In Colorado’s 3rd District, we do not wait for Washington to save us.
We build. We produce. We compete.
For too long, federal economic policy has operated in reverse. A plant closes. A mine shuts down. A manufacturer moves overseas. Only after families have already lost paychecks does Washington scramble to respond. That is not a growth strategy. That is managed decline.
I did not run for Congress to manage decline. I ran to deliver for this district, and that means fighting to make sure jobs come here in the first place.
That is why I introduced the Made in America Jobs Act.
The numbers are clear. In 1979, nearly 20 million Americans worked in manufacturing. By 2019, that number had fallen by more than one third. During that same period, our population grew by more than 100 million people. We became a larger country with fewer of the kinds of jobs that built the American middle class.
Colorado has felt those shifts. Rural communities in particular know what it looks like when a major employer disappears. We have seen energy communities hollowed out by decisions made far from here. We have watched supply chains move overseas while American workers were told to adapt.
I believe we can do better.
Manufacturing is not nostalgia. It is national security. It is supply chain resilience. It is economic stability for families who want to work with their hands and build something real. It is the backbone of communities across Western and Southern Colorado.
If we are serious about bringing jobs home, federal policy must change.
The Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 was designed to help distressed communities after economic damage had already occurred. It has helped many areas over the decades, including communities in Colorado. But it was written for a different era, when responding to local downturns was considered enough.
Today, competition is global. Capital moves fast. Other nations aggressively court manufacturers with incentives, infrastructure, and coordinated planning. If we only respond after jobs are lost, we will always be behind.
The Made in America Jobs Act modernizes that approach.
Instead of waiting for layoffs, it allows communities to prepare. It enables local leaders to use existing federal grant programs to get sites ready, improve infrastructure, strengthen workforce planning, and compete for reshoring businesses before those jobs ever leave American soil. It shifts federal economic development from reactive to proactive.
This is not about growing government. It is about making existing tools work better for the people they are supposed to serve.
In Colorado’s 3rd District, we have the land, the workforce, the energy resources and the work ethic to attract the next generation of industry. What we need is a federal policy that helps us compete, not one that ties our hands or reacts too late.
Reshoring manufacturing also reduces our dependence on foreign supply chains that have proven fragile and, in some cases, adversarial. When we rely on other nations for critical goods, we weaken our economic sovereignty and our national security.
Bringing production home means we control the standards. It means jobs with dignity. It means environmental protections that reflect Colorado values, not the lowest bidder overseas. It means strengthening the economic base of rural communities that too often feel forgotten.
Not every vote in Washington is easy. Some are tough. Some draw criticism from both sides. But if a vote strengthens this district, protects our workers, and builds long term economic stability, I am willing to take it.
My responsibility is not to political talking points in Washington. It is to the families, producers, small-business owners and workers in Colorado’s 3rd District.
We can accept decline and manage it slowly, or we can compete and win. I choose to compete.
And I will continue fighting to ensure Colorado’s 3rd District is not reacting to the next economic shift, but leading it.
Congressman Jeff Hurd represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. He serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.
