the responsibilities of Congress, such as “freezing funding already been allocated to USAID and agencies like Social Security and the IRS. Have you asked for any accountability that they’re looking for fraud? It appears that this is general slashing for the sake of slashing.” 

Hurd reiterated his support for looking for inefficiencies and cited Trump’s recent statement that his cabinet members are the ones who are deciding. Hurd expressed agreement with the president’s instructions.   

He said he understood the need to “pause to look at the inefficiencies”. It is also important, he said, to make sure the government is delivering services effectively and, at the same time for Congress to “protect our duties under Article 1 [of the Constitution].” He did not specify how or in what way Congress should protect those duties and, instead, advocated for Congress to “assess savings, quantify and codify.” 

When asked about rising energy costs due to closure of coal power plants or co-ops “using green energy,” Hurd was again critical of state government, blaming the situation on “bad public policy from Denver requiring poorly thought-out changes from reliable, low-cost carbon-based energy to green energy.”  

In providing electricity, Hurd said he prefers “coal, carbon capture, natural gas and possibly nuclear. Lots of things we can do that aren’t dependent on whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.” He went on to say he is “not opposed to renewable energy but we can’t lose sight of the importance of reliable energy that comes from fuels like natural gas.” 

A retired forester from Durango complemented Hurd for co-sponsoring H.R. 471, the Fix Our Forests Act and encouraged the employment of more federal employees to implement it. 

Regarding future town halls, Hurd said that, in addition to tele-town halls and video conferencing, he was open to in person town halls as long as the time and situation are right and “people are there for real dialogue” and not, as “other town halls have been”, for “political theater.”