SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico’s governor is calling on state lawmakers to shore up safety net programs in response to federal spending cuts enacted by President Donald Trump, in an announcement Thursday that highlighted reduced federal support for Medicaid and food assistance programs.
More than 40% of New Mexico residents are enrolled in Medicaid health care for people living in poverty or on the cusp — among the highest rates in the nation. At the same time, state government income has surged over the past decade in connection with record-setting oil production in the Permian Basin that overlaps southeastern New Mexico and western Texas.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat, announced an October special session in efforts to protect essential services from the Republican Party’s big tax and spending bill, signed by Trump in July. Colorado legislators grappled with the effects of the bill in a special session last month.
“New Mexicans should not be forced to shoulder these heavy burdens without help from their elected officials,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “We’ve resolved to do everything possible to protect essential services and minimize the damage from President Trump’s disastrous bill.”
New Mexico lawmakers will consider measures aimed at shoring up health care access in remote rural areas, ensuring affordable health care exchange premiums for people who lose eligibility for Medicaid, and investing in food assistance for children, seniors and low-income families.
Support for public broadcasting also is on the legislative agenda, Lujan Grisham said. Trump signed a bill on July 24 canceling about $1.1 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting, calling the public media system politically biased and an unnecessary expense.
Democrats hold majorities in the New Mexico state House and Senate, where a series of hearings this month focused on the local impact of federal spending cuts.
“New Mexico is not going to allow Trump and the radical right to take food off your table or kick your family off your healthcare plan,” state House Speaker Javier Martínez of Albuquerque said in a statement.
Democratic state Senate majority leader Peter Wirth of Santa Fe said new legislation is necessary to guard against “generational harm on families and communities across the state.”
As Republican-backed federal tax breaks and spending cuts begin to take shape, they are unleashing a new era of uncertainty for the safety net programs that millions of people in communities across the nation have grown to depend on.
New Mexico is expected to forgo just over $1 billion in federal Medicaid funds over the coming decade as the federal legislation imposes work requirements on those receiving aid and shifts certain costs onto the states, according to the state Legislature’s budget and accountability office.
Republicans in Congress argue the federal spending cuts are needed to rightsize programs that have grown over the decades. GOP state lawmakers in New Mexico are advocating for local health care improvements through changes to medical malpractice laws and greater accountability in child protective services.
