VIDEO: Heinrich Delivers Remarks on the Senate Floor Slamming Trump’s Unlawful Federal Funding Blockade
“From the Roundhouse to the classroom to the emergency room, it is chaos. And people want answers”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) took to the Senate floor this evening to condemn President Trump’s unlawful unilateral blockade of all federal grant funding. In his remarks, Heinrich underscored the magnitude of damage this unlawful decision has already wrought on the lives of thousands of New Mexicans, highlighting the harm and chaos it has created in communities across the state.
Heinrich also 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.
“In an overnight maneuver that would make a dictator envious, President Trump unlawfully and unilaterally froze all federal grant funding. He shut down the housing portal that non-profits and Tribes use to access mortgage financing. He literally shut down the Medicaid reimbursement portal. He threw every town, county, Tribe, nonprofit, health care provider, school, and preschool into total disarray. From our state’s Roundhouse to the classroom to the emergency room, today was chaos. And people want answers,” said Heinrich.
“The president cannot override, delay, or rescind Congress’s funding laws. Full stop. This has been upheld time and again by the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, the Government Accountability Office, and by the law, specifically the Impoundment Control Act of 1974,” continued Heinrich. “As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I know how much work goes in to writing and passing our bipartisan funding laws. And I am not going to cede that to ANY administration to be abused.”
Heinrich called on New Mexicans to share how Trump’s blockade is affecting themselves and their families, “I want to hear from you about Donald Trump’s blockade, and how it is affecting you and your family. If your town’s COPS grant gets frozen, I need to know. If your VA mortgage gets held up, I need to know. If you’re a nonprofit giving services in the areas of violence against women, refuges for people who are battered, and your funding gets held up, these are the stories that I think need to be held up to understand just what is happening in our country right now.”
Heinrich concluded by calling on his colleagues, “Let’s make sure that whatever we agree to here in this amazing Capitol—that not only passes both chambers but gets signed into law by the President of the United States—that we abide by that. Because only if we all agree to color inside the lines, and act like a democracy, will this remain a democracy.”
To share how Trump’s blockade is affecting you, write to Senator Heinrich here.
Earlier today, Heinrich also released a statement condemning President Trump’s unlawful direction to unilaterally block all federal grant funding.