U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse fielded questions from Summit County constituents on domestic and foreign policy issues during an April 24 town hall. 

Speaking at the Summit County Community and Senior Center, Neguse, who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, opened his remarks by describing a legislative period mired in discord and hyper partisanship.

“It has been a confounding, difficult, frustrating 16 months in the United States Congress,” said the third-term representative. “(This Congress) has been, just in terms of sheer volume of legislation, the least productive since 1932.” 

Last year, the 118th Congress passed just 34 bills, the lowest number in the first year of a congressional session since the Great Depression. Still, Neguse said there “are some bright spots” amid the slow legislative pace.

One example was a major funding package that included $61 billion in aid to Ukraine amid its war with Russia. Despite support for the proposal from both Republicans and Democrats, the aid had stalled for months in the U.S. House, Neguse said. 

“I’m grateful that we were able to ultimately see a situation emerge in which folks were able to rise above petty partisan discord,” Neguse said. “And perhaps, that provides us with a path to accomplishing more over the course of the coming months and remaining year ahead.” 

Several must-pass pieces of legislation still remain to be dealt with, Neguse said, including the Agriculture Improvement Act, or Farm Bill, which is reauthorized by Congress every five years and was last approved in 2018. 

Along with providing funding and policy guidelines to an array of food and agricultural programs, the 2018 Farm Bill included a critical tool to help rural communities address affordable housing needs. 

For the first time ever, the legislation granted the U.S. Forest Service the ability to lease land used for administrative purposes to local governments seeking to build housing. The Summit County government last year became the first in the country to take advantage of the new rule, entering into a lease agreement with the White River National Forest in September that will allow it to construct up to 177 below-market-rate rental units on an administrative site near the town of Dillon. 

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With Summit County representing just one stop that day on a listening tour spanning between Gypsum and Idaho Springs, Neguse said “there hasn’t been a single conversation in which housing has not dominated the local discussion.” 

Neguse praised county commissioners for their multi-pronged effort to deliver more affordable housing units whilst saying he feels there’s “more the federal government can do to incentivize localities that are trying to aggressively address this challenge.” 

But housing remains a nuanced subject, with Neguse adding, “Obviously, a lot of folks who live in your community and communities across the state have a view of how development should proceed. And that view has to be one that’s heard and listened to and navigated.”

Jess Hoover, climate action director for the local environmental nonprofit High Country Conservation Center, asked Neguse how the federal government can educate more Americans about new climate programs under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Passed by Congress in 2022, the legislation provides hundreds of billions of funding for clean energy tax credits, rebates and other climate-friendly programs and represents the most significant federal spending on climate change in U.S. history. 

“How can we do more to take these really important policies and make the language around them more accessible?” Hoover asked. 

Neguse said because many of the funding opportunities passed in the Inflation Reduction Act were not set to take effect immediately after its passage, much of those dollars have yet to hit local communities. But work remains to get the message out to communities about how they can leverage those funds, he added. 

The congressman was also asked about his view on Israel’s war in Gaza which has led to a current death toll of more than 34,000 Palestinians and more than 1,000 people living in Israel. As part of Congress’ $61 billion in Ukraine aid, lawmakers also approved $26.4 billion for Israel that also includes humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza. 

Neguse said he supported that funding both to give Israel, which he called a U.S. ally, the ability to defend itself from groups like Hamas and the Iranian military as well as to provide more aid to Gaza, which he said is “sorely needed and necessary.” 

He added the package “in my view was in the best interests not just of the United States and our national security but in the best interests of Israel and ensuring that civilians get humanitarian aid.”