press releases

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is cosponsoring an amendment included in the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 to establish an office that would replace the current Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force and would have access to...

A bill sponsored by New Mexico’s senior U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) to fund conservation of threatened and endangered species advanced in Congress this week, receiving its first hearing in the U.S. Senate. Co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) would, if passed, provide...

WASHINGTON (Dec. 8, 2021) – Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) delivered remarks on his Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee legislative hearing. The bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act invests in proactive, on-the-ground conservation work...

WASHINGTON (Dec. 3, 2021) – 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.) are welcoming almost $2 million in funding from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to support drought response projects for six Pueblos in New...

WASHINGTON (Dec. 3, 2021) – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are applauding the House-passage of companion legislation to their bipartisan Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act to prohibit the exporting of sacred Native American items and increase penalties for stealing and illegal...

New Mexico’s multi-billion-dollar outdoor recreation industry struggled in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic but was already recovering, officials said, as businesses reopened, and visitation surged. A study from the Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked New Mexico as 27th in the nation for outdoor recreation’s contribution to the...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 30, 2021) – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are part of a bicameral push of lawmakers urging Senate Armed Services Committee leadership to keep the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act (MJIIPA) in the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The inclusion...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 23, 2021) – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are part of a bipartisan group of senators requesting Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to reiterate the intent of congressionally approved legislation from last year that both the National Museum of the American...

Each year, hundreds of thousands of college students drop out of their program and leave school, with significant negative impacts on their future earnings and employment. This college completion crisis has major consequences for our broader economy and workforce — millions of workers are not in the labor force and tens of billions of dollars...

The lesser prairie chicken could be put on the threatened list for the second time in eight years, and a U.S. senator from New Mexico thinks the bird is a prime example of a species whose severe decline could’ve been avoided if there had been money to intervene sooner. Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich believes a bipartisan bill he and Sen....

WASHINGTON (Nov. 19, 2021) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act: “The Build Back Better Act is a game changer for our country. It will make once-in-a-generation investments in the American people, lower costs, cut taxes, create...

The scale of climate change can be debilitating at times, even for me. When I see cottonwoods dying from heat stress along the Rio Grande or acequias running dry, it can be overwhelming. At times like that, I find that it’s important to back up and refocus on all the things I can do to change our unsustainable status quo. When I do that, I...

A group of Democratic lawmakers in Congress recently established the Electrification Caucus, which will work to advance policies to accelerate widespread electrification. The caucus was created by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Tina Smith (D-MN), and U.S. Reps. Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Kathy Castor (D-FL). The lawmakers said widespread...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 18, 2021) – Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced two of U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) locally-driven bills out of committee during a business meeting to consider pending legislation. Senator Heinrich’s Buffalo Tract Protection Act and legislation to reauthorize the...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 18, 2021) – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is encouraging New Mexico parents to take action now so that children ages 5 and up can complete their COVID-19 vaccination process in time for December holiday gatherings. Senator Heinrich hosted a Facebook Live discussion today with Dr. Heather Pratt-Chavez, a...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 17, 2021) – 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.) are calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prohibit lunch shaming of students with school meal debts through the existing...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 17, 2021) – Today, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and U.S. Representatives Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) announced the first-ever Electrification Caucus. The new, bicameral caucus will work to advance policies to accelerate widespread electrification. The lawmakers released the...

FARMINGTON — New Mexico will receive $25 million in federal funding for a transportation project on the Navajo Nation. Congressional members from New Mexico announced the state was awarded funding through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants, which is administered by the U.S....

WASHINGTON (Nov. 16, 2021) – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) are welcoming $25 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for a U.S. 64 corridor improvement and repair project running through Shiprock, New...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 15, 2021) – Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) was at the White House as President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness. The new law will rebuild America’s roads, bridges and...