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Congressman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District released the following statement after voting last night against House Republicans’ Transportation-Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill.

U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced that the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments has received a $250,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to promote entrepreneurship and business development in Luna, Grant, Hidalgo and Catron counties. Udall and Heinrich helped lead a task force — initially convened by former U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman in 2010 — that led to this grant award, which will fund an innovative initiative to promote job creation by expanding energy efficiency and renewable energy in Southwest New Mexico

U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) have introduced legislation to prevent the return of damaging across-the-board budget cuts that significantly impacted health care, education, public safety, and housing throughout Indian Country

$8 million grant will build new treatment center, helping border area resolve ongoing wastewater issues.

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will travel to McKinley County on Friday, June 5 to speak at the grand opening of the new Gallup VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic, visit the Care 66 Hooghan Hozho Housing Project, and tour the Navajo Technical University

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will participate in a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing this morning, Tuesday, June 2, at 10 a.m. ET/8 a.m. MT, where he will discuss the impacts of drought conditions in New Mexico and ways to tackle water supply needs. The committee will receive testimony on the status of drought conditions throughout the western United States and actions states and others are taking to address them

Elementary school students will bring a meal to share with seniors living at Peoples' Self-Help Housing properties in Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles and Santa Maria as part of NeighborWorks Week, a celebration that brings together affordable housing organizations, volunteers, neighbors, businesses and others across the country. PSHH will also host an open house and tour of five self-help homes that are nearing completion in Los Alamos

A bill introduced by U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) to create a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) received an important hearing today in the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The bill, S. 1264, would create jobs, save consumers money, and reduce pollution. In an effort to diversify the United States' energy sources and lead in clean energy production, the bill would require utilities to generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.

Following the House’s passage of H.R.1732, a bill to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from finalizing a rule defining the scope of waters subject to the Clean Water Act (CWA), U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce issued this statement

U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) introduced a bill to create jobs, save consumers money and reduce pollution by creating a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). The legislation, which would help the United States diversify its energy sources while establishing our leadership in clean energy production, would require utilities to generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030

U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01) today announced she will be hosting and attending Mobile Office Hours with her staff in the First Congressional District on Monday, May 11. Additional Mobile Office Hours will be held by staff on Saturday, May 9. Mobile Office Hours enable constituents to receive assistance with casework closer to their homes and in their communities.

Today, during National Small Business Week, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.), and U.S. Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), announced legislation to help business owners who operate primarily out of their homes deal with the often-complicated process of filing income taxes. The bipartisan Helping Our Middle Class Entrepreneurs (HOME) Act is the result of conversations with small business owners about ways the federal government can reduce unnecessary red tape.

Congressman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District voted today against the Energy and Water Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 that locks in the spending cuts of the sequester that have negatively impacted New Mexico. The legislation also shortchanges investments in renewable energy that are important to New Mexico’s growing clean energy sector

Today, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz released the terms of a $73 million settlement of the State’s claims against the Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors related to the February 2014 incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico, including the associated activities at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall announced that legislation he has introduced to promote water and energy conservation will receive a hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resourcestomorrow, Thursday April 30 at 10 a.m. ET. Udall's Smart Energy and Water Efficiency Act would fund smart water system pilot projects to help develop innovative strategies to manage water use and increase efficiency.

U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) applauded the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarding $301,174 to public housing agencies in New Mexico to provide permanent supportive housing opportunities to veterans experiencing homelessness. A total of almost $65 million will go to agencies across the United States to provide housing and services for 9,333 homeless veterans nationwide. This supportive housing assistance is provided through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program that combines rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by the VA.

U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich applauded the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarding $301,174 to public housing agencies in New Mexico to provide permanent supportive housing opportunities to veterans experiencing homelessness.

During a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) called for building a robust 21st century energy infrastructure, which is critical to realizing our nation's true clean energy potential and creating jobs in New Mexico. The committee heard testimony from Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on the agency's release of the first installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review

U.S. Senator Tom Udall welcomed growing support to permanently authorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which conserves and promotes public access to the country's national parks, forests and public lands, and also funds state and local conservation grants. The program is set to expire in September of this year, and Udall has introduced legislation to find a permanent solution for the LWCF

Governor Susana Martinez signed HB 560 into law, ending the practice of civil asset forfeiture in New Mexico. Civil asset forfeiture, also known as “policing for profit,” allows law enforcement officers to seize personal property without ever charging—much less convicting—a person with a crime. Property seized through this process often finds its way into the department’s own coffers. HB 560, introduced by NM Rep. Zachary Cook and passed unanimously in the legislature, replaces civil asset forfeiture with criminal forfeiture, which requires a conviction of a person as a prerequisite to losing property tied to a crime.