New Mexico lawmakers brace for steep cuts to federal funding

Newly created legislative panel will track federal money coming into New Mexico

BY: AUSTIN FISHER - APRIL 29, 2025 12:16 PM
​Courtesy of Source NM

New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martínez and Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart and the rest of the Legislative Council on Monday voted to create the Federal Infrastructure Funds and Stability Interim Committee. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)

New Mexico lawmakers this week rolled out a plan to help prepare for potential hefty reductions in federal funding.
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The Legislative Council, the group of state representatives and senators that oversees all lawmaking between New Mexico’s legislative sessions, voted unanimously Monday afternoon at its first meeting following this year’s session to create a new panel called the Federal Infrastructure Funds and Stability Interim Committee. 
House Speaker Javier Martínez and Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, both Albuquerque Democrats, told Source NM after the meeting that the committee, in a nutshell, will examine potential federal funding cuts and consider ways to adapt to them if they become real.

For example, the committee will look at proposals to cut funding to Head Start, a child care and early education program. This week, U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined 40 other senators in a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. demanding he immediately unfreeze Head Start funding and reinstate early childhood education workers who have either been laid off or furloughed as result of closures of the preschools, which rely on federal funding.

Similarly, the new legislative committee will track funds for Medicaid, the safety-net health insurance program for people with low incomes, Martínez said. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has said previously she might call a special session in the fall, should the state need to address federal shortcomings in programs such as Medicaid. The state also is also party to multi-state lawsuits challenging federal cuts.

Its members will also consider the Trump administration’s proposal to abolish the federal Department of Education, Stewart said. Federal funding accounts for 30% of New Mexico’s education budget, she said, including money for special education.

​Stewart said the committee has no historical precedent in the New Mexico Legislature, noting “this is an ahistorical presidency.” The committee is intended to last for the remainder of the year, but could extend beyond that if needed, she said.

Martínez told the Legislative Council the new committee will not duplicate the work being done by the Legislative Finance Committee and other legislative panels but, rather, supplement it with a “proactive approach to deal with any potential reductions in federal funding.”
“It will be what I consider to be a very nuts-and-bolts committee, with a tailored, specific focus,” he said.

Martínez appointed Rep. Patricia Lundstrom (D-Grants) as the panel’s co-chair from the House of Representatives, and Stewart appointed Sen. William Soules (D-Las Cruces) as the co-chair from the Senate.

Lundstrom told Source NM that the new committee will “focus on making sure that no matter what happens at the federal level, New Mexico is ready.”

“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,” Lundstrom said in a statement. “While decisions in Washington D.C. sow confusion, state lawmakers are stepping up to protect New Mexicans’ access critical services and resource.”

An attempt to reach Soules for comment through a spokesperson for the Senate majority was unsuccessful as of publication time.

Other members of the new committee include Reps. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo), Raymundo Lara (D-Chamberino), Mark Duncan (R-Kirtland) and Cathrynn Brown (R-Carlsbad); and Sens. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe), James Townsend (R-Artesia) and Minority Whip Pat Woods (R-Broadview).

The panel is expected to hold an organizational meeting in May, Martínez said.

This story was updated following publication to include comments from Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, and corrected to accurately reflect the appointed representatives on the new committee. Source regrets the error.