Dear Editor:
Rural Coloradans are polite, but we’re savvy people. Our district sent Lauren Boebert packing because we recognize trainwrecks. GOP thinktank strategists instead produced Jeff Hurd, a family man who stays out of the tabloids. Their gamble: a smile, a suit, and bland Hallmark words will distract us from Hurd’s votes which wreck programs that allow working families to survive. But we’re not distracted.
Hurd voted for HR1, an unbeautiful bill that devastates families with a cruel game of duck, duck, goose. 1 in 5 Affordable Care Act enrollees were immediately shoved off health insurance when Hurd eliminated ACA subsidies to balloon billionaire tax breaks. Thousands will die unnecessarily. About 22 million people (including 4 million small business owners) saw health insurance costs spike. Millions more will lose coverage, and more will die - Hurd’s slaughter for his billionaire bosses.
Hurd’s Medicaid cuts stab deeper yet. Nationwide, 40% of kids enrolled in Medicaid will lose coverage by next summer - picture 5M kids learning how to endure pain and exhaustion, their future overshadowed. Then add 12M adults daily risking medical bankruptcy, disease and death. Meanwhile, Hurd’s insurance is top-notch, courtesy of us taxpayers.
Hurd thinks it’s not enough to forgo medical care. In Colorado alone, 12,600 kids of 33,700 people lost SNAP benefits, the slim barrier protecting many families from hunger. How shall we tell our children “no dinner tonight,” Jeff?
Let’s vote this billionaire sycophant out of office. (PS – vote against Naomi Riess, who also covers for HR1.)
Kirby MacLaurin
Durango, Colo.
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