Udall, Heinrich Welcome NM Priorities Included in Government Funding Bill

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich joined the full Senate in voting 65-33 for a so-called "omnibus" appropriations bill to fund the government through September 2016. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill earlier today and it now heads to the president, who is expected to sign it into law.

The bill funds several critical New Mexico programs such as veterans' services; Tribal and Head Start programs; Los Alamos and Sandia national labs; construction at Holloman, Kirtland and Cannon Air Force bases; New Mexico's national parks, monuments and refuges; public lands agencies; water projects across the state; Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT); and the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

The funding bill follows spending levels set in a bipartisan budget agreement that Congress approved earlier this fall. That framework rolled back devastating sequestration budget cuts that have hurt military readiness, rural development and other programs that New Mexico families depend on.

Udall said: "This bill will support jobs and economic development in every corner of our state. Funding for our national labs and military bases will ensure New Mexico can continue contributing to our national security and tomorrow's technological breakthroughs. The funding levels in this bill follow through with our bipartisan agreement to end sequestration cuts that have devastated federal investments that benefit our state's hardworking families. Now we're able to provide much-needed boosts to early childhood programs like Head Start, Tribal health and education, and quality services for our veterans." Udall, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and lead Democrat on the Subcommittee for Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, announced that funding for several New Mexico public lands and Tribal priorities had been included in the bill earlier this week, including a three-year extension of the LWCF. Udall also led the effort to remove harmful anti-environment provisions from the bill. Those provisions would have weakened bedrock environmental laws and blocked efforts to reduce the impact of climate change in New Mexico and across the country.

Heinrich said: "This balanced, bipartisan agreement makes robust investments in our economy and will create and preserve jobs in New Mexico at a time when we truly need them. By following the framework of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, we restored funding to education, veterans, women's health, substance abuse and mental health services, infrastructure, homeland security, and defense. We also removed harmful Republican policy riders that would have weakened Wall Street reform and consumer protections, eliminated safeguards for clean air and drinking water, and curbed the president's authority to create national monuments under the Antiquities Act. New Mexico's national laboratories, military bases, and WIPP will all receive critical federal investments in this bipartisan deal. Our rural counties will receive a substantial increase in PILT funding. This package also includes robust, multi-year clean energy incentives that will move us toward our climate goals, including wind and solar tax credits, and investments in the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Because of the services we provide to the nation, New Mexico's economy relies heavily on federal investments. Congress must continue to work together and be willing to compromise in order to get things done for the American people and New Mexico."

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