WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor uplifting stories from communities across New Mexico on how President Trump’s unlawful unilateral blockade of all federal grant funding is creating chaos and harming the lives of New Mexicans.
“In an overnight maneuver on Monday, President Trump unlawfully and unilaterally blockaded much of the federal budget,” Heinrich said. “Hitting “send” on a two-page memo, the Trump administration triggered a chaotic 24-hours that threw every town, county, Tribe, nonprofit, doctor’s office, hospital, nursing home, school, and preschool into total disarray.”
“We need to call out Trump’s brazen action for what it really was: a power grab, and it was a test run to see just how much he can get away with,” Heinrich continued. “President Trump and his cronies are testing how far they can go to dismantle and dismember our democracy in service of his strongman impulses and ideological agenda.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I know how much work goes in to writing and passing our funding laws. I am here now talking on the Senate floor because I will fight like hell to stop this – or any – of Trump’s brazen, illegal funding blockades.”
In his remarks, Heinrich uplifted New Mexicans’ voices by reading letters he has received over the last 48 hours from constituents. Find the video of Heinrich reading letters from New Mexicans here.
He detailed a number of federal funding programs that impact New Mexico and were thrown into uncertainty by Trump’s funding freeze. Find the video of Heinrich detailing those programs here.
Heinrich provided specific examples of New Mexico organizations that were disrupted by Trump’s funding freeze. Find the video of Heinrich providing those specific examples here.
Heinrich also detailed how the Trump administration’s ongoing unlawful hold on Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act federal funds is harming New Mexico’s Communities. Find the video of Heinrich detailing the Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act federal funds here.
Heinrich concluded his remarks by calling on his Republican colleagues to demand that President Trump work together with Democrats on the challenges Americans want them to solve, saying, “This type of chaos and uncertainty is not what Americans elected President Trump to deliver. It’s certainly not what New Mexicans sent me to Washington to deliver. Americans are calling on us — all of us — to work together on policies that will bring down the cost of their groceries, rent, internet, and health care. They want us to help get fentanyl off our streets, make our communities safer, and support survivors of sexual assault, and put our veterans in safe housing. They want us to help the small businesses, support the public lands that are the beating heart of their local economies, and create jobs they can build their families around, in their home communities. What they don’t want is all of this chaos.”
He finished, “I would hope that my Republican and Democratic colleagues alike would join me in calling on the President to get back to following the laws we passed together. Let’s get back to creating certainty that our communities — and our democracy itself — depend upon. As Benjamin Franklin put it years ago, this is a Republic — If We Can Keep It. I will fight like hell to keep it. And I know I am not alone.”
To share how Trump’s blockade is affecting you, write to Senator Heinrich here.
Earlier today, Heinrich joined a press conference with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to highlight how President Trump’s unlawful federal grant funding freeze threw the lives of New Mexicans into chaos. Find the video of that press conference here.
Yesterday, Heinrich delivered remarks on the Senate floor slamming Trump’s unlawful federal funding blockade. In his remarks, Heinrich pointed to the illegality of this action, citing the law that Congress passed — the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 — after President Richard Nixon tried to withhold Congressionally appropriated funds.
Heinrich also hosted a press conference with the N.M. Delegation on the federal funding blockade and released a statement condemning Trump’s unlawful direction.
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