press releases

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is urging President Joe Biden’s top personnel heads regarding plans to bring federal workers back to the office. In a letter addressed to the heads of the office of Personnel Management (OPM), the General...

ALBUQUERQUE – Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. MT/3:30 p.m. ET, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller will hold a virtual press conference to highlight the local impact of the American Rescue Plan. This new law will meet the scale of the unprecedented crisis facing the country, delivering...

WASHINGTON ­– U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representatives Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham applauded the final passage of the American Rescue Plan to provide critical relief for New Mexico families, workers...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M) voted for the American Rescue Plan Act, a comprehensive $1.9 trillion package that will provide economic relief and critical resources to New Mexicans, Tribal communities, public health and education systems, and state and local governments. The...

WASHINGTON – 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 announcing $2.24 million in CARES Act Recovery Assistance grants that will be dispersed to northwest New Mexico. These investments from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) are calling for Congress to correct discrepancies that have caused small and rural states to receive significantly less funding for vaccine and testing than originally estimated. Unfortunately, funding allocated in December for vaccines and testing was...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján have introduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act to create a permanent, national paid family and medical leave program, offering a key solution to the country’s public health and economic challenges. The FAMILY Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Kirsten...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) request was granted by the Biden administration to retroactively reimburse state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments for 100% rather than 75% of eligible emergency costs related to fighting COVID-19. President Joe Biden directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján joined 24 of their Senate colleagues in a letter to President-elect Joe Biden, supporting his incoming administration’s plan to quickly utilize all available authorities under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to rapidly increase the production and stockpiling of...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and 43 Senate Democrats are demanding that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and the Trump administration take immediate action to fix the significant failures of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution as coronavirus cases continue to climb. In the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is lauding the inclusion of funding directed to improve air ventilation systems in elementary and secondary schools in the emergency COVID-19 relief package. Senator Heinrich has been championing the effort to provide funding for elementary and secondary schools to improve indoor air quality...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) voted to pass a $900 billion emergency COVID-19 relief package that will provide desperately needed assistance to New Mexico families, small businesses, hospitals, and public health systems. The COVID-19 relief package will extend unemployment benefits; deliver...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland, and Xochitl Torres Small are urging Congressional Leadership to recognize the severe need to extend coverage of Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) payments allocated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The hopes of Congress passing another COVID-relief package this week remain dashed for now. Congressional leadership remains at odds over what should be included in the bill while members of New Mexico's delegation remains hopeful for a deal. Rep. Deb Haaland is calling on Congressional leadership to include restaurants in any...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland, and Xochitl Torres Small are urging the Trump administration to take immediate action on Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez’s recent request for a major disaster declaration. Tribal communities have been especially...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland, and Xochitl Torres Small are requesting answers on COVID-19 response efforts from the U.S. Army after a large outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) at Fort Bliss. In the letter,...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) has sent a letter to Indian Health Service Director Rear Admiral Michael D. Weahkee condemning a recent decision to decrease essential services at the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna (ACL) Hospital. The Pueblo of Acoma has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases. Over a matter of weeks, cases on the Pueblo...

New Mexico’s outdoor recreation industry is one of its fastest growing, and officials at the both the state and federal level advocated for it to receive more federal relief funds to survive the COVID-19 health crisis and maintain the momentum. Recently released data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed the outdoor...

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 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded over $15.5 million in COVID-19 emergency...

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.) urged officials in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to distribute adequate supplies of...