Meet four New Mexicans attending President Donald Trump’s address to Congress

New Mexico’s all-Democratic congressional delegation highlighted laid-off federal employees, the need to improve health care access for rural veterans and food insecurity with their guests at Tuesday’s joint session of Congress.

President Donald Trump addressed the full Congress on Tuesday night for the first time in his second term. Four members of the state’s congressional delegation attended the speech, accompanied by New Mexican guests, including a veteran, a food bank leader, a laid-off federal employee and a tribal health leader. The state’s senior Senator, Martin Heinrich, did not attend.

“I’ll start attending when he starts following the law,” Heinrich said in a statement.

Democratic members of Congress who attended also showed their disapproval with signs and by walking out during the speech, including New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who held up a sign saying “This is Not Normal.”

“Tonight, I participated in a walk-out of the joint address to Congress because we refuse to normalize the reckless and illegal dismantling of vital federal programs, the firing of thousands of Americans, and the undermining of our national and global security,” Stansbury said in a statement.

During the address, Trump touted his executive order ending diversity equity and inclusion policies, declaring an emergency at the southern border and creating the Department of Government Efficiency. He also promised to address continued inflation, saying later in the week he will take action to increase the production of critical minerals in the U.S. Trump said he plans to institute reciprocal tariffs on April 2.

“Our new trade policy will also be great for the American farmer, I love the farmer, who will now be selling into our home market, the U.S.A., because nobody will be able to compete with you,” Trump said.

The speech reaffirmed that the country is on the “path to greatness once again,” said Amy Barela, chairwoman of the Republican Party of New Mexico.

“We elected him to drain the swamp, expose corruption, and put Americans first, and he is delivering! Yet, here in New Mexico, we continue to see our Democrat leaders fight against progress and block economic growth at every turn,” Barela said in a statement.

Members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, which is led by New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, dressed in pink, a color associated with “power and protest,” according to the congresswoman.

“Everything Trump has done has raised costs for America’s women,” Leger Fernández said in a statement.

On the guest list

Sen. Ben Ray Luján invited Katy Anderson, Roadrunner Food Bank vice president.

“Roadrunner Food Bank is a leading hunger relief organization, ensuring that families in need have access to nutritious meals. But now, Elon Musk, President Trump, and Congressional Republicans are threatening critical funding for nutrition support — putting New Mexico families at risk,” Luján said in a statement.

Potentially 400,000 New Mexicans could be impacted if there are cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Anderson said, and approximately 15% of the state’s population is food insecure. At the upper end, SNAP recipients can get $6 per day for nutrition assistance. Rural communities have the highest participation rate of SNAP.

“That’s not a whole lot of money, particularly in the season that we live in, and with inflation of food,” Anderson said.

Roadrunner Food Bank did not have its funding frozen when federal grants were paused several weeks ago. But the nonprofit works with other organizations that directly distribute food to people, and many of those organizations were disrupted by the funding freezes.

Leger Fernández brought Arielle Pines, a Clovis resident who was fired from Veterans Affairs during the recent mass layoffs of federal employees. Pines worked for the agency for 15 years and began volunteering at a VA hospital when she was 11.

“We think it is very important that my colleagues, and Trump and America, see the faces of the people who are being harmed by their policies or being harmed by this wrecking ball that they are taking to our federal government,” Leger Fernández said.

The layoffs targeted probationary employees, people who started a job within the last year to two years. But federal employees are also put on probationary status any time they start a new role, including a promotion or department change. In Pines’ case, she transferred into a position that was similar to her previous one.

Pines has a personal connection to the work. Her mother worked at the VA for 37 years, her father is a 100% disabled veteran, and her brother and husband are both in the Air Force. Pines was tracking metrics for the Veterans Integrated Services Network, keeping track of things like how long it takes for veterans to be seen by health care providers.

Pines was told on Feb. 13 that she had been laid off, but one of her coworkers fired at the same time had an unemployment claim denied because they weren’t officially terminated until last week, she said. The termination emails said the firings were due to performance, but Pines said she has had “nothing but exceptional and outstanding performance appraisals.”

Stansbury criticized the “radical overhaul” and dismantling of federal agencies, including staff layoffs and funding cuts, in a news conference where she introduced her guest for the joint session: Linda Son-Stone, CEO of First Nations Community Healthsource based in Albuquerque’s International District.

Stansbury highlighted the First Nations service model offering wraparound services encompassing medical, dental and behavioral health care incorporating traditional healing ceremonies with other social support services, including assistance for victims of violent crimes and meal services.

That work, Son-Stone explained, depends on federal funding, particularly Medicaid and Indian Health Service support.

“Our big ask is to make sure that IHS funds are protected, especially Urban Indian Health funding, which makes up 1% of the total IHS budget — which isn’t sufficient to cover the health care needs of urban Indians,” Son-Stone said. “We are asking that this funding be protected, if not expanded, so that we can meet the growing needs of our urban Indian community members.”

Southern New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vasquez invited a military veteran and leader of several veterans’ advocacy organizations, Roland Cooper of Alamogordo. Cooper, who chairs the Lincoln/Otero County Veterans Leadership Council, said he has worked directly with the congressman on initiatives called for in a package of bills Vasquez has filed meant to address obstacles veterans face in accessing education, health services and transportation, especially in rural New Mexico.

Cooper, who grew up in Washington, D.C., said he was curious to hear what President Trump might say about veterans’ assistance as well as the defense budget, but made it clear he did not trust the current commander in chief.

“I’ve seen many different U.S. presidents come and go, in order to maintain or take us above the status quo,” he told the Journal, “but with the current leadership, where we will end up nobody knows.”