If you must hold committee hearings at 1 am, what's wrong with your bill?
This week, the administration's budget-and-more bill passed the House by a single vote. After the Memorial Day recess, it will be heard by the Senate via the budget reconciliation process, meaning it can pass with a simple majority.
It's no secret that the federal budget process is broken. Case in point: this budget bill, with the ludicrous official title "The One, Big, Beautiful Bill" is the budget for this fiscal year, which began October 1, 2024.
This bill will increase the federal debt over the next ten years by $3.4 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. If offsets – that is sequester-mandated cuts and other cuts – are not made between now and 2034, CRFB estimates the debt could increase by $6.9 trillion.
The debt now stands at $36.2 trillion, according to the April 30 Statement of Public Debt released by the U.S. Treasury.
It's unclear what extant crisis requires this level of debt increase. Soon our interest payments alone will be $1 trillion a year. But that's okay. So will our defense spending.
There are spending cuts. Nearly $700 billion – almost three-quarters of a trillion - to Medicaid. Over a quarter trillion to SNAP. 72% of babies in New Mexico are born under Medicaid. 21% of New Mexicans receive SNAP benefits. Covering these costs with state funds will become necessary in FY 27 when oil and gas royalties to the state will be substantially lower due to bottoming-out crude oil prices.
Starting in 2026, we should expect to see cuts in Medicare to the tune of half a trillion dollars. That's because of the "sequester" under current law. When federal debt reaches specific thresholds, mandatory spending cuts must be imposed. For Medicare, that will be 4% annually, or $45 billion in fiscal year 2026. Over the next ten years this will total some $500 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The bill makes permanent the 2017 tax cuts, raises the child tax credit and eliminates taxes on tips and overtime. Nice ideas, but we can't afford them. These tax cuts are also lopsided, as they favor the top 5% of earners – increasing the after-tax income of that bracket by 4% - while reducing the after-tax income of the bottom 20% of earners by nearly 11%, according to analysis by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania (and the President's alma mater).
Like all budget bills, there are some "extras" dropped in. Here's a little gem: stripping federal courts of contempt powers for injunction violations. The language: "no court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued."
This provision adds a layer to filing a suit against administrative actions – that is, posting a security bond when seeking an injunction against an unlawful act – making it harder to hold the administration accountable for increasingly questionable actions.
In New Mexico, like most other states, we are required to pass a balanced budget, and we pass them on time. We do this, regardless of the party in the governor's office. The federal government has passed only two balanced budgets in my lifetime, in 1998 and 2000, and it was largely under the influence of a New Mexican Senate Budget Committee chair: Republican Senator Pete Domenici, Sr.
Amongst all the blather around this truly reckless bill, there has been another New Mexican voice calling it out for what it is: "…a redistribution of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest Americans…the largest increase since the 1790s to the deficit. This bill is a national disgrace."
One might assume these words might have come from a retired New Mexico conservative from another era, or from one of Senator Domenici's family members. Clearly, they would not have come from the current Republican Party of New Mexico which was quick to trumpet the bill as a win for New Mexicans, etc., etc.
They came from Democratic CD1 Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury. Congresswoman Stansbury and I do not agree on all policy issues, but she is preaching true on this ruinous bill. She also called out the Thursday morning 1 a.m. Rules Committee hearing and the lack of transparency from the majority in the duct-taping together of this 1,000-page monstrosity. If you have to hold your hearing at 1 a.m., what are you trying to hide?
For too long, Congress has kicked the deficit can down the road. In 2025, our biggest security threat isn't China building ships faster than we are or Russia's hypersonic missiles. It's our inability to responsibly collect revenues and curtail spending.
In another 30 years, half our budget won't be the for the Defense Department to counter China and Russia like it is today. It will be for interest to counter our own Congress' cowardice.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at
