Eleven Democratic representatives have had negative mailers sent to their districts suggesting that their votes against paid family medical leave (PFML) were votes against women and children.
It has been said that these members do not have “inclusive values.” Members have been heckled at events, had backs turned toward us in protest and made to feel unsafe. The majority now face primary opponents due to that vote.
Our numbers include members of the Navajo Nation, Hispanics, women, educators, business owners, military members, child and family advocates, parents, and grandparents of children with disabilities.
When we stood on the House floor in the final three-hour debate of the session, I shared with my colleagues the hard-fought years of advocating for a voice for my child with autism. I recalled the unintended consequences of fast-paced legislation that left our most vulnerable and impoverished citizens – the disabled, those with special needs, the frail, and the elderly — behind.
This is not a new battle in New Mexico. I entered this political arena expecting that I would fight for the ones whose voices are often unheard.
I believed that my experiences, knowledge, and 30-plus years advocating for children and the disabled would add a powerful perspective for the most at-risk citizens.
I believed that they would certainly understand that changes must first come to reimbursement rates to health care and care providers so that they could financially participate in PFML.
I believed that they would understand that unfunded mandates on already stressed health care systems would force providers to close their doors or limit services.
I believed that if my legislative colleagues heard first-hand the struggle that the most vulnerable and the families that love them face daily that they would realize how unfair it was to pass a bill that would harm them, reduce their services, and even leave them without care.
I also was proud to be that voice for those who continually expressed their concerns over the past year, including agricultural workers, childcare workers, rural health care providers and home care supports for the disabled and elderly.
On the floor, I detailed the need to get this right and the need to include everyone. I relayed how I was advised by advocates for PFML “that the good of the majority outweighed the needs of the few.”
I agonized over that statement, knowing I would be going against powerful individuals and organizations. Ultimately, I remembered why I was there, who I was there for, and what I was sacrificing in being there.
When our small group walked off the floor, my colleague and I held hands with tears streaming down our faces; we knew what was to come next.
With a litany of negative letters, mailers, and social media attacks, I can honestly say I am sadly used to seeing the worst in people.
We would be demonized for seeking to find a solution to the pain PFML was going to cause within these communities, even after we explained the impending harm, and it would ignite a debate about inclusiveness and values.
During the pandemic, when most were locked in their homes, I was working on the Navajo Nation providing food and water to the elderly and disabled members of my community who were isolated and without a voice.
I was comforting my child when her father died and again the next day when my father died, and then, I went back to work supporting my community in need.
We, in rural New Mexico, women, people of color, members of the differently-abled, and aging community have sadly become used to our voices being drowned out.
We are used to not having a seat at the table to having backs turned toward us. We are used to attacks of character and chants of “you don’t belong here” or “you are not one of us.”
If New Mexico is to have paid family medical leave, it must work for all New Mexicans. Today, I stand proud with these brave Democrats in claiming our seat at the table and demanding that we “leave no one behind.”
We are the definition of inclusion. We are the voice for those needing to be heard.
Tara Jaramillo, of Socorro, represents District 38 in the New Mexico House of Representatives.