With New Mexico health care subsidy fix in place, top House Republican calls for end to shutdown

SANTA FE — New Mexico lawmakers took bipartisan action during a special session last week to pass a bill aimed at shielding some state residents from hefty health insurance cost hikes.

With that fix now in law after being signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the state's top House Republican recently called on New Mexico's two U.S. senators to vote for a GOP-backed plan to reopen the federal government.

"In short, the very justification cited by our congressional delegation for withholding support for the current continuing resolution has now been eliminated," House GOP floor leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena said in a letter to U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, who are both Democrats.

She also said the federal shutdown was affecting military members, businesses and tribal communities across New Mexico.

However, Heinrich said in a response letter sent Wednesday that the temporary legislative fix did not address all of his concerns about the impact of federal budget changes on New Mexico, which has one of the nation's highest Medicaid enrollment rates.

"On behalf of our shared constituents, I greatly appreciate the legislation passed by the New Mexico Legislature, and I recognize that the scale of the situation requires a federal response, too," Heinrich said in his letter to Armstrong.

"More must be done to protect families from the affordability crisis that President Trump and congressional Republicans have created," he added. "And I will not leave New Mexicans to foot the bill for that alone."

Health care policy issues have played a key part in the federal shutdown, which entered its eighth day Wednesday amid a partisan stalemate in Washington, D.C.

Both Heinrich and Luján have voted against a GOP-backed funding plan, while instead supporting a Democratic alternative that has been rejected by the U.S. Senate.

Heinrich said during a recent MSNBC interview that rising health care costs are an issue across the nation and that many working families cannot afford higher costs incurred by allowing Biden-era tax credits to help pay for Affordable Care Act premiums to expire.

"I'm not going to blame one side or the other for not having gotten to 'yes' yet, but I will tell you, we damn sure ought to be taking care of working people in this country, and we haven't done enough of that, and people cannot afford these incredible increases in their health insurance costs," Heinrich said.

The bill passed by New Mexico lawmakers during the two-day special session, House Bill 2, involves using $17 million in funding from the state's Health Care Affordability Fund to blunt the impact of looming rate increases for about 6,500 state residents.

Those New Mexicans currently receive assistance in paying for their marketplace health insurance plans from the tax credits that are set to expire at the end of this year.

However, the legislative fix is only projected to offset projected cost increases for the remainder of the current budget year. An additional $35 million to $40 million would have to be appropriated for the budget year that starts in July 2026 in order to keep the cost protection in effect, according to a legislative analysis.

Armstrong, who represents the state's largest House district, was one of 13 House Republicans to vote against the bill during the two-day special session. All but three Senate Republicans voted in favor of the measure, which received support from Democrats in both legislative chambers.

The top-ranking House Republican said during the special session that until New Mexico puts on its "big girl pants" and addresses medical malpractice laws, the state's health care system will continue to struggle.

But Armstrong did not mention those concerns in her letter to New Mexico's two U.S. senators or her vote against the special session legislation.

"New Mexico has done its job," Armstrong also said in her letter. "Now it's time for you to do yours."