Luján Says Trump Budget Will Be Devastating for New Mexico

Budget will ‘inflict deep pain’ on rural communities, veterans, and middle-class & working families

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) today issued the following statement regarding the release of President Donald Trump’s federal budget proposal today:

“Today President Trump revealed his true colors with the release of his budget proposal today. He campaigned on restoring jobs and economic fairness to the middle class in small town America, but his budget does the opposite – dramatically cutting critical programs that provide assistance to small towns and rural communities throughout New Mexico; slashing Medicaid by $800 billion which threatens the stability of many small hospitals in our state and jeopardizes the health of more than 19,000 New Mexico veterans who depend on Medicaid for their healthcare and cripples funding for nutrition assistance, education, environmental protection, help for farmers and other services families in New Mexico and across the country depend on just to get by.”

“Americans didn’t vote to gut healthcare for seniors, the disabled or those in tough economic circumstances, nor did they give the President the green light to ease up on polluters, slash the food stamp program or give Wall Street permission to rip off those who live on Main Street. They certainly didn’t vote to make all these devastating cuts so that President Trump can dole out a tax break to the wealthiest Americans.”

“Here are some of the most significant budgetary impacts on our state:

• Small Towns/Rural Communities: Eliminates the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. In the past few years, our state has benefited from dozens of Community Development Block Grants in support of a broad range of infrastructure, water, community-renewal, and affordable housing projects in communities like Rio Rancho and Farmington. It also completely eliminates funding – nearly $500 million – for the USDA Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program, which provides funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal, and storm water drainage to households and businesses in rural areas.
•  Healthcare: $1.4 trillion in cuts from Medicaid. This move would strip healthcare from nearly 11 million adults who gained coverage under Medicaid expansion nationwide and impact more that 236,000 New Mexican families. In addition more than 19,000 veterans in New Mexico receive at least some of their healthcare through the Medicaid program, and Trump’s budget would devastate that care.
•  Food/Nutrition: Cuts also include $192 billion from food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP) – a 25 percent overall reduction – and will also entail shifting some the financial burden to the states, cutting back eligibility and imposing additional requirements on recipients. The SNAP program currently serves about 448,328 families in New Mexico – nearly 22% of the state’s population.
•  Local Governments: Cuts funding for the PILT program (Payments in Lieu of Taxes.) PILT payments are federal payments to local governments that help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable federal lands within their boundaries. PILT payments help local governments carry out vital services such as firefighting and police protection, construction of public infrastructure like schools and roads, and emergency services.
•  Education: The President’s budget slashes $9 billion in federal education funding – a 14% reduction in education funding overall. Programs particularly impacted are before and after-school programs, as well as summer school programs. We have approximately 875 public schools in New Mexico and virtually all of them support some before and after-school program, many of them operate several of these programs for their students, which are now at risk.
•  Higher Education: On the higher education front, the President’s budget cuts funding for the Pell Grant program which provides financial support for low-income students, including more than 55,000 students attending college in New Mexico, and significantly reduces funding for federal work study programs which allow students to earn money to pay for college.
•  Environmental Protection: The budget cuts nearly a third – $5.7 billion or 31 percent – of the EPA’s budget and shifts much of the costs to cash-strapped states.  It slashes grant programs, guts enforcement, and eliminates thousands of jobs that are critical to meeting the EPA’s mission.  The proposal also cuts hundreds of millions of dollars from the Superfund program, which would drastically delay long overdue cleanups around the nation and in New Mexico.
•  Clean Energy/Energy Assistance: The budget released today also reduces federal investments in clean energy and energy efficiency.  It eliminates the popular Energy Star program that saves consumers money and reduces energy consumption.  It eliminates the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides vital assistance to 68,500 low-income families in New Mexico to help heat and cool their homes.  The budget also abolishes all funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program and State Energy Program, punishing states like ours that rely on this critical funding to achieve their energy and environmental goals, and to assist low-income and minority communities.
•  Arts/Cultural Programs: Trump’s budget also targets more than $500 million in funding for arts and cultural programs important to New Mexico. It shortsightedly defunds the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and by extension, may suppress other federal funding for cultural programs, educational institutions, and artistic platforms – which are important elements of New Mexico’s character and culture.

 “When you look at the deep cuts across the board, they consistently impact programs designed to help rural residents and middle class / working families, and you couple that with tax reductions that favor the wealthy and hurt the middle-class, the President’s budget priorities are not just misguided, they are unfair and hostile to hard working people who want to provide for their families, better their communities, further their education and achieve the American Dream”