Far left, N.M. Rep. Christine Chandler, left, and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández at the podium during their town hall meeting Friday afternoon at Fuller Lodge. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Immigration, the U.S. possibly entering Israel’s war with Iran and the sale of public lands were among the top concerns voiced during a town hall hosted by U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández and N.M. Rep. Christine Chandler.
Friday afternoon at Fuller Lodge, a crowd of people filled the room to express their concerns and questions regarding a range of issues facing the country and New Mexico.
Leger Fernández emphasized the importance of voicing concerns about various issues; she pointed to the huge numbers of U.S. citizens who participated in the recent No Kings protests.
“I think it was really important to have those 12 million people across America raising their voices for all the different concerns that we have,” she said.
Citizens rejected a monarchy 250 years ago, and that is something that needs to continue for future generations, Leger Fernández added.
A way to do that is by learning about the policies being proposed by the current administration, she said, adding that this is why she is hosting town halls.
A particular issue Leger Fernández and Chandler highlighted was the proposed budget dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill” that they said makes deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Leger Fernández called the bill the “Betrayal for Billionaires Bill”, adding it “would have a significant impact on New Mexico.”
She said the bill has the largest cut to healthcare ever. Specifically, it will have a $535 billion cut to Medicare due to the $3-4 trillion debt that it will incur. Additionally, there are cuts to Medicaid and cuts to access to abortion even in private insurance. Leger Fernández added that rural hospitals will close if this bill passes and the state can’t fill those gaps. While Los Alamos won’t lose its hospital, it will be affected as well as its neighbors, she said.
It is not just healthcare getting slashed; Leger Fernández said the budget reduces funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, jeopardizes basic research, technology transfer programs and hard research.
In fact, she said to expect spending cuts in every category if this bill passes.
“The way they are coming after us … it’s everything and everywhere from arts to culture, to science, to education, to health to justice to gun violence to supporting our missing and murdered indigenous people to public lands, it is a barrage. But we are not practicing despair; we are practicing hopefulness,” Leger Fernández said.
Chandler also painted a dire picture for New Mexico should this budget get passed.
The state is at risk of losing a lot of money from the federal government that it relies heavily on, she said. Some of this loss of revenue is through the president’s executive orders and some is through Republican legislature.
While Chandler said there are some things the state will be able to backfill and are already backfilling, “of concern to me is the possibility that Congress could eliminate our ability to do that through various preemptive rules.”
As an example, a provision in the reconciliation bill is to limit the state’s ability to regulate AI. Chandler said this includes privacy rules and how information is collected and utilized. This is a troubling trend, she added, where apparently state’s rights are no longer a priority. States are being dictated to by the federal government.
The threats to Medicare and Medicaid are also concerning, Chandler said. More than half of New Mexico residents are on Medicaid. If it is cut, it will be harder to recruit doctors, she said. And for what? To provide a tax cut to the very wealthy, Chandler said.
“One has to wondered, what the heck are we doing here,” she said. “Who are we supporting? I ran for office … to help people, to ensure they have access to services, to make sure they have access to a good education and all of those things are now being threatened. We at the state level are working hard as best we can within the financial resources that we have to back fill as much as possible, but we have a finite amount of money as well and it is going to be very difficult to make up for everything. We are working at … getting prepared should this horrible bill get passed.”
Turning to the public, Chandler and Leger Fernández asked attendees what was weighing on their minds.
The situation with Iran was a notable concern to attendees.
Leger Fernández said she is very clear that Iran must not acquire a nuclear weapon and that it is necessary to do everything possible to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Still, the power to declare war lies with Congress.
“President Trump does not have congressional approval to take offensive military action against Iran,” she said.
It should be noted that a day later, June 21, President Trump announced several nuclear facilities in Iran were bombed by the U.S.
In response to the situation, Leger Fernández said she signed a bipartisan war powers resolution to prohibit U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran war without congressional approval; she also called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to reconvene the House to respond to possible military action and convene a classified congressional briefing on the escalating conflict.
Another question was how to protect communities from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
It is important to be vocal about opposition to ICE as well as document any injustices, Leger Fernández said. She also encouraged contacting her office with any issues. Visit the website, https://fernandez.house.gov/, for more information.
Chandler said there was a bill that she co-sponsored during the most recent legislative session that aimed to protect immigrants from the federal government’s immigration detention system, called the Immigrant Safety Act. She said the bill passed the House but died in the Senate. She urged her constituents to show support for the bill.
Another big issue that was raised during the town was regarding the bill that proposes selling public land.
Leger Fernández said while the bill’s supporters say selling public land will allow for housing and infrastructure, there are no requirements for affordable housing so the only ones who will benefit are the ultra-wealthy. She encouraged everyone to speak out against it, noting the bill is already incredibly unpopular.
This was the common theme throughout the town hall: be active, be vocal and keep fighting.
As Leger Fernández said, live the Constitution, live the First Amendment. Exercise freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
“…We are belonging to each other. We need to remember that our democracy – we belong to each other, and we are bound to each other and a greater purpose and that is to actually live the Constitution and all the provisions in the Constitution,” she said. “And when we do that, we also feel joy and connected inside, which is the perfect antidote to the hatred and division that we are seeing across our country …. that is what gives me hope.”
It was a full house Friday afternoon at Fuller Lodge for N.M. Rep. Christine Chandler’s and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández’s town hall meeting. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com