Morning Word: Pearce Votes Against Funding Homeland Security

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housands of federal workers in New Mexico are breathing a little easier today now that their salaries have been fully funded. Is today the beginning of the end for Obamacare? The Supreme Court takes another look at the law. That, plus the latest from inside the Roundhouse.

It's Wednesday, March 4, 2015

A few days after funding the Department of Homeland Security for another week, Congress has approved the full $40-billion budget, but not with the support of US Rep. Steve Pearce, R- New Mexico. He remains opposed to the president’s executive action that defers immigrant deportations.

Reps. Ben Ray Lujan and Michelle Lujan Grisham, both Democrats, voted for the budget. Read it at the Albuquerque Journal. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is headed back to the US Supreme Court today and there’s a lot at stake with federal subsidies for people enrolled in health care exchanges, which could collapse if the plaintiffs prevail. Read it at The New York Times.   Gov. Susana Martinez has settled a lawsuit with the Associated Press that will make some of her security officer’s travel records public. The AP has details. Construction is about to get underway for some big water projects in Las Cruces. Read more at the Las Cruces Sun-News.  Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales and three city councilors have racked up thousands of dollars in out of state travel expenses in the last year. Read more at the Santa Fe New Mexican. Carol Wight, the executive director of the New Mexico restaurant association, believes the state has a big problem with new unemployment insurance program rules that have tripled premium prices. She says New Mexico's economic recovery will continue to lag if it's not fixed. Read her view at ABQ Business First.  Sarcastic remarks made by Public Lands Commissioner Aubrey Dunn’s son Blair Dunn, an American Lands Council attorney who wants federal lands transferred to the state, have offended some groups opposing the transfer.

Read Jim Klukeert's take here.  Students around the state continue to protest PARCC tests, but they’re being warned if they go to another school’s campus they could be charged with trespassing. See more at KRQE.  Public Education Secretary Hanna Skandera says the tests only measure what is being taught in class. See her interview with Ryan Luby.  In Carlsbad, health officials are working to make the transition to a new mental health and substance abuse treatment company as seamless as possible. Read more at the Carlsbad Current-Argus. San Juan County commissioners have approved $775,000 for new programs to combat homelessness and substance abuse. Read more at the Farmington Daily Times. New Mexico Legislative News:

• A new poll shows that three-quarters of New Mexico’s business leaders support an independent ethics commission –
• KUNM
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• The House Safety and Public Affairs Committee has approved a measure that would require political action committees to reveal the names of their donors –
• New Mexico Political Report
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• Senators have blocked a bill that would give the governor more say on capital spending –
• Santa Fe New Mexican
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• But lawmakers have approved another measure that would give local small businesses a better shot at landing state contracts –
• ABQ Business First
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• A bill that would restrict the use of solitary confinement in New Mexico has advanced –
• Santa Fe New Mexican
• . 

Santa Fe Reporter