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Hello political junkies!

Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown Saturday by passing a stopgap resolution that kept the government open for 45 days.

This comes less than four months after the country narrowly dodged a debt crisis. 

The question arises of how we got here, at least in this chapter of the ongoing federal economic saga.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-New Mexico, spoke to the NM Political Report on Thursday where she described the path that Congress has taken to get to this point. It involves negotiations, a deal broken and a theory about why the situation has gotten so dire.

This chapter in the saga began with the Fiscal Responsibility Act being signed into law on June 1.

The law increased the federal debt limit, established new discretionary spending limits, rescinded unobligated funds, expanded work requirements for federal programs and modified some other requirements in the federal budget process.

“That’s a deal that was made between House Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House,” Leger Fernández said. “Everybody agreed to a deal. We passed it into law. The President signed it. It set the top line numbers for how we fund the government. It was heavily negotiated.”

The initial bill, led by House Republicans, would have extended the debt limit but included heavy spending cuts that Democrats did not feel were appropriate or necessary at the time.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, agreed to negotiate a deal that was more palatable to those who were against it as a means of preventing a federal debt default.

“We were on the brink of a fiscal crisis brought on by House Republicans,” Leger Fernández said. “Speaker McCarthy finally got to the table and he negotiated something. So we are now in a position we should not be there because apparently, the extreme Republicans in the House, there’s about 20 to 30 of them, they don’t like the deal. And so Speaker McCarthy is saying ‘I’m gonna break a deal that is actually now law’.”

The Washington Post reports that far-right House Republicans are planning to remove McCarthy as Speaker of the House and replace him with Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, a member of McCarthy’s leadership team.

Emmer is quoted in the story saying that he “fully supports Speaker McCarthy and that he has “zero interest in palace intrigue.”

McCarthy was voted in as house speaker on the 15th ballot in January after four days of attempts.

This week’s Interim Legislative meetings

Upcoming interim legislative meetings

There were no scheduled meetings past Oct. 6 listed. 

For more information about interim legislative committees visit nmlegis.gov.

We are about 106 days until the New Mexico Legislature Opening Day.

Other local and county meeting schedules

2023 New Mexico Local Elections

The Nov. 7 local elections are for your village/town/city mayors and councils/boards of trustees, school boards, municipal judges and other local boards.

A complete list of local election candidates can be found here.

Early/absentee voting begins Oct. 10 and ends Nov. 4.

For more information on the local elections in your community contact your local county clerk’s office which can also help you check on or update your voter registration, a process that can be done online at NMVote.org.

Tips, subscriptions and more info

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Have a tip? I can be contacted by email at nicole@nmpr.nm.news.