press releases

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...

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.) 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...

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. 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...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —KOAT spoke to Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is in New Mexico right now, about how the state is handling the pandemic and what help is coming to the people who need it most. Here’s what Heinrich said when asked about New Mexico’s governor keeping nonessential businesses closed through May 15, and what he thinks about...

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. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the first AmeriCorps alum to serve in the Senate, announced new legislation to expand national service programs as the country works to respond and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pandemic Response and Opportunity Through National Service Act would fund 750,000 national service...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- Lawmakers in Washington passed another relief package Thursday, which includes more money for small businesses that have been affected by COVID-19. The bill includes $380 billion for small businesses, $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for COVID-19 testing. The bill pours more money into the Paycheck Protection Program,...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after voting for the interim COVID-19 emergency relief package, which passed the Senate today. A summary of the legislation is available here. “This stopgap legislation is designed to quickly shore up the economic relief programs targeted for small...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) announced the Tribal COVID-19 Disaster Assistance Cost Share Relief Act, legislation he plans to introduce to eliminate the non-federal cost share for emergency protective measures undertaken by Tribal governments in response to the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)....

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with 27 Senators and 77 Members of the House of Representatives, are urging Congressional leadership to call for an inclusive coronavirus relief package that ensures that urgently-needed coronavirus testing and medical care and other critical lifelines are accessible by all...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Thousands of undocumented families in New Mexico don't qualify for the most recent federal stimulus checks that were given out to families this week during the coronavirus pandemic, despite many being essential workers. Because of this the New Mexico Dream team decided to take matters into their own hands by creating a...

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...