press releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after U.S. Treasury Department Steven Mnuchin announced that the department will be unable to meet its June 5 commitment to deliver critical, life-saving COVID-19 assistance to tribal governments. The department will delay until June 12 the distribution of $3.2...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with 21 Senate colleagues, are urging Senate leadership to provide emergency assistance to nonprofit museums in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Senators Udall and Heinrich are asking to direct $2 billion to nonprofit museums through the Institute of Museums and Library...

New Mexico lawmakers sought increased federal funding to plug abandoned oil and gas wells across the country as the industry struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent decline in fuel demands that caused an historic bust in the price of oil. The state’s Congressional delegation called upon the House Natural Resources...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representative Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) are urging congressional leaders to prioritize a clean energy recovery plan in upcoming economic relief and recovery packages to deal with the impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Senator Heinrich and Representative Tonko led a bicameral...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Collin O’Mara, and Director of New Mexico’s Outdoor Recreation Division Axie Navas, will host a press call Thursday, June 4, at 8:15 a.m. MT/ 10:15 a.m. ET to discuss how passing the Great America Outdoors Act and creating...

WASHINGTON – Today, 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.) are calling on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to take immediate visa processing actions that will bolster the health care workforce...

WASHINGTON – Today, 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 59 skilled nursing facilities in the State of New Mexico will receive $20,537,500 to help combat the devastating effects of the...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) led 17 Senate Democrats in a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf, demanding that immediate steps be taken to halt the transfer of individuals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in an effort to help mitigate the spread of...

WASHINGTON–U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined the bipartisan Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act which would recapture a limited number of unused visas from prior years and allocate them to doctors and nurses who can help in the fight against COVID-19. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would not...

WASHINGTON – Following a letter U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resuming naturalization ceremonies under the guidance and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Senators...

FARMINGTON — Congressional members from New Mexico and Arizona are seeking answers from the Indian Health Service over a $3 million purchase of respirator masks that may be unsuitable for use by medical workers. They were procured from a company recently started by a former White House official. U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin...

Situated between Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range is a large swathe of gypsum desert. White Sands National Park was designated a national park in November and is considered to be a local jewel in Otero County. Under more regular conditions, tourists visiting White Sands National Park would stop at one of the City of...

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.), and Ruben...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined 33 Senate Democrats to release a plan to dramatically expand access to health insurance for all Americans and cover all COVID-19 treatment costs amid the current pandemic. The senators outlined a commonsense policy proposal that would...

Hundreds of thousands of potential voters will be ineligible to cast ballots in November unless the Trump administration resumes citizenship ceremonies and clears a pandemic-related backlog of immigrants waiting to take the naturalization oath, according to rights groups and lawmakers from both parties. President Trump, who claims falsely that...

WASHINGTON (May 23, 2020) – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland, and Xochitl Torres Small are calling on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Peter Gaynor to waive all cost-sharing requirements for assistance under President Trump’s Major Disaster...

In a phone call from the Santa Fe Penitentiary, Vincent Delara tells his wife that if he’s going to die, he would rather die at home. Currently behind bars on a probation violation, the 43-year-old suffers from diabetes, sleep apnea and autoimmune deficiencies. “My husband, if you were to look at him you’d probably say he’s...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida) – both sons of U.S. immigrants, naturalized citizens – sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Kenneth Cuccinelli, requesting that the agency increase small in-person ceremonies and seek out...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued the following statement in response to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s announcement that the comment period will be extended for the Farmington Mancos-Gallup Draft Resource Management Plan...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined 27 senators in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), urging the Trump administration to ensure that all ICE detention centers implement the agency’s recent commitment to provide 520 free...