Where Eileen Laubacher and Lauren Boebert stand on the top issues in the 4th Congressional District race

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Laubacher thinks the tax breaks for workers earning tips and overtime should be made permanent. She also supports the bill’s increase of the child tax credit to $2,200 and would increase it. She said she would get rid of a tax break worth an estimated $70 billion for companies building data centers.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Boebert thinks all the tax breaks in the act should be made permanent, including those for seniors and for workers earning tips and overtime. She would also like to cut capital gains taxes for seniors who own their own homes and cut the payroll taxes businesses pay on tips earned by their workers. “People were very generous to my wait staff and I often paid for that,” she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Laubacher said she generally supports work requirements but the law’s paperwork demands are excessive. She said people are going to lose Medicaid benefits until they figure it out. “I believe it is designed that way in order for the government to save money, albeit on a temporary basis,” she said. She thinks states are in a better position to enforce work requirements.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Boebert supports them and said they should have been enacted a long time ago. “We do not need able-bodied adults sitting at home receiving benefits that should be going to our more vulnerable populations,” she said. She says there are caveats for single mothers and for those with disabilities. Volunteer work can satisfy the requirement, she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes. She said rural hospitals are in trouble because of the act’s Medicaid changes but also the way that insurance companies pay hospitals. She said many hospital leaders fear that if things don’t change dramatically there won’t be any hospitals left on the Eastern Plains in five years. She said the Rural Health Care Transformation Program, a five-year, $50 billion fund created by the act, is “fundamentally flawed.” Colorado was awarded $200 million in the program’s first year.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Boebert doesn’t think hospitals need more funding because of changes in the act. Instead, she said, cuts in Medicaid by state Democratic lawmakers have been hurting rural hospitals. She supported the Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year, $50 billion fund created by the act, which she said would be a “massive benefit” to rural hospitals. Colorado was awarded $200 million in the program’s first year.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes. “It is important for it to get done,” Laubacher said. Her opponent, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, is trying to pass it again this year after it was vetoed by President Donald Trump last year.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Boebert is trying to pass the legislation that was vetoed last year by President Donald Trump, this time including it in a larger measure authorizing water projects across the country. The House passed it in September but it still has to be considered in the Senate, where U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is working to pass it. “We look forward to this becoming law,” Boebert said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

No. Laubacher said Colorado is moving in the right direction toward using more renewable energy. But she said it’s not possible to only rely on renewable sources of energy right now because battery technology hasn’t advanced quickly enough to expand reliance on solar and wind power. She wants to modernize the grid, improve energy efficiency and support innovation that reduces emissions while investing in clean energy.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

No. Boebert believes the markets should decide what energy should be used. “We need to use the resources that we have been blessed abundantly with to supply those needs,” she said, adding that electric vehicles have been a “major failure.” She said the climate has always been changing. To have clean water and air, she says, America needs to produce the cleanest energy that is affordable by using hydropower, fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Laubacher said payments by energy companies, through royalty rates, lease payments and bonding requirements, should be regularly reviewed. “These are public lands and publicly owned resources, so when private companies profit from developing them, taxpayers should get a fair return,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Yes. Boebert said energy companies are paying taxes and permitting fees, which help ease the tax burden on residents in the communities where they operate. “Schools are built, fire stations are built. Local governments are able to continue without taxing their people,” she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

No. “We need a major effort to reform our immigration system to secure our border, make legal immigration have a more defined process give and people certainty about where they stand.”

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Yes. Boebert said the United States is the most generous country when it comes to immigration. “We do have plenty of pathways and we are a very generous nation in allowing that path to citizenship to happen for so many,” she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes. Laubacher said there should be a way for hardworking people who are paying taxes, such as those who have applied for asylum and those who previously had protected status, to try to become permanent residents. People convicted of violent crimes should not be allowed to stay, she said. “We deserve a stable and functioning and reliable immigration system, but I also believe in a secure border,” she said.

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U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

“If you’re in our country illegally, then you have to leave,” Boebert said. She says the Trump administration is making the country safer by enforcing the law and removing criminal aliens.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Laubacher said taxpayer-funded assistance to Israel should end but weapons could still be sold to Israel on a “case by case basis.” “Israel has the ability to pay for their own weapons for defense,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

No. “I think we need to take a pause on aid everywhere. It’s not just one country in particular. We need to put America first,” she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes. Laubacher said the United States promised to protect Ukraine from Russia when it gave up its nuclear weapons at the end of the Cold War. “It is the right thing for us to do, and I think that we have a moral obligation,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

No. Boebert wants a pause on aid to all countries. “We are sending hundreds of millions of dollars all the time to other countries. We at the very least need to pause and re-evaluate, and I do not want our tax dollars going overseas. I want our tax dollars to stay in our country.”

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Laubacher said the president should never have started the war in Iran when negotiations were still possible. She said Iran is an “evil regime” that has done damage around the world. “But that does not mean we should start a war that is costing service members’ lives, innocent civilians’ lives and is also causing our economy grave damage,” she said. She said the U.S. needs to negotiate for peace.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Boebert said President Trump is doing everything he can to ensure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon. “The president is doing what he’s going to do there, and I’m focusing on Colorado,” she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes. Laubacher thinks lawmakers should pass bipartisan legislation to regulate AI, which she says has the potential to do tremendous good but could also be used badly. “Letting it continue without regulation is problematic,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Not yet. She said keeping local government control over data centers in H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was a first step. Boebert said at some point there may need to be some federal guidance or restrictions on AI but she doesn’t want the federal government taking over the issue. “There are risks of national security compromises so there may be a time where Congress needs to get involved,” she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes. “They have access to too much information. It would be insider trading for anyone else,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Yes, Boebert said she doesn’t trade stocks and has advocated for a ban for years. “We are privy to information that the American public is often not,” she said.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes. Laubacher said being a member of Congress is a public service. “It is not supposed to be a way to become independently wealthy.”

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Boebert thinks there should be a waiting period before members of Congress can become lobbyists. She said some have gone on to be beneficial as lobbyists. “I think transparency is everything. Registration and a waiting period makes sense,” she said. If abuse is discovered, she said, a ban could be considered.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

Yes, for both. Laubacher said she doesn’t have a specific time frame in mind for either Congress or the Supreme Court.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Yes, for Congress. Boebert said she is open to negotiating the exact time limit. “Certainly I don’t think someone should be here for 20 years,” she said. She doesn’t think there should be term limits for Supreme Court justices.

Eileen Laubacher

DEMOCRAT

“I don’t have a person in mind. I think there are a lot of good people that are out there but I think I think it’s way too early to be thinking about that,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert

REPUBLICAN

Boebert said there are more pressing things to think about right now. “I’m focused on Coloradans right now. We will have more elections, we will have more primaries. More names will come up and we’ll see,” she said.

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