New Mexico’s attorney general will join other AGs in a town hall tomorrow in Phoenix on the impact of the federal funding clampdown.
Raúl Torrez and attorneys general from Arizona and Oregon will host the first of a series of Community Impact Hearings on Wednesday.
The public is invited to come with questions and comments about the affect of federal firings and freezes implemented by Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE.
New Mexico’s AG didn’t mince words in his assessment during an MSNBC interview about Musk’s work for the Trump administration.
“ This is somebody who has never engaged in public service and has spent most of his life accumulating money, accumulating power," Torrez said.
"And then he gets in, and he decides to use his access and influence to fire park rangers and engineers and and nuclear safety specialists. I mean, this is not just unconstitutional, it's downright stupid.”
AG Torrez was also asked about an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Saturday that rescinds a Bill Clinton—era policy that required government agencies to development language assistance programs for people with limited proficiency in English.
“It's going to be challenging for us in particular because we actually built into the New Mexico Constitution, uh, guaranteed access to folks who speak Spanish as their first language. It was, it was part of what happened when we became a state."
Attendees going to the March 5 Phoenix town hall on federal funding and firings will have up to three minutes to speak. No word yet on where other Community Impact Hearings will be held around the nation.
