Rep. Gabe Vasquez Statement on How Republicans’ Big, Ugly Bill Hurts New Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) issued the following statement in response to the passage of the Republican reconciliation bill, which slashes programs that support working families, children, seniors, and rural communities across New Mexico in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

“Republicans just chose to pass a bill that will make life harder and more expensive for the American people. They chose the billionaire class over the working class. The pain this will cause will echo for generations,” said Vasquez. “When millions lose their health care, local hospitals close, utility bills skyrocket, and kids are left hungry, New Mexicans will remember today as the day Republicans sold them out to billionaires.”

What this bill means for NM-02:

• Over 110,000 New Mexicans at Risk of Losing Health Care : This Republican bill will cut support for Medicaid, jeopardizing benefits for more than 110,000 patients across New Mexico – 40,000 of those in Rep. Vasquez’s district.
• Eight Rural Hospitals Serving Residents of NM-02 at Risk of Closing: Carlsbad Medical Center, Socorro General Hospital, Mimbres Memorial Hospital, Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital, Lincoln County Medical Center, and three other nearby hospitals that serve residents of Rep. Vasquez’s district are at risk of having to reduce services or close their doors completely due to health care provisions in the Big Ugly Bill. Expectant mothers in Hatch will go without critical prenatal support, grandparents in Silver City will lose access to long-term care, and kids in Hobbs will need to travel farther for emergency surgeries.
• More Kids Will Go Hungry: Republicans have chosen to slash $180 billion from SNAP and nutrition assistance benefits, meaning over 175,000 New Mexicans could lose access to vital food assistance programs as a result.
• Utility Bills to Soar by 25% Annually: The cuts to clean energy tax credits imposed by this bill could force New Mexicans to pay more than $500 more per year to keep the lights on. 
• Supporters of the bill say it will usher America into an age of fiscal responsibility, but it won’t. It will increase the national debt by as much as $5 trillion dollars to fund tax cuts to the wealthy.

Additional Republican priorities at the expense of New Mexicans’ health care: 

• Special tax exemptions for whaling-boat captains
• Tax exemptions to purchase firearm silencers
• Spending $85 million for a pet project to move Space Shuttle Discovery to Texas
• An unreasonable tax increase for poker players, legal sports bettors, and casino patrons 
• Rescinds tax credit for lowering air pollution near schools 

As a first-generation Mexican-American who was raised along the border, Rep. Vasquez knows firsthand how these cuts will make life harder for working class people across New Mexico as they try to make ends meet each month. He will continue to advocate for a fair economy and government that works for everyone — not just the ultra-wealthy.

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