Governor’s Veto of UNM Cancer Center Funding an Affront to Cancer Patients and Families

Santa Fe, NM., April 18, 2017 - Governor Susana Martinez line-item vetoed all funding to the University of New Mexico, including the nearly $8 million appropriation of state funds to the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center during her actions on House Bill 2, the legislature-approved state budget.

A statement from Sandra Adondakis, New Mexico Government Relations Director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) follows:

“We are alarmed at Governor Susana Martinez’s senseless veto of all state funds to the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center (UNM CCC). The unprecedented veto is an affront to the more than 10,000 New Mexicans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. 

“Governor Martinez’s cuts to the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center will be felt across the state. The cancer center served more than 11,000 patients last year—patients coming from every county in New Mexico and more than 40 percent living outside of Bernalillo County, many in rural or low-income communities. Cancer patients and their families rely on the center for diagnosis, treatment and clinical trials, as well as research leading to new diagnostics and cures.

“The timing of the governor’s veto of state funding is especially perplexing since the White House has already proposed the elimination of $5.8 billion in federal funding from the National Institutes of Health in Fiscal Year 2018.  That’s likely to result in a $1 billion cut to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Since UNM CCC receives NCI funding, the governor’s callous veto of funding would further cripple crucial research conducted here in New Mexico and cost the state high-paying jobs.  

“Loss of research funding not only dramatically limits breakthroughs in medical innovation, but can be a major blow to local economies. Last year, New Mexico received $99 million in NIH research funds that spurred close to $240 million economic activity and created 1,531 jobs in the state.

“Tremendous uncertainty accompanies a cancer diagnosis. Patients and families face questions about their physical, psychosocial, spiritual and financial wellbeing. In New Mexico, elimination of state funds to the UNM CCC serves to intensify that uncertainty. On behalf of all those affected by cancer, we urge Governor Martinez to affirm her commitment to people with cancer and their families in New Mexico."

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.