Indian Affairs Secretary Josett Monette, center, testifies before lawmakers on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. Impacts from federal cuts to services are difficult to nail down, but are already resulting in layoffs and service interruptions in New Mexico, she said. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)
Federal cuts to services are already impacting health care, education and infrastructure for Pueblo and Tribal communities in New Mexico, leadership for the state’s Indian Affairs agency told lawmakers Thursday, and with deeper cuts expected
Moreover, New Mexico tribal governments are facing challenges determining the specific financial losses they will face, Indian Affairs Secretary Josett Monette told lawmakers at the Federal Funding Stabilization Subcommittee held inside Santa Ana Casino.
Monette said her department’s analysis of the Trump Administration’s “big beautiful bill” could mean losses of three-quarters of a billion dollars to Indian Country with an unknown impact to New Mexico.
“The numbers are constantly in flux right now, and we really can’t know exactly right now,” Monette told Source NM just outside Quezada’s Comedy Club after the meeting. “But our department is committed to be there for Pueblos, Tribes and all New Mexicans, when we do know the impacts.”
The shrinking of Medicaid services by nearly $4 million will have a large impact on tribal communities, Monette said, noting that nearly 40,000 Native American adults receive Medicaid in New Mexico, accounting for 16% of the state’s population using the state-federal insurance program.
Medicaid accounts for more than half the funding for Indian Health Services hospitals. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, both New Mexico Democrats, earlier this week invited Mark Cruz, a Tribal citizen of the Klamath Tribes and senior advisor to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to visit Gallup Indian Medical Center and “witness firsthand how the Administration’s bureaucratic red tape is limiting access to basic and essential health care services like ultrasounds and emergency care,” a news release from Leger Fernández’s office stated. The letter followed an earlier one this month from members of the delegation about the hospital to Kennedy Jr.
Tribal colleges were facing a 90% cut in funding, but instead will likely have flat budgets this fiscal year. Nonetheless, most will have layoffs or program cuts, Monette said. Direct budget cuts are not the only threat. For example, Navajo Technical University lost more than $3 million after the slashing of federal programs for renewable energy job training and research grants from the National Science Foundation.
The department will roll out a portal for tribal governments to submit lost funding for programs and staffing impacts, prior to the upcoming legislative session, Monette said.
“As we learn about the direct impacts we can work as a state alongside our nations, Pueblos and tribal communities to determine how to help or move forward,” she said.
Lawmakers said they were eager to get a clearer New Mexico picture, urging the department to keep them apprised and to offer updates at further interim meetings.
Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup) floated using unspent capital outlay funds to help address gaps in federal funding, but urged Pueblos and tribal governments to reach out directly to the state before the legislative session, to help determine which programs could have state funding.
“If we don’t know, then we can’t help,” he said.
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