Last thing: I don’t know how you don’t do it. It builds an economy. It creates workers. Men and women can go to work when they want. I’m seeing record enrollment in our higher education.
And of course, I’m the only state in America that pays for college—two-year, four-year, part-time, full-time, anywhere, anytime. We do trades too—it’s CTE-related, apprenticeships and trades. No wrong door here to deciding what’s important to you and your family, in terms of where you want to work and who you want to be.
Bacon: A couple of important factors to note that I wanted you to talk about: You’re in a blue state, so your legislature is Democratic—that probably helps. On the other hand, New Mexico is not a superwealthy state. So there’s a balance here. So there’s not just free money here. You’ve had to really work to define and be strategic about this.
Governor Lujan Grisham: You do. And each state will have to really determine that—what revenue streams are going to work for them; how many kiddos they have, where are the big issues. [In] 41 states—41 states in America—your childcare payment is more than your mortgage. So states are trying to find ways to do affordable housing, ways to pay down mortgages, to offset the costs of developing and building so the overall mortgage is lower. Any number of things. They should do that too.
But imagine a situation where you’re increasing the income opportunities for your families and their wealth. You know what New Mexico needs? It needs to see an increase in wage growth and in overall well-being and family equity or equality related to their annual incomes. Well, guess what? These efforts in fact are doing just that. [We have] the highest wage growth in the country—and if I’m not quite right about that, to your listeners and viewers, we’re tied or in second place. You know, it shifts every quarter, but I believe we’re still in first place, and we just had record growth in family income well-being—in our supplemental income, when the Census Bureau looks at you for poverty, New Mexico’s trajectory is like this [gestures upward].
If you’re a poor state, that’s exactly what you want: individual income protection, gains, and wealth. Because if you don’t have that—particularly for a [majority-minority] state—I’m doing exactly the opposite; I’m repeating past mistakes. And that’s discriminatory for the very men and women who built this great state. I’m reversing that trajectory forever.
Bacon: Talk about—I think you all just finished or are finishing—a special session there. I think that’s an important development, because the federal policy has been bad, at least from my point of view.
Governor Lujan Grisham: From my point of view, bad. I’ll give you a plug—you’re right. Bad.
Bacon: So talk about what you all are trying to do—trying to help address Medicaid cuts, other funding cuts. Tell me what this special session was about that you just finished.
Governor Lujan Grisham: You got it. We asked the legislature to give us about $162 million to blunt the changes in Medicaid. It’s not enough—we’ve got a $20 billion problem over a decade with the tax cuts to billionaires that this Congress passed. So I want folks that are tuning in—this is really bad for America. So New Mexico started with $162 million. Here’s what that does.
It funds PBS—because I’m about public broadcasting. That’s also early childhood. Where do you think some of the programming for early education comes from? Right there. So we funded that. We’re putting money into a Medicaid trust fund—the same model I talked to you about for early childhood and childcare, we’re going to do the same thing for Medicaid so that we’re blunting that $20 billion over the long haul.
Create a trust fund, put money into it, build a revenue stream—so that we don’t have to make draconian cuts. Then, we are putting money into a patient affordability fund. Because if they’re not going to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax subsidies, in New Mexico, you see a near-doubling of your health care premiums. That means people don’t buy health insurance, that means the only place they get care is in the emergency room. That overwhelms my hospitals. So we’re making sure that we can blunt that problem. That’s the result of the shutdown. And we’ve got money right now because people have got to enroll, they have to make decisions, about private insurance right now in November.
We’ve protected New Mexicans there. Two last things: We’re gonna put $50 million into rural health centers that are losing money because of this effort. They’re losing money, they’re closing their doors. I’m going to give them money right now so they can stay open; I’ll pay for your losses. And I’m putting millions of dollars into food assistance, since that’s all gone. I want New Mexicans to know—you can’t have free child care, but you can’t feed your family. You have to have both. This is a state—and our Democratic legislators—they had your back. And I’m going to say: There were a couple of Republicans that voted with us, to make sure that we could do that, and I’m really grateful to them, because they recognized who they work for: everyday New Mexicans, Republicans and Democrats, that need a fair shake out of their government. And they’re getting that in New Mexico right now.
Bacon: All right, let’s move to where things are not moving as quickly—or as effectively—and that’s Washington, D.C. You served in Congress for about six years, so you’ve got some experience there. The Republicans control Washington, so this shutdown is ultimately about them. That said, Democrats in Congress have decided to take a stand, and really push hard for Obamacare subsidies, and also Medicare and Medicaid cuts to be reimbursed, and also this general idea that Donald Trump should follow the budgets passed [by Congress] and not just make up laws as he sees fit. Do you agree with the stand they’ve taken?
Governor Lujan Grisham: You know, I actually have to say—I’m not a big fan of shutdowns. I’ve got 20,000-plus workers who aren’t going to get paid. I’ve got serious issues with parks. And this may sound like it’s not a big deal, but it really is.
There’s a beautiful place, a federal park called Valles Caldera—it’s this pristine, gorgeous wilderness area in Northern New Mexico. They open it up once a year—you have to lottery in; it takes people their whole lives to lottery in for specialized hunt. This is an outdoor recreation state. This is a hunting state. These are folks who feed their families with an elk hunt. That’s now gone. It took you 40 years to lottery in, you just lost that hunt. You never get to go back there again. It’s really wrong.
So that may seem like it’s not a big deal, but if that’s how you were going to feed your family for the winter—it’s a big damn deal. So it’s all of the above. I don’t like shutdowns. But this is a Trump shutdown.
Congress has an obligation to figure it out—but he sets the agenda. He refuses to negotiate. He doesn’t care about everyday Americans. He promised to lower costs, he promised to have your backs. He has his own contract with Americans, which is “I’m going to make sure that we lower inflation; that things get better for you.” He has delivered the opposite. He’s made life harder for you, he’s made it harder for New Mexicans.
So I think it’s time for Congress to understand the burden that he’s created for you as a Republican is to vote against your very constituents, and Democrats are saying, maybe it’s time for you to have a backbone. I get it—that’s a worthwhile debate. But I’m really disappointed that we’re here.
And when they say, “Well, we could have done a clean CR for another twenty days,” this is what I want to say to America: Republicans are right here—except [when] they passed that tax break for billionaires. They didn’t have your back then. They haven’t had your back on a single appropriations bill. The president has done nothing to deliver on inflation or anything else. What would make you believe, as an everday American, whether you’re a
Democrat or Republican, that they’re going to meet their end of the bargain this time? It’s a lot like Charlie Brown—Lucy’s holding the football. No, thank you. Hand me the football, let me run for the touchdown, then maybe.
I think that we oughta not listen to this congressional rhetoric. This president did this to us. He should immediately demand that those subsidies and that inflation reduction strategies get into the CR. That’s leadership. This is on him.
Bacon: Let me finish with two questions—one silly, one is less silly. The silly one: I didn’t look it up before I got here, but I don’t know if there are any direct flights from Albuquerque to Des Moines.
Governor Lujan Grisham: Likely no.
Bacon: Thanks. So I’m going to ask if you’re considering—since you’re a second-term governor, you’ve been very effective—are you considering running for president? And second, the more important question: You’re in a majority-minority state, and the narrative is that Democrats have lost ground with Latinos, Democrats lost the election. You were, to your credit, kind of forceful with then-President Biden, saying “Are you the right person at this moment?” And you were right about that, and I respect that. So one question is: Are you thinking about running for president yourself? And then the broader question is, what should Democratic party be thinking about electorally to win future elections?
Governor Lujan Grisham: I’m going to do the second part first. The Democratic Party needs to stop worrying about labels and [start] worrying about results. Each state is a bit different. I focus every day on results—getting things done.
They oughta look to governors, because governors— I work work for every New Mexican: independents, “decline to state,” young people, older people, retired people, working people, Republicans, and Democrats. That’s my advice to the Democratic party. We spend so much time on the labels. “Are you a progressive? Are you a liberal?” I don’t think that’s useful anymore. And those policy issues can be very personal, but show how you get things done.
And two: there are a lot of great candidates already talking about running. I need to focus on—I’ve got a year to deliver a whole lot more in New Mexico. Housing; I want to deliver on crime, and I want to show real outcomes. Turning a hundred years of poverty that reflects itself in my education system. I want to turn that around, I’m feeling good. And I want more healthcare access in New Mexico. So let’s see if I get all that done. Maybe you’ll interview me again in a year, a year-and-a-half, and we can have a more concrete discussion then.
Bacon: All right. Governor, this was a great conversation. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much. Have a great day.
Governor Lujan: You are a rock star. Thanks for having me.
Bacon: Thank you. Bye-bye.