Stronger than ever

Dear Friend,

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is the largest long-term investment in New Mexico infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century. I am proud to help deliver more than $3.7 billion in formula funding to New Mexico, plus additional competitive funding, to repair our roads and bridges, improve our water infrastructure, stand up a new electric vehicle charging network, and connect many more New Mexicans to affordable, high-speed internet.

We can’t talk about how projects created by this new landmark law will improve the lives of New Mexicans without recognizing the incredible men and women in the building trades who will make them possible. Every road project, every airport improvement, water line extension, broadband expansion will create a tremendous number of jobs – jobs that working families can count on.

PHOTO: U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich at the Carpenters Local 1319 Training Center in Albuquerque, January 27, 2022.

This week, I met with members of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters (SWRCC) and Carpenters Local 1319 at their state-of-the-art Training Center in Albuquerque to highlight how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that I worked so hard to pass last year will create good-paying union jobs and economic opportunity for working families all across New Mexico.

As someone who grew up in a union household, I have so much respect for our brothers and sisters in the building trades. My dad showed me through his career as an IBEW lineman just how essential our labor unions are in our country, and it’s a lesson I will never forget. My dad’s union wages allowed me to attend college, provided my family with a ticket to the middle class, and gave my parents the stability and peace of mind in their retirement that they deserved.

We haven’t seen infrastructure investments in New Mexico at such high levels since the construction of the federal highway system in the 1950s or the New Deal in the 1930s. It’s the skilled union workers in the building trades like the New Mexicans I met with whose hard work on these transformative projects will power our nation’s economic recovery. They are literally going to build the foundation and infrastructure that will make New Mexico more competitive and successful in the years ahead.

After two challenging years, the economy is growing faster than it has since 1984. The American Rescue Plan and the landmark Infrastructure Law are creating the foundation for an incredibly robust economic recovery. I’m proud that workers like those I just met with will play an important role in this comeback story—they will help us build back stronger than ever before.

Sincerely,

MARTIN HEINRICH
United States Senator