New Mexico lawmakers are convening in a special session this week to boost funding for food assistance and rural health care
New Mexico lawmakers are to open a special session Wednesday to boost funding for food assistance and rural health care — actions the Democratic governor contends are needed to “minimize the damage from President Trump’s disastrous bill” cutting federal taxes and spending.
The special session follows one in Colorado, where the Democratic governor asserted Trump’s tax cuts wreaked havoc on the state’s budget. Oregon’s Democratic officials also are wrestling with whether a special session is needed. And California Democrats recently passed new spending measures meant to counteract Trump’s big bill.
Nothing like that is happening in Republican-led states.
The diverging responses highlight the partisan schism over Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment of his second term and raise the question: Are Republican-led states ignoring the financial fallout, or are Democratic-led states overstating the urgency?
“Probably Democrats are doing a little bit for grandstanding,” said Steven Rogers, an associate political science professor at Saint Louis University who focuses on state governments.
“On the Republican side, they may also just be OK with it — or they don’t want to poke the Trump bear,” Rogers said.
The sweeping new law, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” by Republicans, is likely to affect some states more than others. Federal tax cuts could reduce revenues for states that link their own income taxes to the federal code, starting with 2025 tax returns.
Federal spending reductions on Medicaid and food benefits also could cause states to spend more of their own money on social safety net programs. But new Medicaid work requirements, which are among the most prominent changes, don’t begin until 2027. Administrative cost shifts to states for food stamps begin in October 2026, with additional performance-based cost shifts in subsequent years.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has called upon New Mexico lawmakers to preemptively earmark more money this fiscal year toward food assistance and rural health care.
