Luján, Stansbury warn of budget cuts to tribal lifelines
Navajo Times | Nicholas House
U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján sits for a photo outside the Berna Facio Professional Development Center following a town hall meeting in Albuquerque on May 27.
ALBUQUERQUE
U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján and Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury held a joint town hall in Albuquerque on Tuesday evening, drawing a crowd of constituents who came to hear firsthand how federal budget proposals could impact families.
Navajo Times | Nicholas House
Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury poses for a photo following a town hall meeting at the Berna Facio Professional Development Center in Albuquerque on May 27.
Both lawmakers warned that recent House-passed Republican budget measures, if enacted, would slash critical programs like Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and Social Security, lessening support systems that thousands of New Mexicans rely on.
The May 27 event marked the first time Luján and Stansbury hosted a bicameral town hall together, and the tone was one of urgency and responsibility. For Luján, who serves on the Senate committees on finance and on agriculture, nutrition, and forestry, the moment offered an opportunity to articulate how political decisions in Washington ripple across places like the Navajo Nation.
“Some of those funds were in question under this administration,” Luján said, referring to the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. “If the Trump Administration pushes back against funding the Navajo-Gallup pipeline, no one’s going to get the water, even though this is almost completed. We’ve got to get that done.”
To read the full article, please see the May 29, 2025, edition of the Navajo Times.
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