WASHINGTON — Last night, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) stood up for New Mexico families by voting against Senate Republicans’ budget resolution that funds Donald Trump and Elon Musk's tax handouts for billionaires at the expense of working people.
Heinrich pushed to amend Republicans’ resolution by repeatedly voting to lower costs for families — particularly as Trump’s tariffs push America to the brink of a recession. Heinrich and Senate Democrats also worked to block cuts to Medicaid, extend the tax credits for health care premiums, and prevent millions of Americans from losing health insurance, protect Social Security, and reverse cuts to the Social Security Administration, including cuts by Elon Musk’s DOGE.
Heinrich additionally led an amendment with U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) to prevent the sale of our public lands as Congressional Republicans publicly discuss public lands sales to fund their tax breaks for billionaires. Republicans blocked it.
“Republicans’ budget resolution is a massive tax handout for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their billionaire donors. It has one aim: Billionaires win, American families lose.
“Throughout the night and into the early morning, I fought back, introducing and voting for dozens of amendments to shield New Mexico families from Republicans’ harmful legislation. Amendments that would rescind President Trump’s tariff taxes if the price of groceries, medicine, and other household goods increase, protect Medicaid by blocking Musk’s DOGE cuts that threaten rural hospital closures, reverse cuts to Social Security, and prevent the sale of our public lands to fund tax cuts for billionaires. Republicans blocked every single one of them.
“When Republicans had the opportunity to go on the record and show the American people whose side they’re on, they put their billionaire donors on a pedestal and threw working people under the bus. Rather than putting New Mexico families first, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their Republican enablers in Congress are tanking our economy, pushing us into a recession.”
Last night, Senate Republicans blocked Heinrich’s efforts to:
Fight Increasing Costs, Including From Trump’s Tariffs
- Senate Republicans voted against:
- Rescinding President Trump’s tariff taxes that increase the price of groceries, medicine, and other household goods.
- Protecting food assistance for kids and seniors, who are otherwise significantly harmed by rising grocery prices.
- Preventing essential services for children, families, and seniors from being defunded to give massive tax cuts to billionaires.
- Protecting agriculture programs that support farmers and rural economies.
Prioritize Working Families Over Billionaires
- Senate Republicans voted against:
- Providing tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses while ensuring large corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share.
- Preventing tax handouts for people making over $100 million a year.
- Preventing tax handouts for people making over $500 million a year.
- Preventing tax handouts for people making over $1 billion a year.
- Preventing tax handouts for corporations making over $1 billion a year.
- Preventing more than $37 trillion from being added to the debt in 30 years—more debt than has accumulated over the past 249 years.
Protect Medicare and Medicaid
- Senate Republicans voted against:
- Stopping cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
- Preventing cuts to Medicaid that could lead to rural hospital closures, increased costs for people with private insurance, and higher rates of uncompensated care.
- Protecting Americans from losing health care through Medicaid, including seniors, children, families, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and military families.
- Preserving access to health care by preventing cuts to Medicaid that could lead to loss of benefits or coverage, and slashed provider payments.
- Lowering prescription drug costs for seniors and people with disabilities with Medicare.
- Extending the health care premium tax credits created in the Affordable Care Act to prevent millions of Americans from losing health insurance.
Safeguard Social Security
- Senate Republicans voted against:
- Reversing cuts to the Social Security Administration, including cuts by Elon Musk’s DOGE.
- Preventing Elon Musk’s DOGE from closing Social Security field and regional offices, preserving access to benefits for seniors and people with disabilities.
- Preventing Elon Musk’s DOGE from limiting access to Social Security phone services to protect seniors’ access to Social Security benefits.
Protect Our National Security and Provide Disaster Relief
- Senate Republicans voted against:
- Protecting service members by prohibiting the use of Signal and other commercial messaging applications for sharing information on the timing, sequencing, or weapons to be used related to impending U.S. military operations.
- Prohibiting any reduction in U.S. security assistance and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.
- Supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) role in providing nonpartisan and long-term disaster relief to disaster survivors.
Support Our Farmers and Federal Workers
- Senate Republicans voted against:
- Ensuring contracts made with our farmers are honored.
- Protecting legally binding collective bargaining agreements and the right to organize for federal workers.
Below is a total list of amendments that Heinrich filed to amend Republicans’ budget resolution to cut taxes for billionaires at the expense of working people:
- Amendment to prevent the sale of public lands.
- Amendment to lower housing costs for Americans.
- Amendment to reduce Department of Veterans Affairs wait times for 136,000 veterans per day.
- Amendment to reduce Social Security Administration wait times for 344,000 Americans per day.
- Amendment to scale up American manufacturing by supporting small and medium-sized manufactures enhance competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance.
- Amendment to recruit and hire additional wildland firefighters.
- Amendment to exempt federal wildland firefighters and personnel from hiring freezes and reinstate federal wildland firefighters and personnel fired by Trump, Elon Musk, or DOGE.
- Amendment to increase forest health and wildfire mitigation forest treatments to support wildland firefighting.
- Amendment to hire reforestation crews and promote the recovery of burned forest land to support healthy watersheds, outdoor recreation, and timber resources.
Last month, Heinrich attempted to amend Republicans’ prior resolution by offering an amendment to reinstate blocked grants for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence and ensure law enforcement can hold predators and abusers accountable. Republicans voted against his amendment. Watch Heinrich’s video here.