Proposed food aid cuts would require New Mexico to invest millions in SNAP

House Republicans’ budget plan could make New Mexico responsible for a quarter of the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

The House Agriculture Committee approved its portion of a massive federal budget bill Wednesday evening, which would cut $300 billion in food aid spending over 10 years, in part by sharing SNAP costs with states. With 21% of New Mexicans receiving SNAP benefits, the state has the highest SNAP participation in the country, according to a Trace One analysis.

“The people who are going to get the most impacted if these federal changes go into effect in New Mexico are definitely children, seniors and low-income families,” said New Mexico Health Care Authority spokesperson Marina Piña.

The budget plan was voted down in the House Budget Committee on Friday morning, but the committee will reconvene to take up the bill Sunday.

“This bill falls profoundly short. ... Deficits will go up in the first half of the 10-year budget window,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who called for reforming Medicaid spending.

The bill will also be taken to the House Rules Committee in the coming days, where Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., said she plans to raise concerns.

The bill would extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and raise the nation’s debt limit. To pay for that, it includes significant cuts to social safety net spending. The Senate has its own ideas about how to cut spending, and both chambers need to pass identical bills for the budget to be signed into law.

Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., said states like New Mexico already have investments in such areas as public safety and infrastructure, without having to cover Medicaid dollars that could be lost or to refund Head Start programs that could be canceled. “So the states cannot bear the burden of this proposal or the entire reconciliation bill, which is going to be terrible for our state,” said Vasquez, a member of the House Agriculture Committee.

The cost-sharing proposal would cost New Mexico $259 million annually, beginning in 2028, according to a New Mexico Health Care Authority analysis. States would be responsible on a sliding scale based on the SNAP payment error rate. In 2023, New Mexico’s error rate was 14%. States with an error rate above 10% would pay for 25% of their residents’ SNAP benefits under the House proposal.

A separate proposal to increase administrative costs would be a $50 million hit to the state budget, Piña said.

Republicans also are expanding the work requirements to receive food aid. Under current law, able-bodied adults without dependents must fulfill work requirements until they are 54, and that would change under the bill to age 64.

Also, some parents are currently exempt from work requirements until their children are 18; that would change so only those caring for a dependent child under the age of 7 are exempt.

The House Agriculture Committee is “strengthening the SNAP program to ensure that it can care for the people it was intended to serve and provide a pathway out of poverty through the dignity of work,” Rep. Tracey Mann, R-Kan., another House Agriculture committee member, said in a statement.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, condemned the House and Senate Republicans’ plans to cut spending on food aid and Medicaid, which he believes could be a path for eliminating the programs. He is also concerned about the impact cutting food aid could have on American farmers.

“Supporting food programs is also supporting farmers and ranchers in America,” Luján said, and the attempt to cut food programs puts the farm bill at risk.

A new farm bill has been delayed for two years. Usually, the farm bill expires every five years and includes SNAP, as well as programs like income support, loans and conservation programs for farmers. The 2018 farm bill cost an estimated $867 billion over 10 years. The House Agriculture Committee’s budget bill includes $60 billion in farm bill programs.

“What the chairman of the committee has attempted to do is put portions of the farm bill into this reconciliation package to try to form some semblance of a farm bill, but it comes nowhere near the robustness that’s required for a farm bill. And look, the problem is we haven’t had a chance to debate on any section of the farm bill,” Vasquez said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Cathy Cook covers the federal government for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com.