The U.S. House of Representatives is a mess. Americans feel the lawmaking institution is controlled more by party interests than it is the elected officials sent to Congress to represent them. Critical issues are not being dealt with — climate change, health care, gun violence, immigration and pandemic emergency aid — and the body struggles to even pass a working budget on time.

However, most Americans like their representative. It’s a conundrum where the system is broken; but good people are still able to do some good work on behalf of the Americans who pay their salaries and fund their offices.

There are rays of hope in Congress, and while reform is needed, change is not needed in these three Colorado Congressional Districts.

Rep. Joe Neguse was elected in 2018 to represent Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, and we’re incredibly impressed with the freshman lawmaker’s achievements. He’s had five bills signed into law: stopping the repeal of laws protecting people who cooperate with prosecutors in anti-trust criminal proceedings; expanding the boundary of the Arapaho National Forest to close the “gap;” allowing repairs and rebuilding of important water diversion infrastructure for Minturn that was located on wilderness land; extending a recovery program on the Platte River that allows Front Range development of the water while protecting endangered species and farmers downstream who rely on the river for habitat and irrigation; and finally he passed the frequently extended (but never guaranteed) payments for rural jurisdictions that have considerable non-taxable federal land in them.

Rep. Joe Neguse was elected in 2018 to represent Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, and we’re incredibly impressed with the freshman lawmaker’s achievements. He’s had five bills signed into law: stopping the repeal of laws protecting people who cooperate with prosecutors in anti-trust criminal proceedings; expanding the boundary of the Arapaho National Forest to close the “gap;” allowing repairs and rebuilding of important water diversion infrastructure for Minturn that was located on wilderness land; extending a recovery program on the Platte River that allows Front Range development of the water while protecting endangered species and farmers downstream who rely on the river for habitat and irrigation; and finally he passed the frequently extended (but never guaranteed) payments for rural jurisdictions that have considerable non-taxable federal land in them.

Perlmutter represents Congressional District 7 and currently lives in Arvada. He’s served in Congress since 2006 and he’s become a champion for the renewable energy innovation and the aerospace industry, especially advocating for a manned mission to Mars in 2033. Perlmutter had three pieces of legislation signed into law in his most recent term. Perlmutter prides himself on the number of constituents his office has helped when problems with the federal government arise and he’s hosted continuous town halls in person and then virtually after the pandemic hit.

Rep. Diana DeGette has represented Colorado’s 1st Congressional District for 12 terms and is seeking to be returned for another two years. She’s an expert on health care, particularly America’s convoluted research and development process and a champion of women’s health including the right to access abortion care.

“I will tell you that for the first time, I think in our nation’s history, we have a pro-choice majority in Congress,” DeGette said. “We have been working to develop our caucus to be able to codify Roe v. Wade and to repeal the Hyde Amendment.” That feels more critically important this week than ever before now that Republicans in the Senate confirmed a Supreme Court justice who said she does not think Roe v. Wade is a precedent that cannot be overturned. DeGette is also playing an oversight role when it comes to how the federal government is managing the coronavirus response, particularly on the health side and with the creation of a vaccine largely using federal resources to fund research and trials.

These are difficult times for America, however, we think these three members of Congress are serving us well, despite the many challenges at the federal level.