The following is an interview transcript with Democratic New Mexico village. Mitchell Lujan Grisham, which broadcast on 3 August 2025 on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brain”.
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Margaret Brainon: We now turn to the Democratic Governor of New Mexico Mitchell Lujan Grisham. She connects with us to Santa FE. The governor, two of the five, are on the New Mexican Medicade. You have found a lot of rural hospitals. Have you come to know that Dr. How has Oz applied everything?
Governor Lujan Grisham: Not at all. There is no real way to apply it. This is more paperwork for all. This is more paperwork for the federal government, for state governments, for county governments, for local hospitals, for independent providers. And you know what Americans really hate, Margaret? When you go to your primary care doctor and you spend 20 minutes sitting on a chair, not even on the exam table, while they are inputting the data in the computer. So this is no meaning. We should be a society and a country that is connecting people with healthcare providers. I think one thing that Dr. Represents oz, she is a fair representation, should we be healthy as Americans. Ok. We need to get out of poverty. We need drug prices- we should talk about that, to come down. So go after insurance companies. Build here. Make sure that we can interact on fair prices. Let the states do this, because I guarantee you, we will do better work than the federal government. And finally, people get early, easy access today, more than half, or about half, our small businesses also do not offer health care coverage. So you can do a job. But what now?
Margaret Brainon: Yes, Ok, you said, though- in your kingdom, because as a governor, you have to find out this. You have some oil and gas revenue reserved cash, as I understand it, which is placed on one side. Does it show that it is possible for the federal government to refund more responsibility for the states? These arguments are making conservatives.
Governor Lujan Grisham: They are and it is temporary. It does not have any state, including it – which, clearly, I am really proud, we are really in good financial size that takes planning and effort. You know, unlike the report of federal jobs, our job estimates are met and becoming more, which is going in the opposite direction. So I do not know where all these jobs are going into this anemic economy. I mean, this is very bad. Last time it was bad, I was in college, and let me tell you, it was a long time ago. And so yes, temporarily we can do this. But you cannot do it in a long race. In less than a decade, the minimum lost minimum lost in New Mexico is between $ 12 to $ 13 billion and when not, not, rural hospitals and local providers close their doors. I can do it better than any other state. The last governor completely canceled practical health. Six years later, we are still away from trying to rebuild. We put one billion dollars in behavior health in this final legislative session. Nothing is not so easy to rebuild anything.
Margaret Brainon: Well, under this Republican Act, $ 50 billion Rural Health Care Funds are going to give people the ability to come and say the state, like you, like you, we need this additional cash. Are you going to ask for this?
Governor Lujan Grisham: I am going to ask for every dollar that the federal government has benefited a new Mexican anywhere. So you got 50 billion. For each state it is $ 1 billion, if it was also. Do you know how much money will take to shore rural hospitals? More than one billion. And in that perspective – to do this to me, it is just one billion for behavior health, it is just a billion plus to maintain people’s coverage, it is another billion for prescription drugs, it is a billion dollar for rural provider distribution investment, and it is only 50 hospitals. You have hundreds of hospitals. Hundreds. 400 rural hospitals across America will shutter. So there is a number on it. We are- how do we choose these rural hospitals? And if you choose a South East Rural Hospital in New Mexico, what about the Rural Hospital in Western New Mexico. The economies fail. People have to go away. You do not have any obgyn care. The entire area collapses, and they are reduced to around 134 billion to rural health care distribution. So 50 billion is just to make someone feel somewhere that they recognize that this is a disaster. The horrific of $ 900 billion from the medicid is straight up.
Margaret Brainon: Governor, we ran through a lot of material here. I have more questions for you, but very quickly – can you tell me – you deployed the National Guard to compete in New Mexico. How is it different from what the President did in California?
Governor Lujan Grisham: Okay, they are not policing. They are working back ends so that trained community policing, and members of that training, correct local police officers, they are on the streets. Whatever we have in this country is short of police officers. What I have in New Mexico is a partnership. So they are all doing – they all respond to emergency calls. When we have received the accident, they all handle traffic clearances. And this is working, we are starting to deal with the more productive Phantenile drugs with high end arrests, as we did without a guard. And I really proud that work. This is about partnership and benefiting, not serious crimes committed after indiscriminate people.
Margaret Brainan: Thank you for your time today. ‘Face the Nation’ will be right back.
