press releases

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded $1,621,186 to public housing...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined 39 senators in a letter to Senate Leaders calling for a temporary expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in the next coronavirus relief package. As the economic effects of COVID-19 are expected to continue into the...

Rep. Ben Ray Luján said he’s disappointed that funding for small communities struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic was not included in the last coronavirus aid package that provided additional relief for small businesses and the health care industry. Under the CARES Act, cities with populations under 500,000 could not apply directly...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Representatives Xochitl Torres Small, Ben Ray Luján, and Deb Haaland are welcoming an announcement from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that their March 20 request has been met and a 60-day extension on the public comment period will be implemented for the Draft...

ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) lauded the creation of the New Mexico COVID-19 Emergency Supply Collaborative, an effort to provide New Mexico health care providers and medical professionals with the resources they need to address the COVID-19 crisis. The collaborative recently launched its website, which functions as...

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, along with other senators, called on Congressional leadership to allocate at least $50 billion in emergency funding to stabilize the childcare industry. The National Women’s Law Center estimates that at least $9.6 billion is needed each month to preserve the nation’s childcare system during the pandemic....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) today held a teleconference with New Mexico-based reporters to answer questions and discuss the latest on efforts to assist New Mexicans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A recording of Senator Heinrich’s remarks can be found HERE. Senator Heinrich's as prepared for delivery are...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Senate Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee; Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workforce Safety, are leading 26...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and a group of Western senators in seeking answers on the planning efforts of the U.S. Forest Service to protect communities and firefighters heading into the upcoming 2020 wildfire season amid the COVID-19 crisis. "The...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is calling on Senate leadership to prioritize funding for childcare in the next legislative package that responds to the public health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and emergency. Senator Heinrich joined U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and a...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich gave an update Thursday to the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sen. Heinrich praised Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx for their work with New Mexico. However, he was also critical of some of the response. "Where I will be critical of the federal response is that, across the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with 142 lawmakers from the House and Senate, requested Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to actively notify the millions of Americans who are eligible for discount telephone or broadband access from the FCC’s Lifeline...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and a group of 27 senators are urging Senate leadership to include additional emergency funding for nonprofit organizations in the next COVID-19 relief bill. Nonprofits are an essential part of the frontline coronavirus pandemic response, providing important social services such as nutrition...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), announced that 84 New Mexico health care providers received over $56 million to aid in the fight against...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.)and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is awarding New Mexico $6,638,183 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief,...

The Mescalero Apache Tribal Council Monday joined the call for the resignation of Tara Sweeney, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs for U.S. Department of Interior. The tribe, whose reservation lies in Otero County, but adjoins Ruidoso, sent the letter to President Donald Trump stating that the Tribe had grave concerns about Sweeney’s...

U.S. Senators want the Trump administration to remove what they call needless, bureaucratic restrictions on how states can use funding from coronavirus relief efforts. The Senators, including New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, argued that state, local and tribal governments should be able to use funds from the CARES Act to repay lost...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with 44 Senate Democratic colleagues, are responding to the Trump administration’s needless bureaucratic restrictions on how Governors can distribute Coronavirus Relief Funds to their states, sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin calling on him to...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with 26 Senate Democrats, calling on U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students to access Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds secured in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Last...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement calling for an investigation into the release of sensitive information that tribal governments and other entities submitted to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of the Interior related to CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Funds: "I am...