Heinrich addresses SNAP, Medicaid cuts in Las Cruces stop

LAS CRUCES — With federal cuts to food assistance and Medicaid looming, students at Mayfield High School told Sen. Martin Heinrich on Thursday that their school-based health clinic, whose provider relies on Medicaid funding, provides crucial services for the community.

Heinrich, a Democrat, opened a two-day visit to Las Cruces hearing from students along with school officials and health provider La Clinica de Familia. Later in the day, he met with community agencies about the impacts of enhanced requirements and cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

The roundtable meetings, conducted in front of reporters, aimed to highlight local consequences of cuts imposed by the budget reconciliation bill nicknamed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and enacted by President Donald Trump this summer.

Heinrich said the law was expected to create shortfalls in the Medicaid system amounting to $4 billion annually for New Mexico alone. The New Mexico Health Care Authority estimates cuts to SNAP will leave 20,000 residents without benefits, while others will see drops in monthly assistance.

Heinrich pointed to the network of school-based health centers serving the Las Cruces Public Schools — benefiting students, families and even school staff — as a potential casualty of the law.

Ernesto Robles, LCDF’s area practice manager, said the provider operates 21 school-based health centers for Las Cruces Public Schools and the Gadsden Independent School District, in addition to other clinics plus behavioral health specialty programs and case management.

Robles said the organization’s budget is 68% dependent on Medicaid. Losing the funding would lead to an increase in uncompensated services, he said: “At some point, our board of directors and our CEO will have to make hard decisions on which programs we need to shut down so we can still continue serving our communities.”

Three seniors told Heinrich their school’s clinic is always in high demand when it is open two days per week, offering primary care, physical examinations for athletes, dental care, confidential consultations regarding contraception and birth control and mental health care. They said no one is turned away for financial reasons and no proof of citizenship is required. The location also eliminates barriers for those lacking transportation or time to travel to clinics elsewhere, the students said, an obstacle that would cause more people to forgo care.

“The mental health might be the most important piece of it,” Mayfield Principal Eric Fraas said. “The stressors on kids nowadays are different than when we were in school. … If we lost it, it would be devastating.”

”We need to re-evaluate our priorities as a country,” Heinrich remarked during the morning meeting. “If you want people to be successful and to be participating in the labor force, you have to have health care.”

After taking questions from the students, Heinrich told the Journal, “It’s really hard to look the future of the country in the face and say, ‘Some of my colleagues don’t think you’re a priority.’ … They are the future in terms of leadership, they’re the future in terms of workforce. They should matter.”

In the session dedicated to SNAP, the senator heard from a day care operator and representatives from the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, the Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico, Anthony-based La Semilla Food Center, as well as a university student raising a son and receiving SNAP benefits.

The guests spoke of stricter requirements and more frequent recertifications, saying many households are unaware and unprepared for the barriers to come; as well as community service organizations anticipating being squeezed as cuts take effect.

”We are so concerned that the demand for services is going to increase and we’re just not going to have the funding to meet that, when we barely do already,” said Dawn Hommer, CAA’s chief executive officer.

New Mexico’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, voted against the budget reconciliation bill. In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called lawmakers to Santa Fe for a special session beginning Oct. 1 addressing the law’s cuts and new requirements for assistance through Medicaid and SNAP.

Senate Minority Leader William Sharer, R-Farmington, criticized the session’s focus as a “taxpayer-funded anti-Trump rally.” He also argued that a special session was unnecessary to address cuts that won’t take effect until 2027 or later.

The White House has defended changes to Medicaid, a program on which nearly 40% of New Mexicans depend, as well as to SNAP by saying the legislation preserves both programs for those most in need, such as the elderly and disabled.

A post on the White House website this summer stated, “This is an opportunity to kick illegal immigrants off the taxpayer-funded rolls, cut government funding for sex changes, and restore integrity in program spending — saving taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.”

But Heinrich accused Republicans, who hold the White House as well as both chambers of Congress, of funding tax cuts for wealthier citizens by shrinking safety net programs that assist the labor force and stimulate the demand side of the economy.

”This is just such a departure for our country,” he said. “We’ve got to do everything we can to get it turned around.”

Heinrich’s schedule over a two-day visit also included visits to New Mexico State University research and business accelerator facilities.