Health care still top of mind for New Mexico congressional delegation as shutdown enters week four

Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation are still focused on health care as the federal government shutdown enters week four.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., sent a letter to every House Republican on Wednesday, pressing them to work with Democrats and extend federal health insurance subsidies. Meanwhile, Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján took aim at the Health and Human Services Administration for attempting to fire approximately 1,000 workers during the shutdown, in a letter signed by 31 senators.

The Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year and have been a key sticking point for Democrats in shutdown negotiations that appear to have ground to a halt. Republicans want to temporarily fund the federal government at the same levels into November, giving more time to negotiate full year appropriations.

The majority of Democrats are pushing for a temporary funding measure that would reopen the government, extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts made earlier this year.

New Mexico's Legislature approved a $17 million plan to maintain the health care subsidies through June 2026, even if the federal government does not extend them.

Many Republicans in the Legislature supported the measure, Leger Fernández points out. Without the subsidies, a two-income family making approximately $100,000 with a child in Chaves County could see their monthly health insurance premium triple from $440 to more than $1,700, the congresswoman said.

"The states cannot replace the federal responsibility to make sure our health care system does not crash," she wrote. "It is not okay that voters in your rural and Republican districts don't have the same protections as those in New Mexico."

Leger Fernández and Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., also sent a letter signed by 52 of their House colleagues to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Wednesday, focused on the disproportionate ways increased health care costs could affect farmers and rural communities. Many of the signees are Democratic members of the House Agriculture Committee.

Republicans do not have enough votes in the Senate to get their temporary funding bill through without some Democrats. But as the party in control of the House, Senate and White House, Republicans have a lot of leverage, and the White House has been attempting to use that leverage by firing federal workers during the shutdown.

Labor unions representing federal employees have sued over the firings. Last week, a federal judge ordered the Office of Management and Budget to temporarily pause layoffs that were already underway and stop any additional layoff notices. On Oct. 10, HHS laid off more than 900 employees, according to legal filings.

Many of those employees were working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based in Atlanta, with some in Washington, D.C., according to Heinrich spokesperson Luis Soriano.

"Punitive and reckless actions like these latest firings demonstrate how President (Donald) Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought are relishing the government shutdown they created to play politics with Americans' health and well-being," the senators wrote.

HHS fired workers at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Healthy Resources and Services Administration, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Administration for Children and Families. The employees did everything from overseeing the Title X family planning program to supporting states in reducing poverty.

New Mexico's Republican Party called again this week for Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the Republican spending bill.

"Senate Democrats are blatantly turning their backs on Americans in their ongoing quest to implement their far left, radical agenda," New Mexico GOP Chair Amy Barela said in a statement.