Heinrich: New Mexico Can’t Afford Another Republican Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With only nine days until the until the current fiscal year ends, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) calls on lawmakers to skip the political gamesmanship and instead begin bipartisan budget negations to keep the federal government open and end the devastating, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration.

"The government shutdown in 2013 hit New Mexico hard and had very real consequences for our workforce. We can't afford another manufactured crisis," Heinrich said. "The politics and showmanship are insulting to the American people and it's no way to govern. We should instead be sitting down with a pen and paper to work on bipartisan budget negotiations.  It is entirely within our power to avoid reckless and devastating impacts to our economy. We need to work together on a reasonable, long-term plan that makes investments in the middle class and reverses the across-the-board sequester cuts that threaten our economy and hard working families."

Last month, Senator Heinrich joined the full Senate Democratic Caucus in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urging the Republican leadership to schedule bipartisan budget negotiations immediately to prevent another government shutdown. In 2013, Senator Heinrich voted to support the bipartisan budget resolution authored by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan (Wis.-01), which addressed some of the arbitrary sequester cuts for two years while reducing long-term spending through other savings.