McKenzie Lange/Grand Junction Sentinel
Editor’s note: This story was first published by the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
On the last day of 2021, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert made it official, she is running for re-election this year.
But while the Republican congresswoman from Silt said she plans to continue to be the loudest voice in the room in upholding conservative principles, Boebert also hopes to push for real reform in Congress if the GOP retakes control of both the U.S. House and Senate in the November elections.
Earlier this year, Boebert along with a slew of other Republicans initially voted against the annual National Defense Authorization Act because it included many things that had nothing to do with funding the military.
That’s because, unlike most states, bills introduced in Congress have no mandate to stick to a single subject. As a result, lawmakers regardless of political party oftentimes pack things into bills that have nothing to do with their titles.
“Every year in Congress, we have to pass a National Defense Authorization Act. It’s traditionally a bipartisan effort, but this year (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and the left, they loaded it with a lot of left-wing, woke nonsense that I couldn’t vote for,” Boebert said at a press conference in downtown Grand Junction on Friday.
“In September, I voted against the first House version of NDAA,” she added. “Now, that’s a big political risk for me because this is about our military, who I want to support every chance that I get. But this was loaded with way too much liberalism.”
Boebert and several other conservative lawmakers pushed back, and got many of those provisions removed from the bill, allowing her to vote for the measure in the end.
One of the issues that brought to Boebert’s mind, however, was the so-called Christmas-tree nature of it all, something that has gone on in Congress for years, putting non-related provisions into bills.
As a result, Boebert said she plans to work with her colleagues to change that practice.
“I am on legislation to do this, but this is not a Democrat-sponsored legislation so you’re not going to see that come to the floor for a vote this Congress,” she said.
“Hopefully, if we get a conservative majority in 2023, this will be something that we’ll be able to push forward,” she added. “The last time I looked into this, there were 47 states who have single-subject bills.
If we can have 47 states who have that and term limits, then certainly we should be able to do that at the federal level.”
That new majority, however, needs to be more than just Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate, but conservatives like her, Boebert said.
While Boebert said she plans to work with Democrats if the GOP wins the majority, she doesn’t plan to back off on her push to have President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris impeached.
Until then, Boebert said she plans to continue to do what she’s been doing, being a thorn in Democrats’ side.
“My job in the minority is to make sure we keep the pressure up on the out-of-control administration,” she said. “I want to expose everything that they are doing that is unconstitutional, and that is not benefiting the American people. They have the House, they have the Senate, they have the White House. We’ve seen one-party rule for one year, and it is failing.”
For now at least, Boebert will face a challenger in the GOP primaries in June against Durango resident Marina Zimmerman, although state Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, also is considering entering the race.
The winner of that race will go on to face one of a slew of Democrats who are running, including Pueblo’s Sol Sandoval, Glenwood Springs’ Colin Wilhelm and state Rep. Don Valdez from the San Luis Valley.
This story is being republished in the Post Independent with permission from the Grand Junction Sentinel. Sentinel reporter Charles Ashby can be reached at [email protected]
