ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, hosted two roundtables in Albuquerque to underscore how President Trump’s cuts to the public lands workforce and Congressional Republicans’ refusal to lower the cost of health care and extend the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits is harming New Mexico families.
“The chaos of this Administration and the indifference Trump has shown toward working families is infuriating. Trump and Congressional Republicans have thrown millions of Americans off their health care and laid off thousands of public land workers that keep our public lands safe, clean, and open for all to enjoy. Trump is doing all of this while costs are skyrocketing and working families are struggling to put food on the table. New Mexicans deserve financial certainty and lower costs,” said Heinrich. “Today, I heard directly from New Mexicans impacted by Trump’s callousness and the message is clear: Working families need and deserve access to affordable health care, lower costs, high-quality careers they can build their families around, and public lands in public hands. I will continue the fight to protect our state’s federal workers and to permanently extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits to make health care affordable for New Mexico families.”
At the roundtable today discussing Trump’s cuts to the public lands workforce and attacks on Americans’ public lands, Heinrich met with the New Mexico State Forester, public lands advocates, and small business owners.
Throughout his career, Heinrich has advocated for protecting public lands and keeping these lands in public hands.
As Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Heinrich successfully fought Senate Republican provisions to sell off public lands in the Big Bad Bill, lead an amendment to prevent the privatization of our public lands, hosted a roundtable and sounded the alarm about New Mexico public lands that were at risk of being sold off by Republicans, continuously uplifted New Mexicans’ voices who called his office to raise their concern with Republicans’ plan to sell off these lands, and released a statement immediately criticizing Senate Republicans’ plan to sell off public lands following the release of the reconciliation text.
This year, Heinrich introduced legislation to prevent politically-motivated workforce reductions at the Department of the Interior (DOI), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the Department of Energy (DOE). Heinrich’s bill will require an immediate moratorium on Reductions in Force (RIFs) at DOI, USFS, and DOE, so employees are protected while Congress conducts oversight and evaluates long-term workforce needs.
For more background on Heinrich’s work to protect New Mexico federal public lands workers, click here.
Heinrich also hosted a roundtable today to hear directly from New Mexicans whose premiums will rise significantly as a result of Congressional Republicans’ refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits and lower the cost of health care for New Mexico families.
In the most recent government shutdown, Trump and Republicans chose not to work with Heinrich and Democrats to extend the ACA tax credits, chose to shut down the government for 44 days, which made it the longest government shutdown in American history, and chose to pass a government funding bill that fails to extend the ACA tax credits.
Heinrich repeatedly voted for a government funding bill that included an extension of the ACA health tax credits and urged Congressional Republicans to come to the negotiating table to engage in good faith bipartisan negotiations with Democrats to extend these tax credits and reopen the government. Meanwhile, Republicans refused and voted to let insurance premiums skyrocket, let children go hungry, and let working people fend for themselves.
Heinrich voted to pass the American Rescue Plan in 2021, which authorized initial enhancements to the premium tax credit to make health insurance more affordable for more people and increase subsidies for working, middle-income families in New Mexico. In 2022, Heinrich voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which extended the enhanced premium tax credit through 2025.
Heinrich cosponsors the Health Care Affordability Act of 2025 (S.46) to make the enhanced Advance Premium Tax Credit permanent and build upon record health care marketplace enrollment.
For more background on Heinrich’s work to lower the cost of health care for New Mexicans and permanently extend the ACA tax credits, click here.
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