press releases

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement in commemoration of Memorial Day: “As we continue to grapple with one of the most challenging periods many of us have faced in our lifetimes, we should pause on this Memorial Day to reflect on how...

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...

LAS CRUCES - Over the past decade, an average of 720,000 immigrants have been naturalized each year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In New Mexico, naturalizations peaked at nearly 3,600 in fiscal year 2018, the latest year for which data are available.  This spring, however, U.S. Citizenship and...

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...

The novel coronavirus raging in the Navajo Nation and New Mexico pueblos in part prompted U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to announce Thursday the extension of the public comment period on a plan that will shape the future of oil and gas drilling near Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Tribal officials have met with or spoken remotely...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Thursday he’ll extend the public comment period on a contested plan that will guide oil and gas drilling and other development in an area of northwestern New Mexico that includes a national park and locations important to Native American tribes. A coalition of tribal...

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) led 17 Senate Democrats in a letter calling on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to request that the FCC extend the 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window by 180 days. Extending this deadline would allow Tribal governments additional time to secure access to...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, has introduced legislation to reauthorize the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. This program provides grants to states, local governments, and tribes...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, along with 44 of their Democratic Senate colleagues, have introduced the Emergency Educational Connections Act, legislation aimed at ensuring all K-12 students have adequate home internet connectivity and devices during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill is the Senate companion to...

WASHINGTON—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 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has granted public housing authorities...

WASHINGTON — Today, Friday, May 15 at 12:15 p.m. MT/2:15 p.m. ET, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) will join outdoor recreation industry leaders, small business owners, and professional outdoor athletes for a press teleconference about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the outdoor recreation industry and how Congress can provide...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) along with 12 of his Senate colleagues sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeking transparency and information regarding the distribution process for remdesivir, a antiviral drug that could modestly speed recovery in patients infected with the coronavirus. The...

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 the state of New Mexico will receive over $77 million for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing from the U.S. Department of Health...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined the entire Senate Democratic caucus in filing an amicus brief in the case of California v. Texas (formerly Texas v. Azar). The case brought by several Republican Attorneys General and the Trump administration is...

U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced Tuesday that legislation to protect 450 miles of the Gila River system under the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was introduced in the Senate late last week. Members of the agricultural community and some private landowners along the river, as well as the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona...

U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich introduced legislation Tuesday that would designate portions of the Gila River as Wild and Scenic, after a “years-long” effort to protect what’s known as one of the country’s last wild rivers.  The M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act would designate 446...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) –KRQE Media Group hosted a Special Virtual Town Hall on COVID-19 featuring both of New Mexico’s U.S. Senators Wednesday, May 13. U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D) and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D) addressed the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. The senators also answered questions from...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau approved $954,990 to the Navajo Nation Department of Health for the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, authorized by the Coronavirus...

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich held a teleconference to announce the M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act to designate portions of the Gila River, its watershed and other rivers in the Gila National Forest as Wild and Scenic Rivers. The senators were joined by New Mexico Lieutenant Governor Howie...