Economy and mental health services drive Lujan Grisham’s campaign against a hard-to-find challenger
WASHINGTON — As she campaigns for a third term in Congress, Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham hears most about two issues from her Albuquerque-area constituents: a lack of jobs and scant access to behavioral health services for mental illness and substance abuse. “It’s behavioral health and the economy — all day, every day,” Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said in an interview with the Journal, adding that she has plans to help solve both problems. A former New Mexico health secretary and Bernalillo County commissioner, Lujan Grisham is seeking election to a third term representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District. The 56-year-old congresswoman was raised in Santa Fe and now lives in Albuquerque when she’s not in Washington. She faces Republican Richard Priem on Nov. 8 general election ballot. Priem could not be reached for comment about his campaign despite repeated attempts by the Journal, including phone messages and emails. Last week, the Republican Party of New Mexico said it also had been unable to contact Priem. The Republican candidate’s website contains no policy positions, and when clicked, a video link said “We ‘the staff’ are working hard to pin him down for his video. Please come back soon!” Asked about a possible run for governor of New Mexico in 2018, Lujan Grisham said “never say never,” but she also stressed that her focus now is on her re-election campaign and work in Washington. Lujan Grisham, who has two grown daughters, sides with Democrats on many divisive issues. She supports abortion rights, for example, and agrees with calls for some additional gun controls. She backs a path to citizenship for those living in the U.S. illegally and has used her position on the House Budget Committee to push for expanded nutrition benefits for poor kids. She’s been an outspoken proponent of the Affordable Care Act, despite its problems and challenges, and supports fine-tuning the law instead of repealing it as many Republicans prefer. But Lujan Grisham also frequently stresses the importance of trying to work with her Republican colleagues, who currently control the House, on issues that transcend partisan politics. Jobs and mental health services are two such issues, she said. As many New Mexicans struggle with opioid abuse and find it impossible to find affordable treatment in the state because of a lack of providers and mental health professionals, Lujan Grisham points a finger at both the state and federal governments. “I think we have a network adequacy issue, which is the state’s responsibility in their contract negotiations” with behavioral health service providers, she said. “But (the federal) Medicaid requires that you have parity in access and services. So you basically have to say to the state, ‘Your Medicaid program is in jeopardy if you
don’t meet these standards. Here is the technical assistance we can provide you — get it done.’ The federal government has failed in its responsibility to do that.” Lujan Grisham also said she supports a onecent tax on every milligram of opioids sold by pharmaceutical companies, with the revenue earmarked to help state and local governments pay for addiction treatment, prevention and recovery services. On the subject of the economy, Lujan Grisham said that if re-elected she will push Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, which employs 10,000 people and has a $2 billion annual budget, to allocate a higher percentage of the $519 million it spends outside the lab annually to business deals in New Mexico. “Both labs (including Los Alamos National Laboratory) could do a lot more,” she said. “We have a sagging, poor economy … and Sandia has to be a part of solving the equation in bigger ways.” Lujan Grisham said there are some glimmers of hope in the New Mexico economy, especially in the high-tech fields of aerospace, computer coding, photovoltaics and lasers. She cited the recent announcement by Facebook that it would build a new data center in Los Lunas last month as an example. “More (companies) are coming, we just have to make sure we have a strong vision for getting those (state and federal) resources in the hands of companies that are creating jobs,” she said. “We’ve lost our hustle. We all have a responsibility to work together, better.” The congresswoman said her congressional assignments in Washington, which include the agriculture and budget committees, allow her to influence farm policy important to New Mexico, as well as federal budget matters overall. Lujan Grisham said she’s pressed to hold the Department of Veterans Affairs responsible for what she has called “an unconscionable” backlog of veterans needing care in New Mexico and that she would be willing to work with Republicans to fix — not scrap — Obamacare. Lujan Grisham has supported the Affordable Care Act since its inception. She said that the sweeping health-care law — now 6 years old — enacted critical patient protections but that the Obama administration “has been lax” in addressing a lack of competition among providers. “Competition is poor, premiums are too high, out-of-pocket costs are way too high, and we aren’t seeing a decline in people going to emergency rooms because we didn’t do enough investment in community health and public health,” she said. She said she would oppose any U.S. military “boots on the ground” in Syria and thinks the complex and seemingly intractable humanitarian crisis deserves a “national dialogue.” Asked if there was anything else she wanted to tell voters, Lujan Grisham said she enjoys working on behalf of New Mexicans to secure their Social Security benefits, veterans’ health care or other federal services. “I’m lucky to have this job, and I want my constituents to know how grateful I am,” she said.