New Mexico Legislature approves bills to prop up rural health care, underwrite food assistance

New Mexico legislators moved quickly to prop up funding for food assistance and rural health care services in response to President Donald Trump’s cuts in federal spending on Medicaid and nutrition programs. The Democratic-led Legislature sent bills to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday that provide $50 million to sustain medical services at rural health clinics and hospitals that rely heavily on Medicaid spending. Republicans in the legislative minority voted in unison against the spending provisions, arguing that most Medicaid changes are still far away and that New Mexico should focus on reducing errors in benefit distributions.