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U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (N.M.-02) introduced the Patient Debt Relief Act that provides relief and protections to millions of Americans burdened by medical debt. The bill takes a fresh approach by establishing a grant program that enables non-profit organizations to purchase debt from hospitals while codifying protections for patients Today, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus announced their support for the bill.

For generations, the Zuni people were able to grow food in the New Mexico desert through what Pueblo of Zuni Gov. Arden Kucate described as “adaptive irrigation techniques and careful stewardship of our water and lands.”

Then, in the early 19th century, this way of life was threatened as settlers upstream of the Zuni reservation began diverting water. Kucate told members of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday before a congressional subcommittee that this led to essentially all of the water in the river being taken before the Pueblo could access it.

When he was a child, Representative Gabriel Vasquez never heard his parents discuss politics, much less abortion, a topic that was off limits in many Mexican Catholic households like his. So he can see why some might think he is taking a risk by focusing on abortion rights in campaigning to Latino men.