The Chile Wire with Abe Baldonado. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Chile Wire podcast. I am really excited about today's, podcast. We have a very special guest with us.

She's taking time away from Santa Fe during the first week of legislative session. We have the honorable minority leader, Gail Armstrong, with us today. Madam Leader, thank you for

joining the Chile Wire podcast. Oh, thanks for having me. Always enjoy it. Absolutely.

And so, Madam Leader, it's your first time on the podcast, so I have to ask, red or green?

Oh my gosh. Come on. Both.

Both? Alright. We got

we got a Christmas.

A lot of people have been saying Christmas lately, but there's some diehard green chili lovers that will stick to just green chili.

So Depends on my mood. Depends on my mood.

I agree. And when you can't decide, you go Christmas.

Exactly.

Well, madam Leader, I just wanna give you a moment to tell our viewers a little bit about yourself. Also, the the history that was built with your election as minority leader.

Well, thanks for that. You know, I've been in the legislature for ten years now and my predecessor was the honorable former speaker Don Tripp and so big shoes to fill, But he did a great job of advising me and other things, and still I don't know whether to forgive him or thank him. And so it's a little bit crazy. I am the first woman Republican leader in the state of New Mexico, so it's exciting, but also a lot of pressure to get things right. But I am a hunter gatherer and sort of a nurturer of people, so it comes pretty easy to be a nurturer and really try to wrap my arms around my caucus and give them what they need and what they're asking for and support them.

So in that sense, it's it's been a lot of fun.

Absolutely. Well, and I couldn't think of anyone better for the position that knows how to build bridges and bring people across for the greater good of New Mexico. And funny story, former speaker Tripp was in attendance at our church last Sunday. And so I heard our priest say, you know, do we have any guests in the audience that normally don't come here? And sure enough, he asked, what are your names?

And he's like, Don Tripp. And I was like, oh, hey. Look at them joining us today. So

That's awesome.

That's so interesting. Well, madam leader, you've had your hands full this week. Give us a little preview of some of the priorities that the House Republicans are gonna be focusing on now in 2026.

Well, we sometimes sound like a broken record, but it's always crime.

Yeah.

Crime is something with the juvenile justice problem that we have. We need reform in the state of New Mexico, so that's a priority for sure for our caucus. Healthcare. Healthcare is a priority with the medical malpractice system that's broken in the state of New Mexico. That's a huge priority for us and the compacts.

And then affordability. We have got to make things more affordable for New Mexicans. People, the working class people of New Mexico who go to work every single day, we've got to talk about affordability. The next is energy.

Yeah.

We have every single year, it seems like in the legislature, something negative comes up that impacts energy across New Mexico and that falls into the affordability part of New Mexico, the healthcare part of New Mexico, they are all intertwined.

Absolutely. And, you know, you think about rising costs, we're ultimately seeing a group of legislators attacking the hand that feeds New Mexico state coffers. And it has been something over the last few years that just seems like it's even getting worse and worse of the amount of anti energy bills that are being introduced. And I don't know if we've have we found a way to share that information with New Mexicans of it's not even just state coffers, but, you know, removing our oil and gas industry from this state is consequential, and and it it would be very terrible. And it's not just, you know, filling up your vehicle.

It's so much more. It's the clothes we wear. It's the luxuries and also the necessities that have made modern life. I mean, we talk about health care. The advances in health care are tied to our energy sector.

You know? Hospitals can't run without natural gas. And so I I always wonder, how do we get New Mexicans to care more about that and pay attention to those bills? Because I think the other side has done a very good job at talking about climate change, pollution, you know, it's a lot of fear mongering. So how do we counter that?

Are there ways that your colleagues in the house are thinking of strategies to, hey, We need to counter the messages because the narrative has actually been false. Oil and gas, their development has been innovative, and it's actually getting even more innovative with the research that they're doing now with carbon capture and c o two injection. They're thinking of alternative ways to just be better, and they are stewards. I'll tell you. I I had the privilege of working at Nimoga and to actually go see the work that these folks do every single day from, you know, your landmen and your roughnecks all the way up to the petroleum engineers, just the way that they are always working together to move industry in a forward direction.

Well, first and foremost, you know, we produce the cleanest barrel of oil in the nation.

That's right. I would even say the world maybe.

Possibly the world, yes, but for sure, they are an entity that is funding New Mexicans' budget, the New Mexico budget. And so when we talk about negativity, petroleum products, first of all, we're all wearing them. I've them my hair. Yeah, I've got them in my hair, I'm wearing them on my face. I drove here, and then we talk about roads in New Mexico.

It's a petroleum product that actually builds the roads. So we're to pass a $1,500,000,000 bond for the state of New Mexico that ties the hands of the legislature to pay off those bonds, but to build roads in New Mexico with petroleum products.

Right.

And so, the other side seems to love all the social aspects of paying for all: free childcare, free college, free lunch, free, free, free, free. It's not free. It's paid for by taxpayer dollars, it's paid for by the petroleum industry, oil and gas industry that brings jobs to New Mexico and other industries, but the oil and gas industry funds the majority of the New Mexico state budget and every year we just seem to want to drop a bomb on them and tax them more or regulate them more and until we decide And I think educating New Mexicans on They just think of oil and gas. They don't think of the petroleum products that they also And produce that surround so I think it is really about educating. I think the oil and gas industry has done a great job educating.

We saw a lot of commercials last year. I'm seeing them on Facebook now and and I think that people are getting the hint.

Absolutely.

And And we will be messaging that as well.

Right. And should this clear horizons bill, which is the big bill of the session along with the green amendment that we've seen return as well, Lowering costs, I mean, we see gas prices now hovering in the $1 range, maybe low $2. It's steadily going down. However, with the implementation of this sort of policy, I mean, we're gonna see severe energy poverty throughout our state. And we already see rural New Mexico, you represent rural New Mexico, see the impacts that, you know, this hurts a lot of the folks in rural New Mexico.

Well, the thing that I was on a call early this morning and we talked about the broad language in that bill, the Horizons bill, I think it's Senate Bill 18, I believe. That's correct. It doesn't only affect the oil and gas industry, this is going to affect construction, and if you read the bill really closely, we believe it's going to affect the ag industry.

Yeah. Indirectly, for sure. I know last year's version explicitly called out agriculture. To make it better, they've removed that language, But when you start going after contractors and just even equipment, you think of equipment, those costs are going to rise and that'll indirectly hurt our agricultural business.

Yeah. And the mining industry.

Yeah.

The mining industry, these hot mix plants that are around any kind of construction that's going to affect. And so when you talk about a bill that is that broad, it's unsustainable for New Mexico.

Absolutely. And now what we're seeing today with advancement in AI, we're hearing a lot about data centers. And we see a lot of opposition, but there's an opportunity for New Mexico. We missed out in the past of being the Simi Valley. Jeff Bezos here, Bill Gates, you know, we missed out on a lot of opportunities.

And it seems like a lot of these policies are gonna push people more away from New Mexico when people are saying, y'all have great resources. Let us bring jobs to you. Let us bring economic growth. But our policies continue to be anti business. And I I see a great opportunity for data centers in New Mexico to be the hub for data centers, to create jobs, and take us into that next that next phase of innovation with artificial intelligence and just the way life is going to eventually be.

I think I don't think we're going to stop it. Well, why not make it something that New Mexico can take the reins and say, you know what? We were the leader in that.

Yeah. You know, we're always scared to be the leader in an industry that is actually something that we could be in. We never want to be the first in something good, but it seems like we're always the first in something bad. And so I think the data centers for sure will be affected by that and I know there's a big project down in the Las Cruces area that they're really touting, know, New Mexico is open for business and we want these data centers. People are worried about the oil part of it.

I know for a fact that there's a petroleum product that can be used in those data centers, that it would be a great alternative to some of the water issues that we have in the state of New Mexico, but ultimately business in New Mexico is what makes New Mexico go round and if we just keep pushing regulation and anti business, I'm not sure where we're going to get the taxpayer money to pay for all of these social issues that we want to support.

Yeah. Absolutely. And just even funding our schools. You know, our schools have year after year benefited 1,400,000,000.0, if not more, in revenues to support our public education system. With that money gone And I think we're missing a very big pipeline of getting students into energy careers.

Yeah. And that's unfortunate because I was shocked to find out how much people make in the energy industry. I mean, even right out of high school, if you have an apprenticeship or some sort of certificate, I mean, you're making 6 figures. So you talk about taking people out of poverty and giving them life changing money to just lift themselves up. I mean, it is talk about prosperity.

It is amazing. Shifting gears, let's talk crime. That seems like people try to tell us, it's not that bad. We've heard mayor Keller here in Albuquerque say, homelessness isn't that bad. Crime isn't that bad.

It's actually gone down. I'm like, no. People just aren't reporting it because there's nothing to be done about it. They tell you, oh, call and file a complaint or get online. And by that time, it's like, why am I going to do all that if I already got robbed?

Right. Well, we heard loud and clear from the task force that we put together and kind of like we replicated a committee hearing, invited local we didn't look at our Republican or Democrat, we invited local people in the industry that face this every single day and people that have been affected by crime to come and testify in those committees and we know and the data shows that crime is an issue. Juvenile crime is an issue, not holding people accountable, but also looking at what are the resources that we have to help those juveniles that are committing like really bad crimes, murder, rape, different things, crimes with firearms, and then they just keep recommitting, recommitting, recommitting. So, holding those juveniles accountable, but also making sure we have the resources to help them try to rehabilitate. Right.

But until we do that, unfortunately, you know, the other side just wants to regulate the gun shops and regulate what law abiding gun owners can do, that's not the problem. The problem is the people that are actually committing crimes are the ones that need to be held accountable.

Right.

And so until we do that, and Republicans and Democrats agree on that, the legislature is the one that's stopping it and it's the progressive left that's stopping it. It's not the conservative Democrats, it's not the conservative Republicans, It's the progressive left.

Right. And we've heard it a lot in their comments about, you know, a juvenile suffered trauma. They've yes. You know what? They may have had a rough upbringing, but it still doesn't end the accountability of right and wrong.

And there are consequences to that. And, yes, we need to figure out a way to rehabilitate them. We need to get them the services that they need if they are dealing with traumas from an abusive past. You know, we see foster care a lot of times, you know, kids who go in and out of the foster system could potentially go down a bad road, neglect. There are things that happen in a child's life, but at the end of the day, they still need to learn that there's right and wrong and there's consequences to your actions.

And, you know, we had Rudy Mora on a while back, and it was interesting to hear his take as a former state police officer and what he saw. But just even seeing how gangs and criminal entities view children is because, first, they know that they won't get into that much trouble. They'll get a slap on the wrist, and the moment they turn 18 or 21, all is forgiven. But also, they know that there's a way to neurologically change the mindset of children because their minds are like sponges. They're very delicate at a young age, and they manipulate them to believe that killing and drug dealing and everything is okay.

It's normal when it is in fact not. And it was interesting to just hear his story of how he saw these entities taking advantage of youth and reshaping their minds because they knew they could do that. And it was very unfortunate to hear that they take advantage of our most vulnerable kids.

Yeah, well, repeat juvenile offenders is an issue, accountability is an issue, but also making sure that just the erosion of the family unit is a real issue. And as a mom, I have four children and I have 13 grandchildren, and I see the family unit eroding across New Mexico and really trying to figure out why is it eroding, how do we stop that. I mean, can talk about CYFD reform, we can talk about care of babies, and some days it's just overwhelming, all the wrong that is going on in New Mexico and how many times we've tried to fix it and people just don't listen. Yeah. And so some days it's very disheartening, but other days it just gives you more energy to try to keep fixing.

Keep There's bringing it. Yeah. There's purpose.

And folks like our friend Marilyn Beck are Yes. Leading that change to keep fighting for our most vulnerable. As we're talking about children, recent studies and rankings have come out saying New Mexico is the worst place to raise a child. It's also the worst for child well-being. Interestingly enough, during the governor's state of the state address, she believes that universal childcare will fix that.

How are your thoughts on that? Well, you know, it's

I want to help people. I really want to help people in the State of New Mexico by giving a helping hand up. The universal childcare is unaffordable. It's not sustainable for the State of New Mexico. She's asking for 140,000,000 right now.

Real cost is over 600,000,000 per year.

Wow.

The fact that she believes that's going to fix our education problem, our CYFD problem in the state of New Mexico, it's laughable. Yeah. It's honestly laughable because first of all, her whole idea of universal child care, there was never a single bill that came through the legislature. So she's completely circumvented the legislative There's a process for a reason. It's not easy to pass a bill for a reason.

It needs to be highly vetted. So to create this universal childcare, do it through her executive position and then come to the legislature and ask us for money when we didn't have a say in any of it. Yeah. It's wrong.

And that's not even just a partisan issue, it's just undermining the entire legislative process. And so, Republican or Democrat, I mean, should be frustrated. You're elected as a lawmaker, I would you were elected to vet these things, and the governor circumvented that.

Yeah. Well, and then the other fact of just really tying the hands of the legislature because, I mean, who wants to vote against that, first of all, but second of all, making that a reoccurring fund, once you give that, how do you take that away?

Yeah. Can never take it back.

You can never take it back.

Never.

And so, I mean, whoever does take it back will never win reelection.

Right.

That's for sure. So we're calling it, you know, we refer to it every once in a while as childcare for millionaires because we heard a report that the majority of the people that are taking advantage of this and they're not taking advantage of it, that's the wrong term. They're utilizing the rules that the governor has put into place and her appointed staff, the rule making process and it's really going to drive up the cost of doing business in the state of New Mexico because that's taxpayer money that's paying for it and the government doesn't make money, they take money out of your paycheck.

That's right. And so how are we

going to that's

the only

way they get funded. How are we going to keep that funded?

That's right. And I go back to what we were talking about a little bit earlier with energy and affordability. She tried to pitch it that universal childcare will now bring business to New Mexico because of that policy. But you're passing policies that are unfriendly to business, so I I don't think you get that benefit. Unless you open up your policies to be pro business, then okay.

Maybe there's an incentive. Okay. There's free childcare. But I also think about your point about the family unit. You're now taking kids out of the family unit even sooner.

And now they're not at home with mom or dad or building that relationship at a very young age because government is saying, Give them to us, give them to our day care centers and we'll take care of them.

Right. Well, other part of it is our education system. So in the early childhood, know, early childhood, say the day care centers, child care centers, we don't have curriculum that is creating a small human and getting them ready to go into the education system. And it's one of the things that the MIRROR did. They started at the childcare centers and started implementing programs to start feeding our education system.

And so it's not just about food, clothing and shelter for those children. Some of it, I'm sure some of them are, but that shouldn't be the only thing that these child care centers are worried about. There should be a curriculum that actually includes getting them ready for school. Part of that is learning how to share, learning how to get along with others, different things like that. Play nice

in the sandbox.

Yeah, play nice in the sandbox, but really feeding into our education system. If we're going to do it, let's get a curriculum that actually feeds into our education system and makes our education system a little better.

Absolutely. And I think it's a great place to even just kick off literacy initiatives. You know? Let's read to the kids. Let's practice phonics with them so that way by the time they enter kindergarten, they're either at grade level or if not past grade level, which is great.

And so they're well ahead. I love that idea. Can we expect a bill on that?

Not this session. Not this session, but I'm sure in the sixty day.

Wonderful. Well, madam leader, are there any other issues that house Republicans are taking a look at? Are there any proactive measures? I always when I look at the legislature, it seems like the Republicans are playing a lot of defense, but I know you all are strategizing offense on a lot of these issues. Are there any, pieces of legislation that our viewers should keep a lookout for that, you and your colleagues may be trying to push through and get to the governor?

It seems like the governor's ready to play ball with you all on crime, so hopefully that pans out.

Yeah, we have several people working on crime bills, Representative Andy Reid, Nicole Tobiason on the House side and others, and then the healthcare. We've got a lot of healthcare bills. We've been pushing back, trying to fix the medical malpractice issue since ultimately the Democrats broke it. It passed the House by one vote and the Governor signed it. And so, they broke it and now all of a sudden, you know, we put a small Band Aid on it a couple of years ago, well, it needs a tourniquet.

Yeah. A Band Aid is not gonna work. And so we do have Jennifer Jones has the HOPE Act bill again that we carried last year that we got a hearing on. All of the other medical malpractice bills, we didn't even get a hearing on, which is really detrimental to the state of New Mexico to not even at least discuss it and talk about it and hold people accountable for voting no on something that's good for New Mexico. And then I am signed on to the medical malpractice bill, and if the governor brings a bill, we've been in negotiations that I will be the second on her bill as well, but Senator Cervantes made it real clear yesterday that it's not going to make it through judiciary.

Wow. And again, this is the emphasis. And, you know, we sound like a broken record here on the Chili Wire because it all just ties back to the trial lawyers.

Yeah. Yep. It does. It ties back to the trial lawyers. And so there's negotiations going on, a lot of people at the table.

We'll see if we can get it across the finish line, but we take great pride in knowing that our House Republicans have been pushing that from day one.

Absolutely. And we appreciate your efforts to continue just beating the drum on that change because the recent poll I think showed 83% of doctors are considering leaving the state. Is that correct?

That's correct. Yeah, that was published in the journal last Sunday. The other thing is the compacts. So we're pushing hard on the compacts as well. I carried a few last year, some others carried a few.

But these compacts are not going to do us any good until we fix medical malpractice. Right. Crime and fixing medical malpractice would be our two top priorities.

Absolutely. And I I heard a commentary, I believe it was yesterday, on the compacts bill that, you know, is this the silver bullet? And the answer was no. It's a puzzle piece to it, but if we don't fix punitive damages and going after our doctors' livelihoods, their kids' livelihoods, their college funds, these doctors yeah. Now that you opened up the compact, great.

You just gave them more incentive, and this was the comment that was made, more incentive to move to another state. And now they can practice in New Mexico, but they're still gonna leave New Mexico because they're going to go be in a safe haven like Texas or another state that's just a little bit more kinder to them and still bearing responsibility on bad actors. But they can afford medical malpractice insurance, cost of living might be a little bit better, and yet they can still provide services to New Mexicans because now they have telehealth options.

Right. Well, you've seen it if you look back in history. You've seen it with the healthcare insurance industry where New Mexico mandates healthcare insurance to pay certain things. We tax them a surtax that was removed by President Trump and now New Mexico kept that surtax. So we've driven insurance as a whole out of New Mexico with mandates.

And so now, medical malpractice, have driven the providers out of this state.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I I want younger people to get more involved because I understand this as someone, and I'm sure we all have been there. When we're 21, 22, we really don't care about health care. We think we're invincible.

We know we'll never need it. As you get older and you realize, hey. Health problems come up. I don't have access to a cardiologist. I don't have access to a neurologist or an oncologist.

The best ones are in Houston or in Scottsdale. I don't have the resources to advocate and take myself out there, so what do I do? Right. And it's not until you get to that point that you realize, oh, man. New Mexico is terrible in health care.

And so I I want younger people, especially younger voters, and I think this is something you all are working on, but younger voters have to get engaged, and they have to look at the policies that are being in instituted and who are responsible for a lot of these bad policies that we've seen in New Mexico, because this year is gonna be a big year. We have a gubernatorial election coming up. I think it's gonna be a consequential election of the next four to eight years of New Mexico, and we can continue either going further behind or move forward and really make the state what it could really be. And, you know, we look at our sister state, Arizona, who's very similar to us, but they are thriving in Arizona and there's no reason New Mexico shouldn't either. We even have greater resources than they do.

And better weather. Absolutely. Yeah. I do believe that New Mexico, you know, every house seat is up this year as well, and and we're pushing hard to bring balance to the legislature.

Absolutely. Well, we're looking forward to it. Madam Leader, I wanna give you a moment just to share how folks can get involved, how they can learn more about the House Republicans and the work that you all are doing, and also just keep their finger on the pulse of what you all are working on coming election time.

Oh, thanks for that. Yes. Well, you can follow us on our Facebook page and Instagram and and reach out anytime. Any of the House Republicans, most of us have a social media page, but for sure, the House Republican caucus has a social media page, House GOP.

Wonderful. Madam Leader, thank you so much for coming on the Chili Wire. We look forward to having more conversations with you. Best of luck up in Santa Fe, and best of luck with this snowstorm. Hopefully, doesn't get in the way of your work and just be safe.

And we're praying for you, and may God bless you for being a public servant of New Mexico.

Thank you so much for that. We feel your prayers.

My pleasure. And that's it, y'all, for this week's Chile Wire. Thank you very much, and we'll see you next time.