March 20th, 2020

Sen. Heinrich supports measure to send checks to Americans

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- New Mexico's congressional delegations is calling for quick and more relief for people and businesses in the state.

U.S. Senator said he supports a proposed measure that would send checks to Americans.

"I do think that direct payments like that are one of the more efficient ways to stimulate the economy," Heinrich said. "I suspect that we will see something like that in the coming stimulus package that is being negotiated right now. My general focus as these negotiations are going on has been to make sure that the people most at risk get the lion's share of those resources."

Heinrich said he doesn't have a dollar figure that he believes is appropriate.

"I don't have a specific dollar figure in mind -- some have thrown out a thousand or two thousand dollars," Heinrich said. "I think what's more important is that we move quickly, and we have to get the virus piece of this right. We have to fix the public health emergency or this thing will stretch on and on and cause much more economic damage," Heinrich said.

Heinrich said he has been in daily contact with New Mexico state officials, tracking the efforts to curb the spread of the virus here.

"I think the response at the local level has been really good," he said. "What we need is more compliance of the social distance recommendations that have been made. We are seeing some young people get together in crowds that are simply not safe, and we need to urge them to take this seriously."

By: Nathan O'Neal

Source: KOB

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