Incumbent is N.M.’s sole congressional Republican
The late Ronald Reagan, U.S. president during the 1980s, once joked that the federal budget deficit was so big at one time that people should stop making jokes about it, saying, “Leave the federal deficit alone. It’s big enough to take care of itself.”
Steve Pearce, the Republican incumbent running for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, touched on the funny Reagan theme at a meet-and-greet gathering Oct. 24 at Sammy C’s Rock N’ Sports Pub & Grille. Pearce serves the U.S. House of Representatives.
“It’s a problem that can be blamed on both parties to some extent,” Pearce said about national debt. “The deficit is something that has grown each year under the current presidential administration.”
Getting rid of Medicaid fraud is a start to correcting federal deficit matters, the Texas-born congressman alluded. Such a solution would start with Medicaid providers who operate out of traditional office settings and defraud the federal government out of millions, he said. Pearce also suggested that getting rid of the duplicate services within government is another way to curb wasteful spending.
“There are over 100 agencies in the federal government that deal with children’s nutrition,” Pearce said. “Why not combine some of these programs and eliminate the duplication?”
Pearce, 69, said he’s been in politics long enough to know that if spending isn’t put under control, then the United States faces soaring inflation rates.
On whether he supports Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican nominee for the Oval Office, Pearce, first elected in 2011, said he’s a Republican and he’ll vote along party lines.
Pearce holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from New Mexico State University and Eastern New Mexico University, respectively. He is the sole Republican serving the U.S. Congress from New Mexico.
The 2nd congressional district, for which Pearce is running, encompasses a portion of southern McKinley County, including Ramah and Zuni.
The election is Nov. 8. Merrie Lee Soules, D-Las Cruces, and Jack McGrann, R-Ruidoso, are on the ballot, too. Soules attended campaign rallies in Gallup and Iyanbito over the summer.
By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent
