At a Wednesday, April 16 town hall she co-hosted with U.S. Senator and gubernatorial candidate Michael Bennet (D-CO), U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) told the crowd to pressure Republicans to split from their colleagues on President Donald Trump’s agenda. During her speech she called out one Republican in particular: another member of Colorado’s delegation, U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO).
“And by the way, we have one of the most important districts in Colorado, our neighbor in CD8. I think that Gabe Evans needs to hear from all of you,” Pettersen said. “He represents the district that has one of the highest percentages of folks who rely on Medicaid and he is on board to strip away the healthcare that so many people rely on.”
She continued, “So we have the opportunity to put pressure on Republicans to make sure that they know that we are not going to forget when it comes to the election next November.”
Over 21% of Evans’ constituents, or around 155,000 people, receive benefits from Medicaid. Last November, Evans defeated incumbent Yadira Caraveo by 2,596 votes.
Membership in Colorado’s congressional delegation isn’t the only thing Pettersen and Evans have in common. They’re both members of the U.S. House’s Problem Solvers Caucus, a coalition of both Democrats and Republicans aimed at combating political polarization and finding common ground between the parties.
“Our Members sit down together every week to debate, exchange ideas, and find common ground,” read the Problem Solvers Caucus website.
True to this description, Pettersen said at the town hall that she talks one-on-one with her colleagues on the other side of the aisle regularly. She told the audience that, off the record, many of them are “worried” about the Trump administration’s agenda.
“And I can tell you, on the House floor, the Republicans who I talk to individually will tell you how worried they are, that they don’t support what’s happening,” said Pettersen. “And we need them to be brave. We need them just to stand up.”
For Evans’ part, his public support for Trump’s agenda has so far been unwavering. He voted last month for a Republican budget plan that would include harsh cuts to social services, which some experts say would also likely involve cuts to Medicaid.
“These cuts would devastate families in every part of the state but Colorado’s 8th District would be hit the hardest,” said Rep. Pettersen in an emailed follow-up statement to the Colorado Times Recorder. “This district has the highest percentage of kids who rely on Medicaid in the state and many of their schools rely on Title I funding to support the most vulnerable students. We’re talking about real people who stand to lose life-saving care if these extreme budget proposals move forward. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle reject efforts that put billionaires and big corporations ahead of kids, seniors, veterans, and those who need our support most.”
In an email response to the Colorado Times Recorder, a spokesperson for Evans wrote that he “absolutely cares about protecting Medicaid so it can be used by the people who need it most. He’s been outspoken about this on multiple occasions.”
In an Axios Denver article last month, Evans said, “We know that there is fraud, waste and abuse in the system that we have to be able to find so that we can actually save Medicaid for the people that need it.”
The spokesperson continued, “The congressman has also been outspoken in encouraging the state to fix the way Medicaid is administered. Colorado has paid millions of Medicaid dollars to deceased people and illegal immigrants. GAO recently reported that $31 billion in wrongful payments in the Medicaid program.”
The claim that Colorado has paid millions for Medicaid for dead people comes from a February audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General. The audit’s findings have been disputed by the state of Colorado, with a spokesperson saying that the federal agency had not reached out to enrollees to confirm they had actually died.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO), the third Colorado member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, represents the district with the highest percentage of Medicaid recipients. Earlier this month he signed a letter expressing concerns about the administration’s plan to cut Medicaid, noting that any cuts in services would prevent him from supporting the budget bill. Evans did not join Hurd in signing the letter. While generally siding with fellow Republicans, Hurd has occasionally broken with his party on other issues. Earlier this month, he introduced a bipartisan bill that would allow Congress to assert more control over U.S. tariff policy. In January, he declined to join the other Colorado Republicans who asked Gov. Jared Polis to repeal some of Colorado’s state-level protections for immigrants.
