U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) held a teleconference Thursday with New Mexico-based reporters to discuss the latest on efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the call, Sen. Heinrich discussed the Senate passage of a major, bipartisan emergency COVID-19 response bill that will provide immediate and badly-needed relief to New Mexicans grappling with the coronavirus pandemic.

The $2 trillion package includes key provisions to support New Mexico, including:

• Direct payments to individual New Mexicans and a major expansion of unemployment benefits;
• Badly-needed direct relief for small businesses;
• An emergency infusion of resources into hospitals and to support health care workers;
• Reimbursement for state governments like New Mexico that have stepped up to address the crisis; and
• Critical resources for tribes and vulnerable communities.

A recording of Sen. Heinrich’s remarks can be found HERE.

Heinrich’s remarks as prepared for delivery are below: 

Hi everyone, and thanks for joining me again for another update on what I am doing to fight for New Mexicans in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout.

First off, I want to offer my condolences to the friends and family of the first New Mexican we know to have died from COVID-19.

We must continue fighting this disease on all fronts so less families in our state will lose their loved ones.

To that end, I am continuing to do everything I can to help secure resources for our state’s coronavirus response.

We are working around the clock with federal, state, tribal, and local agencies and holding the Trump Administration accountable to deliver the robust set of resources needed to address this crisis.

That includes a faster expansion in diagnostic testing and more medical supplies. I am also pleased that we are making real progress on the testing front in New Mexico.

Thanks to agreements and waivers we helped secure, we learned yesterday that TriCore received 18,000 tests from Abbott Laboratories and can now greatly increase their testing capacity going forward.

I can also share that FEMA has now shipped New Mexico its second allotment of Personal Protective Equipment from the National Stockpile.

We are told it will arrive on Monday, and will keep working to secure the remainder of New Mexico’s much-needed PPEs.

I also continue to fully support Governor Lujan Grisham as her administration takes the necessary measures to keep our communities safe during this pandemic.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen the number of cases increase in New Mexico and across the nation, in some places at alarmingly high rates.

This only underscores the importance of increasing testing and transparency, encouraging all New Mexicans to keep following the Governor’s stay-at-home instruction, and equipping our hospitals and health care workers on the frontlines with the tools they need to keep everyone healthy and safe.

I am also leading our congressional delegation’s efforts to help bring New Mexicans who have been stranded abroad back home and press the State Department to use all resources at its disposal toward this end.

Yesterday, we were able to help a New Mexican with a serious medical condition, on his last day of medication, get on a plane out of Peru.

It took calls to the highest level of government, and more than two dozen calls to every level below that.

So far, we have successfully helped 32 New Mexicans return home, but there are still dozens experiencing real difficulty navigating arduous processes.

I am dedicated to helping New Mexicans deal with this challenge.

And I am committed to helping our state’s communities address the countless other immense hardships that have arisen because of this crisis.

There is so much work to discuss on all of these fronts, but I would like to focus the bulk of my time today on the third major legislative response to address this crisis.

As you may recall, Congress passed a nearly $8 billion emergency funding measure earlier this month to provide essential medical resources to the public health response.

Then, last week, we passed the bipartisan Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

That legislation funded even more critical public health measures, including free testing for all who need it.

That package also made sure states will have support to shore up economic relief programs like Medicaid, food assistance, unemployment insurance, and established emergency family and sick leave.

In the last week, the Senate moved toward the challenge of addressing the long-term recovery of our nation’s economy.

Our nation has not seen this level of economic upheaval since maybe the Great Depression.

Last week, we saw more New Mexicans apply for unemployment than in any single week during the Great Recession.

And that is just one signal of how much workers and businesses in our state are struggling.

Small business owners all across New Mexico are temporarily closing their doors and wondering if they will be able to reopen.

Workers who have lost their jobs—even if only temporarily—are worried about how they can support their families who depend on their paychecks.

Our schools, our non-profits, and our food banks are stepping up to make sure no New Mexican goes hungry.

But they are taking on massive costs to do so.

Congress absolutely needs to pass an economic stimulus package that meets the full scale of this moment and to meet the needs of these New Mexicans.

From the start of negotiations, I was committed to putting the workers and families most impacted by this crisis first.

I am deeply aware of how much this public health crisis has upended small business owners, workers, and schools all across our state.

This crisis is also acutely impacting tribal nations, both through strains on their health care systems and also because business enterprises that provide essential jobs and revenues have closed.

The initial proposals put forward by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans over the weekend did not strike the right balance.

It left out far too many New Mexicans who need help right now. That’s why it took a few more days of negotiations to get this right.

I think it’s important for us to put this in context.

The economic measures we need to meet the scale of economic disruption are going to be at least double, and maybe even triple, the size of the stimulus in 2009.

It is imperative for Congress and the administration to spend taxpayer money effectively and with proper accountability measures.

After the additional days of negotiations, Democrats were able to secure critical provisions that will assure there is accountability and oversight on how this funding is allocated and also make sure resources will be steered towards those who really need it.

Like all compromises in Congress, this is not perfect.

But all of the substantive negotiations have brought us to a place where we are going to deliver the help that New Mexicans are demanding.

This crisis has also shown us in stark relief how much we need to reinvest in our hospitals and health care system to ensure that everyone in America—whether they live in a rural New Mexico village or in New York City—has access to lifesaving health care.

That’s why this package includes what is being called a Marshall Plan for our hospitals and health care system.

This funding will help our hospitals secure supplies they desperately need during this emergency such as ventilators and personal protective equipment.

It will also provide key funding support to the community health centers, the VA, and the Indian Health Service.

State, local, and tribal governments have been shouldering the costs of propping up local health care systems as they waited for relief from the federal government.

Our package includes $150 billion to reimburse these costs.

And after Republicans initially failed to include tribes, we secured $8 billion to go specifically to tribal governments who have lost much of their revenue from closed tribal enterprises and face unique public health challenges.

We also secured a massive expansion of the unemployment insurance program, which is an essential lifeline for millions of workers during this crisis.

The legislation increases the maximum unemployment benefit by $600 per week over the state’s baseline and ensures that laid-off workers, on average, will receive their full pay for four months.

We also expanded access to unemployment insurance to part-time, self-employed, and gig economy workers who have also seen their paychecks shrink or disappear entirely.

Democrats also fought to double the cash payments to working Americans from $600 to $1,200.

An additional $500 cash payment is available for each child in a household.

The full payment will be available for individuals making up to $75,000 for individuals and up to $150,000 for married couples.

I’m hopeful that these payments will give some peace of mind to so many workers in New Mexico who have been worried about how they were going to ride out this storm.

We also secured real help for our small business owners.

There will now be more than $350 billion available for Small Business Administration in loans and grants to help small business owners pay their employees and reopen when this is all over.

Finally, I fought to include $400 million for states to prepare elections systems for expanded vote-by-mail, online voter registration, and increased safety for in-person voting.

During a presidential election year, Americans need complete certainty that their fundamental right to vote will not be compromised or put them in danger.

There are quite a few other measures that were included in this legislation.

And once this bill becomes law, the Trump Administration will have to implement it, and I will hold them accountable every step of the way.

I encourage you to follow up with my staff if you have any questions that I’m unable to answer during this call.

However, the top message I want all New Mexicans to hear right now is that help is on the way.

This legislation will make a real difference in delivering resources that New Mexico needs to meet this crisis head on and rebuild our communities in the weeks and months ahead.

I am not finished fighting for all of us.

And I will keep doing everything I can to support our public health response, to bring our economy back to life, and to rebuild thriving communities all across New Mexico after all of this is over.