Michelle Lujan Grisham

I think that there isn't anyone in this committee or anyone in Congress or the public that doesn't think that more should be done.

And I share many of my colleagues' concerns that we should be doing the very best to protect information.

I would like your assurance, based on your independent review of the state, to make sure we are addressing hunger in New Mexico.

We are number one in the country for hungry children, and we are number two in the country for hungry adults, issues I am very concerned about and working diligently to address.

The New Mexico Human Services Department prematurely stopped Medicaid payments to 15 non-profit behavioral health providers, that equals 100 percent of them, based on allegations of waste and fraud that have thus far turned out to be…

I completely disagree with you about that.

I think it is important that this Committee be clear that when we talk about flexibility and reform, and it sounds like it is a good thing, but in reality it could mean kicking off the very people we are trying to protect.

In New Mexico, you have managed to cut TANF benefits and reduce the number of participants in the program by 35 percent.

So let's focus on the work requirements.

But those don't require work programs.

When there aren't enough jobs to go around, do we tell these kids and these families, 'I am sorry, you will be hungry'?

It seems to me that you have found many ways to have flexibility in the programs and make it difficult to enroll and to reach as few people as possible.

I think every New Mexican would love that every able-bodied adult would have meaningful employment.

We are now the most food insecure for children in the country and nearly the most food insecure for adults in the country.

I want fairness. I--just because you're a big provider, I don't think that a big hospital system should have to wait and be penalized in this fashion.

I applaud that you've introduced new initiatives so that your productivity is better, but now we're minimizing.

I just want to push that balance is great, but urgency really is important here.

I can do a loan, and I can get prescreened at my bank.

I continue to hear from young farmers and ranchers that it is not enough, that the application process for loans and support is arduous at best.

We expect that 1/2 of those 65 and older farmers to retire over the next decade.

We have in New Mexico, which I am sure you are aware, the highest percentage of older farmers and ranchers who are age 65 and up, at 37 percent.

I am very grateful and thank you for your attention to this particular problem.

I have not received satisfactory, timely, timely responses. I need you to get back to me.

Do you think this severe, and let me just repeat that, the severe understaffing issues, like in Albuquerque, do you think they are acceptable?

If this is where you know you have significant issues, why aren't we making investments where we have the greatest backlogs?