By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
© 2025 New Mexico News Services

Legislators got the people’s business done in two reasonably efficient days during the recent special session, but not without some political theater.

This year, the governor and Democrats were on the same page in wanting to prepare the state for the Republican president’s funding cuts. And because of the Legislature’s newly created Federal Funding Stabilization Subcommittee, they had numbers.

Few people know the state’s numbers like the subcommittee’s co-chair, Rep. Patty Lundstrom, D-Gallup, who is former chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. She’s also a moderate who hasn’t been afraid to buck the Progressives.

Republicans argue that the special session was unnecessary because impacts of the “big beautiful bill” won’t hit until 2027, if then. But it’s not that simple. The subcommittee, which began meeting in March, “listened to agencies that are super worried,” Lundstrom said. And it’s keeping an eye on moving targets – namely, when federal regulations governing Medicaid and other programs take effect. The Trump administration hasn’t released many regulations, and now with the government shutdown, Lundstrom expects further delays. When the subcommittee meets in November it will have “a matrix of everything that will hit the state.”

It appears that Medicaid may not change until 2027, but “changes are happening now to SNAP,” Lundstrom said. One in five New Mexicans relies on SNAP (formerly called food stamps) for food. Food banks around the state have been strained for months.

The subcommittee also zeroed in on the Affordable Care Act insurance premium tax credits that expire at the end of the year. Some 6,300 New Mexicans could see their insurance costs spiral. As we know, saving the credits provoked the standoff between Democrats and the administration that triggered the government shutdown.

“The primary reason for the special session ties back to Obamacare,” Lundstrom said. “The subsidy ends before the end of the year. It could triple what they pay now. My fear is they (will lose coverage). It was our main reason to be up there.”

Another priority was keeping rural hospitals open. Because of impending funding cuts to Medicaid, six to eight rural hospitals could close within 18 months.

Bills generated by the subcommittee include:

• House Bill 1, which provides $16.6 million to maintain SNAP food benefits and $1.2 million to retain SNAP program staff at UNM and NMSU.
• House Bill 2, which allows the state Health Care Affordability Fund to subsidize health insurance purchased through the state BeWell marketplace. The bill also removes income caps for purchasers. The cost is $17.3 million this fiscal year.
• Senate Bill 1, which moves $50 million into the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund to stabilize healthcare services in rural and underserved areas.

However, the picture keeps changing. Even as state lawmakers deliberated during the special session, the U.S. Department of Energy cancelled $135.2 million in projects in New Mexico as part of a larger swipe at blue states during the shutdown. Lundstrom predicts that eventually everybody who’s suffered a funding cut will appear before the subcommittee. State coffers can’t help everybody, leaders warn.

The Democrats missed no opportunity for messaging around these bills and the session itself. The governor and legislative leaders talked about stepping up to protect the state’s most vulnerable residents, to keep food on their tables, to help rural hospitals stay afloat.

The Republicans did their own messaging, mostly about being shut out of the process.

Because their party has done the same thing to Democrats in Congress, it’s an ironic complaint. On the other hand, it was an opportunity for Democrats to take the high road. They didn’t.

Lundstrom supports including the Republicans. As a young member of the appropriations committee, she learned from her mentors, Reps. Lucky Saavedra and Kiki Varela, that everyone should have a voice in the process.

“It’s a team approach,” she said. “Republicans represent different parts of the state with different needs. We need to hear from those parts of the state.”

Considering how poorly the Dems are being treated in Congress these days, we might sympathize with their reluctance to work with the Rs here at home. But what if they rise above the mistrust and resentment to demonstrate that cooperation produces better solutions? That’s the best message of all.