The cold water to my washing machine runs in a stream the size of a pencil while the hot just pours in fine. I have cleaned the screen on the cold water and it's no better. There looks like there is a water restrictor in the cold water connection on the back of the machine. Do I need to remove it to let the water flow? The machine is a GE WPRE6150. Thanks.

Yes, absolutely. This is a good example of the liberals' policies interfering in areas where they need to stay out of things. The same holds true for our shower heads. Now you have to drill them out. You can also have trash in the diaphragm and may need to take the valves apart and soak them in Lime-Away or another similar product. The little orifices get stopped up with lime and trash. Just make sure to put it back together like it goes.