Heath Haussamen
Given the times we’re living in, it was a special moment when the vast majority of state lawmakers came together on Monday to reject the use of food as a political weapon.
Many Republicans voted with Democrats to approve House Bill 1. That legislation appropriated $20 million per week, should it be necessary, to ensure New Mexicans who are signed up to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits actually get that money.
Some Republicans complained. A few, including Sen. Craig Brandt of Rio Rancho, falsely accused New Mexico’s Democratic U.S. senators, Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, of starving people to win a political fight, even though it was actually President Donald Trump doing that.
But in the end, about half of Republicans in the Legislature, including Brandt, voted with Democrats to ensure needy New Mexicans can put food on their tables.
“We’re gonna do what’s right,” said Senate Minority Leader Bill Sharer of Farmington.
Sen. George Muñoz, a Democrat from Gallup, was a champ in shepherding the legislation through the Senate.
“People out there are counting on you,” he said during Monday’s session. “They’re counting on you to do the right thing, because in Washington it’s not getting done.”
‘Let’s be clear why we’re here’
When Brandt tried to blame Heinrich and Luján, Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Democrat from Las Cruces, was there, in a committee meeting and again during the floor debate, to set the record straight.
“Let’s be clear why we’re here — because of a heartless, unprecedented president,” Steinborn said on the Senate floor.
Regardless of who is to blame for the government shutdown, past presidents from both parties have used emergency money to make SNAP payments during shutdowns. Trump has similar access to emergency money.
Courts ordered Trump to release that money. He instead fought in court for the legal right to starve tens of millions of people to pressure Democrats to do what he wanted.
You can debate who’s to blame for the shutdown, but Trump is solely to blame for withholding SNAP funding.
Regardless, even Brandt wasn’t about to vote against feeding needy New Mexicans. “I will be voting ‘yes’ today because it’s something that we need to do,” he said.
Sailing through the House
Also noteworthy was the speed at which the legislation made its way through the House. The ranking Republican on the Appropriations and Finance Committee, Jack Chatfield of Mosquero, proposed an amendment to fund an effort to help the state reduce its rate of errors, which are mostly overpayments, in the SNAP program.
Democrats accepted the amendment. The bill sailed through the committee and a floor vote without debate.
Absent were the usual objections and lengthy series of questions from Republican Reps. John Block of Alamogordo and Stefani Lord of Sandia Park.
While Block was silent during the session, he went to X after it ended to do his virtue signaling. “I will not pass more of YOUR taxpayer dollars to fund the mess Sen. Ben Ray Luján and Heinrich created,” he tweeted.
By contrast, Rep. Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences, the House Republican caucus chair, voted for the bill and posted a statement that lacked partisanship.
“I voted ‘yes’ because I won’t let children, seniors, or struggling families go hungry,” Dow said on Facebook.
Unfortunately, the other House Republican leaders, Floor Leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena and Whip Alan Martinez of Rio Rancho, couldn’t muster up the moral clarity to vote for the bill. They instead joined Block and Lord in opposition.
On the Senate side, Sharer and Republican Whip Pat Woods of Broadview supported the bill. The GOP caucus chair, David Gallegos of Eunice, voted against it.
What’s up with Brantley?
Perhaps most surprising to me was Sen. Crystal Brantley’s vote against the legislation. The Republican from Elephant Butte has a reputation for working across party lines. I expected her to oppose weaponizing food to win a political fight.
She instead used the crisis created by Trump to complain about the misuse of taxpayer dollars, writing on Facebook that her “priority has always been making sure emergency funding goes to hungry New Mexico families, not to feeding waste, fraud, and abuse.” She complained the legislation didn’t include enough “guardrails.”
That’s a policy debate to have during normal budget deliberations, not a reason to stand on ceremony during a crisis the president created.
I wrote earlier this week that voters should kick out of office all Republican state lawmakers who couldn’t do the right thing in this moment. I meant it. Starving people to pressure the other political team to cave is unacceptable.
Gratitude
In the end, six Senate Republicans voted against funding for SNAP, and two were absent. The other seven voted to do the right thing. See how everyone voted here.
And in the House, nine Republicans voted against the bill and four were absent. The other 13 did the right thing. See the full list here.
Every Democrat who was present voted in favor of the SNAP funding.
I’m grateful for every lawmaker, Democrat and Republican, who voted to ensure New Mexicans can eat.
Disclosure: My spouse, state Rep. Sarah Silva, a Las Cruces Democrat, was a primary sponsor of House Bill 1.
