Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today voted against the House of Representatives-passed budget saying it would make deep cuts to Medicaid and Medicare – two health care initiatives that New Mexicans rely heavily upon.  The proposal failed when it received only 40 votes.

"This is a very one-sided budget.  It is not a credible attempt to address our nation's fiscal difficulties.  Instead, this budget proposes deep cuts in federal spending to some of our nation's most vulnerable citizens, such as elderly Medicare recipients, pregnant women, children, and the disabled," Bingaman said.

"In total, this budget proposal includes an astounding reduction of almost one and a half trillion dollars from federal healthcare programs over the next ten years.  And, as a result, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the burden on Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries will grow enormously," he added.

According to projections from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Urban Institute, by 2021, the New Mexico Medicaid program would be reduced by 340,000 people, basically cut in half from the projected enrollment.  The House-passed budget proposal, also called the Ryan budget, would have unprecedented impacts on the New Mexico state budget.  In total over the next ten years, the state would lose $15.1 billion -- more than a third of the projected federal support for the Medicaid program.

"I am a very strong supporter of efforts to address the long-term budget problems facing our nation.  These efforts are critical to our nation's future.  However, I cannot support a budget proposal that would leave hundreds of thousand New Mexican families without health insurance and that could cripple our state budget," Bingaman said after he voted against the budget. "Now that this proposal has been defeated in the Senate, I look forward to finding solutions that are thoughtful and balanced and not crafted at the expense of America's most vulnerable populations."