New Mexico has basked in the riches of a booming oil and gas industry in recent years, but the state continues to have one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

At the same time, the state has one of the lowest rates of labor participation, prompting some lawmakers Monday to question whether government income support programs, such as food stamps and Medicaid, are discouraging able-bodied New Mexicans from getting a job.

State Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Kirtland, said he raised his four daughters with the saying, "It's easy to help you when you're helping yourself," which he now teaches his grandchildren.

"I want people to have skin in the game," he said. "Part of me wants to go back to the time when it was embarrassing to get help, just a little tiny bit of me, because I think it's too

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