press releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, is pressing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately rectify mounting delays with the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR)...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, released the following statement after the framework of the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act was released:  “Rural America deserves our attention and...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), alongside Western state lawmakers, called on the Biden administration to make further investments to address long-term drought caused by climate...

WASHINGTON – Today, in a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) are calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure nutritional needs are met for those suffering from the most severe forms of hunger by including...

WASHINGTON – Last week, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan urging the agency to adopt measures to protect children and endangered species from rodenticide...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, welcomed the Senate’s overwhelming bipartisan passage, 82 to 15, of the first package of the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Appropriations bills. The package included...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to introduce the Small Farm Conservation Act, legislation that would help small farms access federal conservation programs delivered through the U.S. Department of...

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to introduce legislation to invest in public research, develop regionally adapted seed varieties and animal breeds, and enable the U.S. to maintain a robust and resilient food and agricultural...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, welcomes the Senate Appropriations Committee’s bipartisan, unanimous passage of his Fiscal Year 24 (FY24) Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug...

ALBUQUERQUE – On Monday, April 3, in Albuquerque, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury, and Gabe Vasquez to announce significant federal investments in New...

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, delivered opening remarks at a hearing to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the U.S. Department of Agriculture....

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, and U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today reintroduced the Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA), comprehensive legislation that sets a bold vision of...

WASHINGTON - On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at 10 a.m. ET/8 a.m. MT, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, will hold a hearing to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the new Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, released the following statement on President Joe Biden nominating Xochitl Torres Small to serve as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture at the U.S...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are original cosponsors of the bipartisan Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023.  The legislation would restore transparency and accountability in the cattle market by establishing regional cash minimums and equipping producers with...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, has secured funding in the Omnibus Appropriations Agreement for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) to support critical U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs playing a key role in recovery and rebuilding efforts for communities and land...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are part of a group of fourteen bipartisan senators who have sent a letter urging the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support Western farmers and ranchers to conserve water, improve water infrastructure and efficiency, protect lands at risk...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are welcoming $477,074 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support research at New Mexico State University (NMSU) focused on ways to increase the nutritional quality and yield of chile in New Mexico and across the United...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and over 30 of their Democratic Senate colleagues are pushing to extend child nutrition waivers ahead of their expiration and enact a robust set of child nutrition priorities in any upcoming legislative vehicles. As school summer break is already underway in...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsak to urge the Department to address critical firewood needs as a result of the...