Rep. Gabe Vasquez answers four questions on health care, tax and border legislation
Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., is pushing legislation meant to help families deal with inflation by creating a one-time refundable tax credit equal to 10% of a taxpayer’s federal taxes. The bill was introduced last week and has no co-sponsors yet.
Vasquez is campaigning to win reelection in the 2nd Congressional District. His opponent is Republican Yvette Herrell, who previously represented the district for one term.
Vasquez is pitching the new legislation as part of a plan to lower costs. Some of the other bills he’s touting are the Economic Opportunity for Border Communities Act, which would require the Secretary of Commerce to develop a national strategy for supporting economic opportunity in border communities; the Doctors of Community Act, which would provide mandatory funding for graduate medical education programs operated by teaching health centers; and the Nurse Corps Tax Parity Act, which would exclude nurse corps scholarships and loan repayment programs from income tax.
The Journal asked Vasquez about how he thinks the legislation could impact New Mexico:
Q: What would you say is the most critical component of your lower cost plan?
A:
I think lowering the cost of health care for New Mexicans is really, really important, but also putting more money into the pockets of our families that are also taking care of families at home, that
Q: And how would the Inflation Relief Act benefit New Mexico?
A:
The Inflation Relief Act on average provides about $900 back in the pockets of New Mexicans. And it’s a way to show that when working families have more opportunities to invest in things like mortgages, things like their kids’ education, things like food security and food safety, that they have more opportunities for better jobs and to achieve higher academic outcomes as well.
Q: How could the Economic Opportunity for Border Communities Act create better-paying jobs?
A:
One of the most exciting opportunities that we have in New Mexico and across the 2nd District is building on our international trade economy that exists in places like southern Doña Ana County . ... As we are moving away from offshoring in places like China, people are looking to places like Doña Ana County and Santa Teresa to be able to create these opportunities that both lower the cost of goods because they ease our supply chain issues in this country, and then secondly, they create jobs for New Mexicans.
The Border Economic Opportunities Act really allows us to build on something that’s already there.
Q: Which piece of legislation in this group do you think is most critical for New Mexico’s rural communities?
A:
There’s two pieces of legislation that I’ve sponsored and am leading on that help bring more rural health care practitioners to New Mexico . ... One of the most basic things that we can do as a government, whether it’s local, state or federal, is provide those building blocks of health and safety, and that includes making sure that we have the proper health care opportunities in places like Lordsburg, or Silver City or Deming.
If we can create incentives that attract more physicians to come to New Mexico, reciprocity for example with a state like Arizona so that their licenses can be transferred here for all kinds of different medical care . ... Our bills seek to make the system a little bit easier and make it easier for folks to move to places like Lordsburg or Deming.