Heinrich championed investments to support service members & families, improve New Mexico’s military installations, expand access to health care, fight the opioid epidemic, develop the workforce & small businesses, increase prenatal screening & treatment of congenital syphilis, improve literacy rates, & more
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced the bipartisan Senate Appropriations Committee passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bills. With Committee approval of these bills, Heinrich secured support for over $20 million in Congressionally Directed Spending for 22 local projects.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Heinrich has secured committee passage of over $309 million in total FY26 funding for New Mexico. This includes over $118 million in Congressionally Directed Spending for 83 local projects in New Mexico between the Senate FY26 Appropriations Bills and their House-companion bills.
“These Appropriations bills include resources and investments I negotiated for New Mexico that will support service members and their families, improve our military resilience and readiness, and invest in New Mexico’s workforce development and small businesses. This legislation also builds on my work to increase prenatal screening and treatment of congenital syphilis, helps tackle the opioid epidemic and expands access to health care, and protects funding for literacy and education programs,” said Heinrich, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Like most compromises, this legislation isn’t perfect. And an amendment I cosponsored would have fixed one of those deficits by funding local public radio and TV stations. While this wasn’t ultimately included in the final bill, I will continue fighting to restore this funding for our rural communities and Tribes. My focus is and will always be on delivering investments that put New Mexico families first.”
In addition to over $20 million in funding for the FY26 Defense and Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bills, Heinrich has secured Appropriations Committee passage of:
Next, bills passed out of the Appropriations Committee will be considered by the full United States Senate.
Key points and highlights of the FY26 Defense and Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bills are below:
FY26 Defense Appropriations Key Points and Highlights
Supporting Service Members and Families: Heinrich is a strong advocate of several provisions included in the bill to support service members and their families.
This includes $130 million in funding to support Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research to help combat growing cases of breast cancer diagnoses for service members, which have a 20-40% higher incidence rate of breast cancer than the public. It also includes $12 million in funding for the Military Burn Research Program (MBRP) under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). This funding will help support multi-center clinical trials to improve care for servicemembers who suffered serious burn injuries during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
The bill also provides funds for programs that operate in New Mexico, including $50 million for the National Guard Youth Challenge program and $20 million for the STARBASE educational STEM program that currently operates at Kirtland and Holloman Air Force Base and is launching at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico.
Military Readiness and Resilience: Heinrich successfully included key report language and $183 million for the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI). This report language and funding builds on the success of REPI to improve resiliency at military installations such as Cannon Air Force Base and Melrose Air Force Range in Clovis, New Mexico. The success of the REPI program in Clovis led to Cannon, Melrose, and the surrounding 2.4 million acres of land being designated as the “Eastern New Mexico Sentinel Landscape.” The Eastern New Mexico Sentinel Landscape is one of five new landscapes designated by the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership — a coalition comprised of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, and Department of the Interior with the aim of advancing sustainable land use practices and protecting vital water resources.
Space Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis Hub: Building on success from the Fiscal Year 2024 Defense Appropriations Bill, Heinrich successfully included funds to support the development of a Space Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis (S-MS&A) hub that models and assesses the current and immediate future environments, potential activities, and responses, and facilitates discussion and understanding about today’s fight during and in pre-combat operations.
Space Technology Investments: Heinrich successfully included multiple funding increases, totaling $47 million, for the research and development of critical capabilities such as satellite maneuvering and operations, directed energy technologies, artificial intelligence satellite health monitoring capabilities, space domain awareness, creating Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility’s (SCIFs), and more.
Defense Research Partnership with Academia: Heinrich successfully included $20 million for the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) to address Department of Defense mission needs. New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico have both received competitive awards from this program in the past. Heinrich also secured $40 million for the Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRU) Cohort Programs to support graduate recruitment, retention, and professional development through experimental and onsite learning with Department of Defense Laboratories. This funding will also help develop bridge programs that seamlessly tie Ph.D. completion with continued, extended post-doctoral research and conduct scholarly networking activities.
Small Business Development: Heinrich successfully included $30 million in funding for APEX Accelerators to support their network of dedicated professionals who provide one-on-one business counseling, online tools, and training webinars to small businesses to navigate the complex defense and broader government contracting markets. Heinrich also secured $17 million for the Department of Defense Indian Incentive Program to support their work creating opportunities for Native entity owned small businesses to sub-contract, partner with, and gain valuable contracting experience and performance with larger prime contractors.
FY26 Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Key Points and Highlights
Congressionally Directed Spending
Heinrich successfully included $13,035,000 million in investments for the following 13 local projects in the bill:
Heinrich and U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) successfully included $6,681,000 million for the following 9 projects:
Heinrich co-sponsored an amendment to restore funding for local public radio and TV stations through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Despite Heinrich’s efforts, the amendment was not included in the bill by the committee. Heinrich will continue fighting to restore this funding eliminated by Trump and Republicans. For more information on Heinrich’s efforts to protect local public radio and TV stations, click here.
Strengthening the Health Workforce: Heinrich rejected the President’s budget proposal to eliminate funding at the Bureau of Health Workforce and successfully secured $40 million for the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment Program. This vital investment provides loan repayment assistance to professionals in the substance use disorder workforce who provide direct care in either a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area or a county where the overdose death rate exceeds the national average.
Approximately 31 counties in New Mexico are considered Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas, and the state’s overdose death rate nearly doubled between 2011 and 2021, consistently surpassing the national rate over the 10-year period.
Heinrich secured over $128 million for the National Health Service Corps and successfully secured language extending loan repayment eligibility for substance use disorder counselors working in rural and underserved areas. Funding for the National Health Service Corps was championed by Heinrich when he led six other Senate Democrats in a letter supporting robust funding for this crucial workforce initiative in May.
Heinrich secured over $103 million for the Rural Health Outreach program to support innovative outreach in rural areas and coordinate health services.
Heinrich also secured $8 million to increase the number of Certified Nurse Midwives and grow the maternal and perinatal nursing workforce by funding scholarships for students and registered nurses for the duration of their nurse midwifery education programs.
Maternal and Child Health: Heinrich championed over $799 million for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, with a directive to ensure these health services are available across Indian Health Service facilities, tribally operated health programs, and Urban Indian Health programs.
Heinrich obtained over $196 million for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant – Special Projects of Regional and National Significance to reduce maternal and infant mortality through targeted initiatives, including funds to address fetal alcohol syndrome, provide for fetal infant and child death review, fund oral health, and implement state maternal health innovation grants.
Heinrich secured $1 million to continue the Newborn Essentials Support Toolkit (NEST), a public-private partnership program to improve maternal mental health and decrease financial related stress during the postpartum period. New Mexico was one of three states selected for this pilot program in 2021 to provide high-need parents with essentials, such as diapers, wipes, baby clothes, baby blankets, baby thermometers, baby nail clippers, lotions, creams, perineal wash bottles, and postpartum pads prior to hospital discharge.
Heinrich fought for and secured language to confront record high cases of congenital syphilis, which is preventable and treatable but can result in bone deformities, deafness, blindness, stillbirth, or death. Heinrich obtained language to encourage the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand efforts to increase provider education on prenatal screening, testing throughout pregnancy, patient education, and treatment of congenital syphilis.
This builds on Heinrich’s efforts to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on best practices for screening and treatment of congenital syphilis under the Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program through the reintroduction of his Maternal and Infant Syphilis Prevention Act (S.2004) this Congress.
Navajo Birth Cohort Study: Heinrich secured $180 million for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, which funds the Navajo Birth Cohort Study. The goal of the study is to better understand the relationship between uranium and environmental metal exposures with birth outcomes and child development on the Navajo Nation.
This builds on Heinrich’s continued commitment to correct the injustice of radiation exposure across New Mexico and, specifically, in the Navajo Nation where more than 500 abandoned uranium mines and 1,100 associated waste features remain.
Addressing the Opioid Epidemic: Heinrich secured over $1.3 billion to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and Tuberculosis Prevention, of which $23 million is dedicated to activities to address Infectious Diseases and the Opioid Epidemic.
The CDC’s Divisions for Opioid Related Infectious Disease Prevention works to combat infectious diseases commonly associated with injection drug use in areas most impacted by the opioid crisis. Heinrich’s fight for this funding rejects President Trump’s proposed, sweeping and devastating cuts that would have halved the CDC’s budget and limited the agency’s lifesaving work.
Bolstering Mental Health Initiatives: Heinrich successfully secured $190 million for school safety and the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program, with language to prioritize states demonstrating a high prevalence of risk factors like substance use disorders (SUD) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
Education: The bill rejects the Trump Administration's proposal to consolidate or eliminate dozens of programs and instead preserves funding for critical education programs, including $194 million for the Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant program, $890 million for English Language Acquisition, and $1.3 billion for 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, all of which are maintained as stand-alone programs at their current funding levels. This builds on Heinrich’s work pushing back against the Trump Administrations’ efforts to freeze these funds in Fiscal Year 2025 and eliminate them in FY26.
College Retention and Completion: Heinrich successfully defended funding for the Postsecondary Student Success Grant, which invests in evidence-based strategies that support student engagement and degree completion. During his time on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Heinrich successfully helped to establish and fund the
Postsecondary Student Success Grants Program at the U.S. Department of Education. Heinrich also sustained funding for several programs that bolster higher education institutions across New Mexico, including the Hispanic-Serving Institutions grants, TRIO programs, Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program, and Strengthening Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities grants.
Heinrich also successfully fought off the Trump Administration’s effort to decrease the maximum Pell Grant award by nearly $2000. The Pell Grant is one of the most important tools that helps many low and middle-income students pay for school expenses.
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