Congressman Jeff Crank Speaks at RSF 

 Despite the pop-up blizzard the night before, approximately 30 members and guests attended the RSF meeting on March 19th to hear Representative Jeff Crank, our Congressman for District 5. 

Rep. Crank started out by saying that he was born and raised in Pueblo and a lifetime resident of Colorado. He is grateful to represent the 750,000 constituents in CD5. 

Washington DC and Congress: 

He talked highly of his experience so far in the DC area to include a tour of the Lincoln Room where the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address were both written. He has also visited the Library of Congress to see Lewis and Clark’s maps. 

He expressed his joy in watching the left become unhinged and talked a bit about the George Soros’s NGO, Indivisible, interfering with Republican townhalls being held across the country, to include one of his own, which was changed to a Zoom meeting with 7000 attendees. 

He passed out a handout that included all the bills he has co-sponsored as well as the ones that have passed the House so far, including  Laken Reily Act that also passed the Senate. 

One of the bills he is co-sponsoring cuts Federal funds to sanctuary states for highways. This is just the start for penalizing sanctuary states. 

Rep. Crank was asked to sponsor the necessary bills to exit the US from the United Nations and the World Health Organization. He said he would look into it, but did not commit to it. 

The recent budget passed by the House includes an additional $9B for Defense and other cuts totaling $13B. 

Rep. Crank made it clear that Congress is not making cuts to Social Security and Medicare, but they are working on cutting the fraud for Medicaid. He pointed out that illegals are signing up for Medicaid for the first 89 days, at 90 days they are required to provide an id. Congress wants to require proof of citizenship to receive any Medicaid benefits. They have identified over 220,000 Medicaid payments for dead people. They also want able bodies required to work to receive Medicaid benefits. 

The Republicans are working on a bill to eliminate the Pharmacy Benefits Managers that are owned by big pharma and control the price of drugs. They are an unnecessary middleman that is driving up the cost of drugs for insurance companies. 

He touched on the cost of living in Washington DC. He is paying $2000/month for a 400 sq ft apartment and $400/month for Obamacare, which in his opinion is substandard to his previous insurance paid for by his previous company. He said that he does not trade publicly, for obvious reasons, and did not speak too highly of those that take advantage of their position to do so. 

Border: 

He talked about the remarkable progress at the border, thanks to President Trump. He recently visited the border in the Nogales area. One year ago, 5,000 – 7,000 interactions happened each day and as of yesterday, the number of interactions is down to 6 per day. The Border Patrol has shut down the flow by 97%. The Border Patrol is also happy to be back doing their job instead of making sandwiches or babysitting. 

He attended a change of command at Fort Carson the day prior and received a tour and briefings. Fort Carson has deployed a striker brigade to the border and is expected to deploy another striker brigade soon. Homeland Security and Northern Command are using space assets and drones to monitor the border activity to include the tunnels that are being dug under the wall. 

The additional assets and activity at the border are frustrating the Cartels. There is talk that they are looking at other markets outside the US to include Europe. County Clerk, Steve Schleiker, attended the first half of Rep. Crank’s meeting. Clerk Schleiker pointed out that his office is in talks with the District Attorney and the Sheriff because illegals are showing up with fraudulent documents trying to get vehicles registered or to obtain titles. 

They anticipate charging people soon. He also said that they are waiving the fees for State Representatives that want to change their license plates to remain more anonymous when driving near the State Capital where protesters are attacking legislators. 

Department of Education: 

Rep. Crank stated that Colorado spends $11,000/student/year and receives an additional $5,000 – $7,000/student from property taxes. On the low end, this is $16,000/student/year and with approximately 30 students/classroom this equates to $480,000/classroom. Teachers average $60,000/year, so where is all the money going. The math isn’t adding up. 

The Department of Education spends a fraction of their federal funds on student education, so where is all the money going. 

Rep. Crank said that President Trump is expected to sign an Executive Order the next day (March 20th), to abolish the Department of Education, but Rep. Crank will still be in CO and is not able to attend. 

Election Integrity: 

Rep. Crank said that the SAVE act that requires proof of citizenship to vote, is expected to be voted on within two weeks in the House. 

He was asked about co-sponsoring Rep. Pete Sessions Make Elections Secure Again (MESA) act but was not familiar with it. He said he would look into it. 

He was asked about privatizing the Post Office and said he would co-sponsor any bill to do so. 

DOGE: 

Rep. Crank is very excited with the progress of DOGE and will support Congress’ plan to rescind any savings identified. He is hopeful that DOGE will expose the corrupt politicians and DOJ will prosecute them. 

Keeping in Touch: 

Congress is in recess one week a month, which allows him to spend time with his family and constituents. He is happy to come back to the RSF and give us an update when he is in town. 

He encourages everyone to sign up for his newsletter that comes out every two weeks by going to https://crank.house.gov. You can also reach out to him to arrange tours of the Capitol, White House, or Library of Congress.