With eye on Congress, top NM lawmakers create new panel to study federal funding

SANTA FE — With New Mexico and other states facing the possibility of federal cuts to early childhood and safety net programs, top state lawmakers have created a new legislative panel to study the implications.

The new 10-member interim committee will meet this summer and present its findings to other legislative panels by the end of this year, said House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque.

He described the new committee’s formation as a way to proactively analyze different federal programs that provide services in New Mexico, along with how they’re funded.

“To me, this isn’t about what Trump might or might not do,” Martinez told the Journal, referring to the Republican president who took office in January. “We just have to be ready.”

While the lifespan of the new committee is only envisioned to be this year, it could be extended into 2026 if necessary, said Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque.

Specifically, the panel could gather data on proposals to eliminate funding for Head Start, which currently provides early education for 5,688 children in New Mexico at a cost of about $90 million.

Other areas that could be studied include expanded work requirements for food assistance recipients and changes to the way infrastructure funds are distributed.

“We don’t have a good handle on what’s happening in Washington, D.C.,” Stewart said in a Wednesday interview. “We just needed a committee that could focus solely on that.”

The interim committee will be led by two veteran lawmakers — Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, and Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces.

Lundstrom, the former chairwoman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, said the new panel could help ensure New Mexicans retain access to critical services and resources.

“This committee will focus on making sure that no matter what happens at the federal level, New Mexico is ready,” Lundstrom said in a statement. “We will conduct an inventory of existing federal funding streams that our state relies on for infrastructure and local government operations, so that we can begin to proactively prepare for any potential federal funding cuts.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham warned in February that possible federal budget cuts to Medicaid and other programs could prompt her to call lawmakers back to Santa Fe later this year for a special session.

But it remains unclear whether there’s an appetite in the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress for such cuts, as some GOP members have expressed an unwillingness to vote for Medicaid funding reductions.

Federal cuts could have an outsized impact in New Mexico, as nearly 840,000 state residents were enrolled in Medicaid as of March — about 40% of the state’s population.

Meanwhile, a congressional plan to expand work requirements for food assistance recipients could lead to 52,000 New Mexico residents with school-aged children losing their benefits, according to a report by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Roughly 22% of New Mexico residents were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits as of February, according to state Health Care Authority data.

The new interim committee, officially called the Federal Funding Stabilization Subcommittee, was approved without dissent at a Monday meeting of the Legislative Council, a bipartisan group of top-ranking lawmakers. It’s expected to hold its first meeting sometime in May, though an exact date has not yet been set.