Martin's Blog

Dear Friend,   Native peoples have lived in the land we now call New Mexico and the United States for thousands of years. I am honored to work with the Pueblos and Tribes who call New Mexico home, and with Tribes all across Indian Country. As part of that work, I have been proud to lead legislation in the Senate to re-frame this national holiday as...

Dear Friend,   Every New Mexican who’s looked at buying a home knows: housing prices are too high. To solve that, we need to build and renovate more homes. It really is that straightforward.    As Chairman of the U.S. Joint Economic Committee, I recently released a report on housing supply in America, which found that underbuilding, restrictive...

Dear Friend,   Earlier this year, I was proud to help lead the effort in the Senate to pass an extension and long overdue expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) that includes the Tularosa Basin Downwinders whose communities and families were downwind from the 1945 Trinity Test, all of the uranium miners exposed to radiation in...

Dear Friend, Nearly five years ago, I was proud to join with local community leaders in Otero County and southern New Mexico to champion the successful legislation that elevated the status of White Sands to become one of our newest National Parks. Securing the prestigious National Park designation of this remarkable natural wonder was an enormous...

Dear Friend, Senate Republicans once again blocked legislation that would protect families’ freedom to start and grow a family with in-vitro fertilization—or IVF.  The Right to IVF Act, legislation that I helped to introduce as an original cosponsor, would establish a nationwide right to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive...

Dear Friend,   On December 8, 1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, bombers attacked U.S. military stations in the Philippines. Despite being cut off from supply lines and reinforcements, thousands of American and Filipino forces—including nearly 2,000 New Mexico National Guardsmen— mounted a courageous, months-long defense of the Bataan...

Dear Friend, Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve been proud to champion New Mexico’s military installations, while also ensuring that those installations listen to our communities needs and concerns. Back when Holloman Air Force Base proposed changes to its airspace agreements for military aircraft training locations, I stood with the local...

Dear Friend, Last month, I joined the Honey Badger Conservation Crew from the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy (ASLA) to harvest honey at the Los Ranchos Agri-Nature Center.  You can read all about my visit with ASLA students in the Albuquerque Journal story below. PHOTO: U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich harvests honey with Albuquerque Sign Language...

Dear Friend, I grew up in a proud union home. My father was a lineman and a member of the IBEW. His union wages allowed me to attend college, provided my family with a ticket to the middle class, and gave my parents stability and peace of mind in their retirement. These are opportunities that every American deserves.     VIDEO: U.S. Senator Martin...

Dear Friend, Our Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was full of commonsense solutions. On gun violence, I helped negotiate a provision that made it a crime to traffic firearms out of the country – something most thought was already illegal but was fueling violence in Central America.  On health care, our bill included a provision that allowed mental...

Dear Friend, Last year, we lost more than 110,000 Americans to overdose deaths. Here in New Mexico, we have the 6th highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the entire country. I refuse to accept this reality, and it’s why I’m working to deliver tools law enforcement personnel need to keep deadly fentanyl off our streets and out of our...

Dear Friend, A few weeks ago, I sat down for lunch with students at Inez Science & Technology Magnet School in Albuquerque.  My visit came just days after we advanced my legislation out of the Senate Appropriations Committee that includes full funding for vital U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition programs that benefit families and...

Dear Friend,  When we talk about building a better future for working families and growing New Mexico’s economy, it starts with our childcare centers and preschools.  This week, I sat down with childcare providers and early educators at the Partnership for Community Action (PCA) in Albuquerque’s South Valley to see firsthand how $250,000 I secured...

Dear Friend, As I’ve visited with New Mexicans today, my mind has continued to return to this weekend’s horrific events in Butler, Pennsylvania.  My deepest sympathies are with those grieving Corey Comperatore, who died shielding his family from the spray of bullets. I am hoping for healing and recovery for Donald Trump and others who were...

Dear Friend, I have been proud to work hand-in-hand with the local community in Albuquerque’s South Valley to establish and grow the opportunities at the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge—the first Urban Refuge in the Southwest. Thanks to New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, we have an exciting opportunity to expand the...

Dear Friend, I just filed an amendment to protect the reproductive freedoms of veterans and their families. My amendment would codify the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) rule that protects veterans and their beneficiaries’ access to abortions in the cases of rape, incest, or danger to the life and health of the mother under federal...

Dear Friend, The first towers manufactured at the Arcosa Wind Towers facility in Belén, Array Technologies’ new 216,000-square-foot manufacturing campus on Albuquerque’s Westside, a major expansion of Intel’s facility in Rio Rancho, and now this… Albuquerque-based SolAero will receive up to $23.9 million in direct federal funding under our CHIPS...

Dear Friend, Two years ago, I was a member of the core bipartisan group of senators who negotiated and passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act—the most meaningful gun reform in three decades. The law is working. As the White House reported this week, more than 500 people have been charged with federal crimes thanks to the gun trafficking and...

Dear Friend, After hundreds of Americans had gunfire rain down on them at a Las Vegas music festival in 2017, I led the effort to ban bump stocks – the device that allowed the gunman to murder and injure so many people, so quickly. Even former President Trump agreed then, heeding my calls to ban bump stocks in a federal rule.  Now, the out of touch...

Dear Friend, On Friday, Senator Ben Ray Luján and I met with families, local and Tribal leaders, first responders, and emergency operation commanders in Roswell, Ruidoso, and the Mescalero Apache Reservation,allimpacted by the South Fork and Salt Fires that have ravagedbeloved New Mexico communities. Witnessing the loss and devastation brought on...