mexico's congressional delegation, distinguished guests, the state's first gentleman, my husband, chuck franco. my cousins are here today as well from el paso who told me they didn't fully realize i was governor and said it jokingly, until they saw it on "the view." and all my fellow new mexicans. thank you for the high honor of addressing you this afternoon. last year when gathered at this time, new mexico was facing the largest structural budget deficit in state history. for years government had overspent, and as federal stimulus dollars dried up, we had holes throughout the budget. the state of our state was one of financial crisis. we faced a tremendous challenge. many said we couldn't get it done, that we could not both balance the budget and still protect our priorities. we had a vigorous debate. some felt we should have raised taxes, despite the jobs that would have been lost. others felt we needed deep cuts in education and medicaid. i'm proud of the fact that we were able to work together, the legislature and the governor, democrats, republicans. we came together and found a better wa