Heinrich Joins Roundtable with New Mexico Voices for Children and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Tours Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital’s Food Pharmacy, Speaks at ARRAY Technologies’[...]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, participated in an event in Albuquerque on improving the well-being of children and families, toured Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital's food pharmacy, joined a ribbon-cutting ceremony for ARRAY Technologies' solar manufacturing facility, and spoke in support of protecting the Roadless Rule at a New Mexico Wild community event.

Heinrich began the day participating in a roundtable event hosted in partnership with New Mexico Voices for Children and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, along with representatives from the UNM School of Medicine, Changing Women Initiative, Future Focused Education, and Breath of My Heart, to discuss New Mexico Voices for Children's Roadmap Report and policy solutions to improve the well-being of children and families in New Mexico.

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joins a roundtable to discuss policy solutions to improve the well-being of children and families in New Mexico, September 9, 2026.

"I got involved early in the conversation around universal pre-K and early childhood education in New Mexico because we need to invest in our greatest asset: the next generation," said Heinrich, a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. "Right now, we're seeing the Trump administration walk away from investing in our children and families. We need to be thinking about the future. That's why I've long championed legislation and funded programs that give our children a strong start and ensure they have access to high-quality care. We've done some incredible things here in New Mexico over the last few years, but we're just getting started. I'll keep pushing to make sure every child in our state has the opportunity to succeed."

Notably, in 2014, Heinrich was the first member of the New Mexico Congressional Delegation to publicly support unlocking investments from the state's Land Grant Permanent Fund to sustainably support early childhood education. After the New Mexico Legislature and voters in the state passed the necessary state constitutional amendment to unlock these investments, Heinrich successfully led the effort to secure Congressional authorization of the amendment through his New Mexico Education Enhancement Act, which passed in the Omnibus Appropriations Agreement for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23).

For more information on the efforts Heinrich has championed to bolster childhood education in New Mexico, click here.

Following the roundtable event, Heinrich toured Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital's food pharmacy, hearing directly from families who receive the program's food distribution services about the program's impact.

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) tours Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital's food pharmacy, September 9, 2026.

While touring the food pharmacy, Heinrich highlighted the need to build on programs like Presbyterian's that are making nutritious food more accessible to New Mexico families.

"It's time to rebuild our food system in a different way that really serves people's health," said Heinrich. "We need to thoughtfully look at some of our food deserts in this state and find ways to make fruits and vegetables accessible in those places, while also supporting our local farmers. Presbyterian's food pharmacy program proves how valuable a fresh fruit and vegetable kind of diet is for New Mexicans, and we should learn from that."

Last month, Heinrich cosponsored the Accountable Produce is Medicine Act of 2026, which would require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to test a new bundled-payment model that integrates Food is Medicine services into chronic disease care. Participating programs would provide eligible Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP patients with health assessments, care coordination, telehealth and remote monitoring, nutrition counseling, lifestyle support, and healthy, nutrient-dense foods.

In December of 2024, Heinrich introduced the FOOD for Health Act, which aimed to reduce nutrition-related chronic diseases and address food insecurity by supporting the production of nutritious food.

In 2018, Heinrich voted in favor of the 2018 Farm Bill, which established the first federal Produce Prescription Program under the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) program, which provides federal grants to increase the purchase and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables among low-income households.

Heinrich also joined a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open ARRAY Technologies' Westside Albuquerque facility. The new $50 million facility will triple ARRAY's solar tracker manufacturing capacity in New Mexico - shortening energy delivery times, lowering costs for consumers, and creating over 300 good-paying jobs in New Mexico.

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joins a ribbon-cutting ceremony for ARRAY Technologies' Solar manufacturing facility, September 9, 2026.

"Array Technologies' new $50 million facility on Albuquerque's West Side is a testament to the strength of our workforce and New Mexico's leadership in unlocking our country's clean energy future," said Heinrich, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "This new facility will employ more than 300 New Mexicans and create high-skilled jobs, from welders to tooling and die technicians. It's proof that when we invest in American-made energy, we're not just building the technologies that will power our future - we're creating good-paying jobs, strengthening local economies, and helping lower electricity costs for families and small businesses. And this is just the beginning."

Heinrich has long supported ARRAY Technologies and investments that have spurred solar development.

In April 2022, Heinrich met with New Mexico solar industry leaders, including ARRAY Technologies, to hear how a solar tariff petition filed with the Department of Commerce would severely harm the state's solar industry and the hard-working New Mexicans who work in the industry, and later led the charge to prevent the Biden administration from moving forward with the tariffs.

In June 2022, Heinrich delivered keynote remarks at the American Solar Energy Society's 51st Annual National Solar Conference, SOLAR 2022, hosted at the University of New Mexico, highlighting the importance of accelerating the deployment of residential and utility-scale solar across New Mexico and the nation.

In July 2022, Heinrich passed the CHIPS and Science Act, which invested in domestic solar manufacturing through tax credits and semiconductor funding.

In August 2022, Heinrich helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit, to subsidize the production of five types of goods: solar energy components, wind energy components, battery components, inverters, and critical minerals.

In April 2024, Heinrich delivered keynote remarks during New Mexico's first Business-to-Business Electrify New Mexico event, hosted by the Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico, celebrating ARRAY Technologies' expansion and growth in the state.

In April 2024, Heinrich welcomed U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to New Mexico to highlight how investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act created a manufacturing boom and helped position New Mexico as a national leader in an American-made clean energy future, touring ARRAY Technologies' manufacturing plant in NE Albuquerque.

In June 2024, Heinrich, as Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), hosted a hearing on how investments in clean energy have helped create an economic boom, uplifting ARRAY Technologies for expanding in New Mexico.

Heinrich ended the day speaking in support of the Roadless Rule at a New Mexico Wild community event, emphasizing the importance of fighting to preserve the Roadless Rule. The public now has until October 6 to submit comments on the Trump administration's proposed plan to rescind the Roadless Rule.

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks at New Mexico Wild's event on protecting the Roadless Rule, September 9, 2026.

"Public input makes for better governance. It gets all the facts on the table. It gets people's opinions on the table, and generally the outcome benefits from that," said Heinrich, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "We saw that during the public process that led to the Roadless Rule in the late 1990s, when there were tons of people in those hearings - and now, after more than 20 years of management under the Roadless Rule, the comments are 99 percent supportive. And yet, this Forest Service and this administration doesn't have the decency to hold a single public hearing. Public process is at the heart of good democracy and good governance, and we won't accept anything less than that."

Last month, Heinrich released a statement reacting to the Trump administration's announcement that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has filed a proposed rule to rescind the Roadless Rule, calling roadless areas irreplaceable and criticizing the administration for its attack on public lands.

Earlier this summer, Heinrich hosted a press conference on Senate Republicans' efforts to repeal the Roadless Rule and spoke out against the Trump administration's efforts to rescind the Roadless Rule.

Additionally, Heinrich wrote an op-ed in Outside News about how the Roadless Rule helps conserve our public lands and prevent wildfires - and how it represents years of input from Americans who have made it clear they want the Roadless Rule to stay in place.

In May, Heinrich and the N.M. Congressional Delegation urged New Mexicans to voice their opposition to the looming Roadless Rule repeal.

In February, Heinrich attended the "Camo at the Capitol Day" rally in the Roundhouse where he stated, "It makes me incredibly proud to be a New Mexican. They'll never take our public lands from our public hands."

Last September, Heinrich and the N.M. Congressional Delegation sent a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting that New Mexico be excluded from the Trump administration's proposed repeal of the Roadless Rule.

During a U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee hearing to examine pending legislation, Heinrich brought attention to the Trump administration's refusal to take public opinion into account prior to repealing the Roadless Rule.

In June 2025, Heinrich released a statement slamming USDA Secretary Rollins' efforts to rescind the Roadless Rule.

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