Our wonderful new Healthcare Bill is now out for review and negotiation. ObamaCare is a complete and total disaster – is imploding fast! – President Trump, tweeting this morning in reference to a bill by the House GOP to replace Obamacare
The Crib Sheet is a collection of stories, events, and ideas that are shaping the conversation in New Mexico and D.C. politics.
[New Mexico]
- According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Mexico recorded its lowest percentage of working-age population to number of employed since the ratio was first tracked in 1976.
- Meanwhile, New Mexico Senate Democrats are spending their valuable time in Santa Fe establishing an official state dance.
- A constitutional amendment to create an independent ethics commission appears to be gaining momentum.
- A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Santa Fe are working to “boost jobs in the promising outdoor recreation industry in New Mexico.”
- A bill to cap interest rates on payday loans is running into resistance.
- New Mexicans will start to pay about a 7% sales tax on Amazon purchases starting April 1st. Currently there are several bills pending in the Legislature that would force online retailers to collect gross receipts tax from New Mexico customers.
- Facebook’s Los Lunas data center is estimated to bring “$65 million in gross-receipts tax revenue over the next 10 years” according to an Economic Development Department spokesman.
- 2016 oil statistics in New Mexico show a “record year for production” according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A recent increase in drilling rigs in the San Juan Basin “has some wondering if the downturn in oil and gas production might be starting to turn around.”
- Declining enrollment and the state’s budget crunch is putting pressure on New Mexico’s 31 colleges and universities.
[D.C.]
- Yesterday President Trump signed an executive order that “restricts U.S. entry of nationals from six Muslim-majority countries for three months and suspends refugees for four months”.
- GOP members in the House offered their plan to replace Obamacare that “would offer less generous insurance tax credits and phase out the law’s Medicaid expansion while striking its unpopular individual mandate penalty.” Kentucky Senator Rand Paul called the bill “Obamacare lite”.
- Senator John McCain yesterday asked the White House to “release of any evidence backing up President Donald Trump’s claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower”.
[Tech & Strategy]
- According to documents posted online by WikiLeaks the CIA has the capability to “bypass encryption in popular mobile messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Signal”.
- Fundraising for the 2018 cycle is well underway with the GOP looking to expand their majority in the Senate while Democrats focus their efforts on the House.
[Culture]
- Attention foodies! Restaurant Week is this week in Albuquerque.
- A New Mexico high school student is a finalist in a competition by Google for artwork to appear on Google’s homepage.
