With billions on the line, New NM federal funding legislative subcommittee meets for the first time
New Mexico ranks first among U.S. states for its share of federal dollars, with billions at risk pending Congress' budget decisions (Photos by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom and Danielle Prokop/Source NM)
Members of the recently created Federal Funding Stabilization Subcommittee met for the first time Wednesday for briefings on how federal funding is funneled into New Mexico and how current and future cuts might impact the state
The subcommittee formed in response to the loss of funds and threats of cuts from the Trump administration to programs that affect state residents, including Medicaid, federal nutrition programs and programs run by the various state agencies. Lawmakers started with an overall look at where federal funding is allocated throughout the state.
New Mexico Department of Finance Secretary Wayne Propst explained to the committee that according to a Federal Funds Information for States report released last week, New Mexico is the top state receiving federal funds. The report is based on data from fiscal year 2023.
'The study confirmed that New Mexico is number one in terms of federal funding coming into the state,' Propst said. 'For every $1 in taxes that we send to the federal government, we receive approximately $3.21 back in New Mexico. That includes those direct payments, but it also includes the funding for our military bases, our national labs and other items.'
He said the state's overall budget for Fiscal Year 2026 is $33.16 billion, with 43.5%, $14.44 billion, funded by federal money. The Health Care Authority receives the most federal money — more than $11 million, which makes up about 74% of its annual budget this fiscal year.
Propst also noted that if Congress ends up passing the budget bill — which made its way out of the U.S. House of Representatives last week and will now be considered by the Senate — New Mexico will see impacts to Medicaid; a $290 billion reduction in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and a reduction in the federal oil and gas royalty rate from 16.67% to 12.5%.
NM reps say GOP bill will gut Medicaid and also reduce oil money that could help state save it
Eric Chenier, principal analyst for the Legislative Finance Committee, further broke down federal funding by state agencies, including the Early Childhood Education and Care Department, Higher Education Department, Department of Transportation and Department of Health. Chenier noted that as of May, the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology reported losing $36 million, $27.2 million and $2.5 million in federal grant revenue respectively.
Legislative Education Finance Committee Director John Sena delved into how federal funds are used for public education in New Mexico. He explained that the state is aware of several areas that have lost federal funding, including $12.3 million for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, which was awarded to the state during the COVID-19 pandemic; $5.1 million for the Teacher Quality Partnership Program, which funded residency programs and mentoring for 68 people; and $5 million for school-based mental health services, which supported programs in Silver City and the Central Region Educational Cooperative and puts 18 positions at risk.
AG Torrez joins lawsuit over federal education funds
Sen. Bill Soules (D-Las Cruces), co-chair of the subcommittee, added that he wants to see flexibility from the group as more changes are announced from the Trump administration.
'There are going to be things that come up that we haven't thought about. For instance, we're getting into fire season and lots of the fire response often comes from the federal government. That's somewhat more in question now. Is the state going to be responsible to uphold all of those? That could be a major budget area,' Soules said. 'There also, I think, are areas where already we're seeing some of our small businesses, because of tariffs, are closing down, pulling back, have lower amounts and stuff, which means that's less revenue coming in on the state level as those businesses close or have to lay off workers or things of that sort.'
The next subcommittee meeting is scheduled for July 1 and 2 in Santa Fe.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk is gone, but DOGE's actions are hard to reverse. The Institute of Peace is a case study
WASHINGTON (AP) — The staff was already jittery. The raiders from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency had disposed of the U.S. Institute of Peace board, its acting president and its longtime outside counsel. But until 9:30 p.m. on March 28, there was hope the damage might be limited. Then termination notices started popping up in personal emails. As he departs, Musk is leaving behind a wounded federal government. DOGE's playbook has been consistent: Take over facilities, information technology systems and leadership. Dismiss the staff. Move too quickly for the targets or courts to respond or fix the damage. Thousands of federal workers have seen the playbook unfold. What makes USIP, a 300-employee organization, unique is the blitz during its takeover has been, for the moment, reversed in court. The headquarters taken away in a weekend of lightning moves is back in the hands of its original board and acting president. The question they must answer now is a point that U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell made during one hearing: Can USIP be restored? 'A bull in a China shop breaks a lot of things,' she said. As the institute tries to reboot, it's a question for others in their own DOGE struggles. Targeting an agency aimed at fostering peace USIP was created by Congress in the 1980s. Described as an independent, nonprofit think tank funded by Congress, its mission has been to work to promote peace and prevent and end conflicts. When DOGE came knocking, it was operating in 26 conflict zones, including Afghanistan. The institute was one of four organizations targeted by President Donald Trump's Feb. 19 Executive Order 14217. Despite conversations to explain the organization's role, most of the Institute's board was fired by email March 14. The lone holdovers were ex officio — Cabinet members Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio and the National Defense University's president. Within minutes of the 4 p.m. emails, DOGE staff showed up and tried to get into the building but were turned back. That, according to court documents, kicked off a weekend of pressure by the FBI on institute security personnel. DOGE returned the following Monday and got into the headquarters with help from the FBI and Washington police. Outside counsel George Foote thought the local officers were there to expel the DOGE contingent but learned quickly they were not. He, security chief Colin O'Brien and others were escorted out by local authorities. 'They have sidearms and tasers and are saying you can't go anywhere but out that door,' Foote said. The board filed a lawsuit the following day. Howell expressed dissatisfaction with DOGE's tactics but she let their actions stand. By then a DOGE associate, Kenneth Jackson, had been named as acting president of the organization by the ex officio board members. The staff knew what he'd done as the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Now Jackson was at the institute, but they were hopeful 'we would have a process of explanation or review of our work,' said Scott Worden, director of the Afghanistan and Central Asia programs. Then came March 28. By midnight, nearly all the institute's employees had been let go. The actions reverberated The impact was 'profound and devastating,' Worden said. First, employees at the institute are not government employees so they got no government benefits or civil service protections. Insurance also was gone. Partners abroad suddenly lost their support and contacts. The lawyers representing board members in their lawsuit sought a hearing to head off rumors of more mayhem to come. But when they walked into a courtroom the headquarters and other assets were gone, too. It was, Howell said at the hearing, 'a done deal.' Over the weekend, DOGE had replaced Jackson with fellow DOGE associate Nick Cavanaugh, whose name was on the documents that allowed DOGE to take control of institute assets and transfer the headquarters to the General Services Administration. In court, the Trump administration's attorney laid out the timeline, making clear the newly named president of USIP had not only been authorized to transfer the property but also the request had gone through proper channels. Throughout hearings, Howell struggled with describing the organization — whether it was part of the executive branch and under Trump's authority. The government argued it had to fall under one of the three branches of government and clearly wasn't legislative or judicial. Lawyers defending the government also said that because presidents appointed the board, presidents also had the authority to fire them. Howell's May 19 opinion concluded the institute 'exercises no Executive branch power under the Constitution.' She added that the law that created it set specific steps for firing the board members and none of those had been followed. The case is now with an appeals court. What it looks like now Two weeks later, about 10% of the people who would normally be inside the headquarters are doing maintenance, getting systems running and trying to access the institute's funding. Desks are empty but with paperwork and files strewn across them, left by the speed of the takeover. O'Brien, the security officer, praised the General Services Administration and security managers who tried to keep the building going. But getting systems fully functioning will entail lots of work. Foote said some returnees are trying to access the institute's funding, including money appropriated by Congress and the part of the endowment moved during the takeover. He said transferring funds within the federal government is 'complicated.' The result: Workers are furloughed, and overseas offices will remain closed. Nicoletta Barbera, acting director for the U.S. Institute of Peace's West Africa and Central Africa programs, is one of the furloughed workers. 'We had USIP representatives based in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger that, overnight, were left with no support system from anyone here in HQ,' she said. Barbera said a recent attack in Burkina Faso ended with 'hundreds of atrocities and deaths.' 'And I couldn't just stop but think, what if I could have continued our work there during this time?' she said. Moose has said there will likely be lasting damage — on traumatized staff and relationships with partners around the world. 'That's going to be hard to repair,' he said.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rand Paul Rips Lindsey Graham Over Gargantuan Budget Bill
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul threw shade at his South Carolinian colleague Lindsey Graham while excoriating Donald Trump's 'big beautiful bill' on Fox Business. In an appearance Wednesday night, Paul argued that Graham had his own reasons for rubber-stamping Republicans' gargantuan budget bill, which will add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. The bill is expected to cut $1.3 trillion in spending but also cut $3.7 trillion in total revenue, leading to the massive deficit. 'This bill is really a vehicle for Lindsey Graham to secretly explode beyond on the military budget,' Paul said. 'They want to explode the military budget beyond the caps. That's really what the bill is about. So there is a lot of new spending in this bill. If the new spending weren't in there, it truly would be a bill that would be saving money.' The legislation would dramatically increase military and border spending, bringing $150 billion to the Pentagon over the next 10 years. Graham, a longtime war hawk, has urged the Trump administration to take a tougher stance on Iran. Paul also said he didn't think Congress was mature enough to raise the debt ceiling. 'If you have teenage children and you gave them a credit card and they maxed out $2,000 on booze and gambling, would you give them a bigger credit line or a smaller credit line?' the Kentucky Republican said. 'Congress is worse than a bunch of drunken teenagers. They have a history of not being fiscally responsible. You should give them a very short debt ceiling increase and say, 'Show me and prove to me you'll act responsibly, and I'll give you more money.'' Paul told CNN Wednesday that he could understand Elon Musk's frustration with the gargantuan spending bill. 'The new spending in this bill actually exceeds all the work he did to try to find savings, so I can understand his disappointment,' he said. Earlier that day, Paul had quote-tweeted Musk, arguing that Congress knows adding another $5 trillion to the national debt would be a 'huge mistake.'
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court throws out Mexico's suit against U.S. gun makers in a unanimous decision
Mexico has a severe problem with gun violence, which originates north of the border, the Supreme Court acknowledged Thursday. "The country has only a single gun store, and issues fewer than 50 gun permits each year. But gun traffickers can purchase firearms in the United States—often in illegal transactions—and deliver them to drug cartels in Mexico," the court said. These weapons are used to "commit serious crimes — drug dealing, kidnapping, murder, and others." Nonetheless, the justices in an unanimous decision threw out Mexico's lawsuit against the U.S. gun industry, ruling that federal law shields gun makers from nearly all liability. Justice Elena Kagan said Congress enacted the law in 2005 to prevent gun companies from being held sued for harms 'caused by the misuse of firearms by third parties, including criminals," she said. The law has one narrow exception, she said, that would allow suits if the gun companies had knowingly and deliberately helped criminals buy guns to be sent into Mexico. But she said the Mexico's lawsuit did not cite evidence for claim. "Mexico's complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers' unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers," she wrote. "We have little doubt that, as the complaint asserts, some such sales take place.— and that the manufacturers know they do. But still, Mexico has not adequately pleaded what it needs to: that the manufacturers 'participate in' those sales 'as in something that [they] wish[] to bring about." Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
