Xander, a committee staff member, briefed the Legislative Health & Human Services Committee on recent federal presidential actions and a pending reconciliation package, saying the presentation would "mostly focus on executive orders and executive memorandum." The memo summarized dozens of executive orders issued since Jan. 20 and highlighted areas likely to affect New Mexico programs: drug pricing, Medicaid policy, public health coordination and trade measures tied to the opioid crisis.

The briefing noted that "since January 20, 298 official presidential actions have been taken," including 46 on the first day, and that Executive Order 14148 rescinded 78 Biden-era orders in broad areas such as federal-state COVID-19 coordination and climate policy. Xander also described executive orders and memoranda on drug pricing (including EO 14273, issued April 15, to lower prescription costs), a most-favored-nation pricing directive (EO 14297) and a June 6 memorandum addressing "eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid." He said recommendations and implementation deadlines from some orders were still pending and described multiple 90- to 180-day policy review deadlines.

Why it matters: Committee members pressed that federal changes could reduce state health-care funding and constrain state policy. Xander warned the committee that the House27s budget reconciliation measure (referred to in the briefing as House Resolution 1 or the "1 big beautiful bill act") contains provisions that, if enacted, could require state-level work requirements for Medicaid, increase cost sharing, ban certain uses of Medicaid for gender-affirming care, limit states27 ability to regulate AI in health settings, and reduce funding for the Affordable Care Act exchange subsidies. The Congressional Budget Office estimate cited in the briefing said the House version could remove about 4,200,000 people from health insurance exchanges nationwide; the briefing also cited an $800 billion, 10-year Medicaid reduction figure that members discussed as part of the House proposal.

Committee reaction and next steps: Members repeatedly asked for monitoring and outreach to New Mexico27s federal delegation. Representative Chandler and Senator Block expressed concern about an item they said could prevent states from regulating AI tools used in counseling and other health settings. Senator Pope and others warned the committee to prepare for possible large cuts: one member noted an estimate that roughly 80,000 people in New Mexico could lose coverage under versions of the bill discussed publicly. Members asked staff to work with the Legislative Finance Committee and other legislative staff and to provide periodic updates. A request for a "strongly worded letter" opposing Medicaid cuts was discussed but not formally moved to a vote; committee leaders said members interested in that step should prepare to act quickly if the bill language hardened.

Details and caveats: The presenter described litigation over trade tariffs tied to fentanyl enforcement (a stated 10% tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, enjoined by the Court of International Trade on May 28 and subject to appeal with oral argument set for July 31, per the briefing). On drug pricing, staff noted programs under review include changes to Medicare and Medicaid acquisition mechanisms, conditional requirements for federally qualified health centers to provide insulin and epinephrine at low or no cost, and expedited FDA pathways for generics and biosimilars. The briefing repeatedly emphasized that many directives require federal agencies to produce recommendations within set deadlines and that most had not yet created binding regulatory changes.

What the committee did: No formal committee vote was taken on the federal briefing. Members instructed staff to monitor developments, coordinate with LFC and federal funding liaisons, and report back. Several members said they had already contacted or planned to contact congressional staff.

Ending: Staff said they would provide periodic updates and flagged the situation as "still in flux," with multiple executive actions dependent on agency rulemaking or litigation and the reconciliation bill subject to the Senate parliamentarian and negotiation timeline.