Michelle Lujan Grisham

I appreciate your responses about moving the economy and investing in jobs.

I am in a state that has got negative job growth, and I think the only state in the country.

I actually proposed an amendment to the Republican budget that would fund HIS, which is woefully under-funded.

I would urge you to be clear and careful about those kinds of proposals.

I could not agree more that this has to be an investment in outcome and quality.

Stopping the sequester is a clear and direct productive impact in a state that does not have any other opportunities for fiscal growth.

I have to talk to the 2,000 people who have already been furloughed, and the countless number of defense contractors and related research businesses that are not hiring.

With a 14 year low in production of natural gas happening right now, that is a lot of jobs sitting on the sideline that turn around almost immediately if production begins to increase for export if there is some sort of advance planning…

The prospect that we can increase natural gas exports and increase economic activity and create jobs in my State is particularly encouraging.

If our goal is a better economy--education is how we get there.

We must protect research and development as these drive our long-term security and prosperity.

These cuts to education funding are cuts to our nation's long-term future.

As you draft the next budget, I urge you to reverse the painful cuts to education programs.

There are smarter and more balanced ways to achieve deficit reduction without placing this burden on the backs of those who need help.

That is why I urge the members of this committee to come together with a focus on the concerns that are most pressing in the lives of the people we are honored to represent.

Most alarmingly, the past two House budgets have asked seniors and the less fortunate to shoulder the largest burdens of deficit reduction.

Veterans will suffer because they are not protected by the proposed cuts to healthcare.

I also want to highlight the unprecedented cut to Indian Health Services, which was permanently authorized by the Affordable Care Act.

Medicare is going to suffer $11 billion in cuts due to sequestration, in addition to plans that turn Medicare into a voucher program and block grants Medicaid to states this is exactly the wrong approaches.

Cutting Medicare and Medicaid will put additional financial pressure on millions of family caregivers and threatens their short-term and long-term financial security.

Although the economy continues to recover, it has been far too slow in creating jobs.

These cuts and proposed changes will have a devastating effect in my district and on each of those providers I mentioned who will lose critical funding in FY13 and FY14, translating into further loss of jobs and lifesaving medical cuts for…

We cannot afford to wait that long, and the millions of individuals and families in need of a job can't wait either.

I believe we need to strengthen and invest in critical infrastructure like the health care system as a key way to create jobs here at home and to protect our most vulnerable citizens.

New Mexico has one of the highest hunger or food insecurity rates in the country.