Author: House Republican Whip, Rod Montoya (Farmington)
Speaker Brian Egolf and House Appropriations and Finance Chair Patty Lundstrom have recently stated that no one could have predicted New Mexico's unfolding budget crisis. In reality, House Republicans predicted a looming budget crisis during the Legislative Session in February. We pointed to falling oil prices and I personally questioned what economic consequences the coronavirus pandemic posed.
Nonetheless, the Governor and the Democrat-led legislature continued undeterred on a record spending spree, setting the stage for the budget crisis we now face. Democrat leaders not only increased the state budget by 20% over the last two years, they also passed the largest tax increase in state history to sustain their irresponsible spending.
New Mexico history has proven that we can sustain increased spending by approximately 4% per year. The last time we saw a 20% spending increase was when Bill Richardson was running for President. Simply put, Democrat leaders have demonstrated that they cannot control themselves when it comes to spending your money.
As a result of their spending spree in 2020 and 2021, House Republicans introduced alternative budgets to offer more responsible options. The budgets proposed by the Governor and the Democrat legislators were so outrageous that we literally had no choice.
Had our budget alternatives been adopted, we would currently have over $3 billion in reserves and nearly $700 million less in yearly obligations. We would be in a much better position to address the budget challenges we now face, while ensuring that priorities such as education spending and teachers' salaries were protected.
Yes, this budget crisis was predicted, and yes, Republicans have been trying to sound the alarm for the past two years. Even House Democrats knew their spending was out of control. That's the very reason why they introduced the Budget Overdraft Protection Plan (HB341) in the final days of the 2020 Legislation Session. This legislation was strategically crafted and passed in an effort to avoid the embarrassment of having to return to Santa Fe for a Special Budget Session before the November election.
Now we are in the middle of the budget crisis that we ALL knew was coming. The nearly $2 billion budget deficit will likely require deep cuts, sweeping funds from every state agency, and eliminating upcoming teacher raises. Sadly, most of these difficult decisions could have been avoided had the Democrats shown some minimal amount of restraint.
New Mexican's have every reason to be concerned. After all, if Democrats were willing to pass the largest tax increase in state history during a time of record budget surpluses, they will no doubt raise taxes to make up for our budget deficit.
House Republicans have fought to keep spending reasonable and lessen the tax burden on hardworking New Mexicans. We have offered alternative budgets that prioritize families over special interests, but our ideas have been rejected along party lines. Finally, Speaker Egolf has recognized that we are experiencing an economic disaster, even so and despite his comments in the Journal, he still has not engaged Republicans in any discussions to address this catastrophe.
The budget crisis New Mexico is facing will require difficult decisions. As we struggle to find solutions to our $2 billion deficit, we must also take steps to allow businesses to reopen. New Mexicans want jobs, not unemployment checks.
Responsible budgeting could have prevented the pain we are now facing, and responsible budgeting is necessary to get our economy back on track. It's time for the Governor and Democratic leaders to manage our state budget much more responsibly; and if they cannot do that, perhaps it is time for new leadership.