July 24, 2025 01:05 PM UTC

Gabe Evans To Weld County's Hungry: Stop Being Poor

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• by: Colorado Pols

On Tuesday, America’s Most Vulnerable Freshman™ GOP Rep. Gabe Evans was interviewed by veteran Colorado Public Radio reporter Bente Birkeland on a variety of subjects including the Republican budget bill signed into law earlier this month by President Donald Trump–a bill that Evans has struggled to defend with constituents in his closely-divided district, thousands of whom are set to be directly impacted by the bill’s sweeping cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and other votal social safety net programs.

Evans’ response to Birkeland’s questions about the future of a food bank in Weld County in particular were not just evasive and out of touch, but could set a new standard for modern-day Marie Antoinette-style contempt for the challenges faced by working people Evans represents in Congress:

BIRKELAND: I talked to the Weld County Food Bank recently about what they viewed as the impacts of the Big Beautiful Bill. And what it would mean on the ground, and they said they don’t think they’ll be able to provide as many meals to people who come in for help. That already is the case in terms of pound for pound, how much food they were able to provide in previous years. One of the staffers got teary and she doesn’t feel like the food bank will be able to deliver for working families in Weld County the way they want to and the way the community needs them to. What is your response and what do you tell them?

EVANS: Yeah, so I sat down and had this exact same conversation with the Weld County Food Bank, and you know what they told me? They said, “Gabe, we need to cut down” and, and the line he was referring to was the line of folks, that were coming to the food bank. He said, we need to cut down on the line. And the way you cut down on the line of folks that are relying on the food bank is you fix the economy. [Pols emphasis] When you put more money back into people’s pockets, and they have the, they have the, the wherewithal to be able to provide for themselves were able to reward work by taxing less of their money, giving them that ability to provide for themselves. That rising tide lifts all boats, and we talked through the numbers with the Weld Food Bank just a few short years ago when the economy was doing better. The Weld Food Bank was only serving about 1/3 as many people as they currently are right now…

Representatives of Weld County Food Bank were not on hand to respond to Evans’ account of their meeting, but we’re pretty confident that they had a lot more to say than the solution to their clients’ problems is to “fix the economy.” Every responsible stakeholder in Evans’ district spent the months while this budget bill was being debated pleading with Evans to not cut these essential safety net programs for which demand has spiked in recent years even as the economy grew. If Evans understands that the demand for food from Weld County Food Bank has exploded, he must understand that cutting the food bank’s funding will hurt those dependent on the food bank to not starve. Yes, the solution in the long term to high demand for food assistance and other social services is a strong economy that spreads the wealth around. But if you don’t have that in place before you cut the safety nets, the result is preventable tragedy. The “We’re All Going To Die Act” is about to prove it.

And Gabe Evans won’t even have the decency to suggest you “eat cake.” Just stop being poor.