As Trump’s War in Iran Makes Gas and Everyday Essentials More Expensive, Heinrich Fights to Lower Costs for New Mexico Families

WASHINGTON - Last night, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) stood up for New Mexico families by voting against Senate Republicans' budget resolution that refuses to address the skyrocketing cost of gas, groceries, and everyday essentials caused by Trump's war in Iran.

At every turn, Republicans blocked Heinrich and Senate Democrats' efforts to amend this budget resolution and provide much needed relief for working families. Republicans blocked Heinrich's efforts to lower the cost of electricity bills, gas, groceries, health care, prescription drugs, housing, and child care.

"Senate Republicans had a choice to work with Democrats to lower costs and make our economy work for working families, but instead they pushed a budget framework that includes a $140 billion giveaway to ICE and Border Patrol with no accountability or oversight - despite billions for those agencies already going unspent," said Heinrich. "Throughout this process, I fought for amendments to protect working families and ensure their tax dollars are spent responsibly, while attempting to lower everyday costs. Senate Republicans rejected those efforts at every turn, making clear that they would rather hand President Trump blank checks than deliver relief for the American people."

Instead of working to lower skyrocketing costs due to Trump's tariffs and war with Iran, Senate Republicans choose to approve up to $140 billion more in funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol - at a time when these agencies are already sitting on tens of billions in unspent funds from the last Republican budget bill. Republicans are handing ICE and Border Patrol even more money with no new accountability, no reforms, no restoration of the rule of law, and no relief for New Mexico families.

Heinrich and Senate Democrats also worked to block Republican amendments to deprive millions of American citizens of their right to vote, cut education and science funding, and restrict reproductive health care access.

Last night, Senate Republicans blocked Senate Democrats' efforts to:

• Lower electricity bills and the cost of groceries.

• Protect Americans from higher costs on everyday essentials due to Trump's tariffs and war with Iran.

• Lower out-of-pocket health care costs and reduce the cost of prescription drugs by more than 50 percent for seniors and American families.

• Increase child care funding for working families.

• Increase funding for federal school meal programs to ensure American students and children don't go hungry.

• Address the impacts of hedge funds owning single-family homes and skyrocketing housing costs for New Mexico families.

• Prevent insurance companies and middlemen from denying or delaying medical care.

• Require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an independent analysis to determine whether American families will benefit from the secret deals the Trump administration signed with 16 of the largest pharmaceutical companies.

• Require the Trump administration to carry out Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) public assistance and hazard mitigation programs appropriated by Congress.

Below is a list of amendments that Heinrich filed to amend Republicans' budget resolution to lower costs for New Mexico working families:

Energy:

• Amendment to lower the price of gasoline for families in the United States.

• Amendment to compensate families in the United States for increased fuel costs from Trump's war with Iran.

• Amendment blocking the increasing cost of electricity bills for American citizens.

• Amendment to ensure energy bills are affordable for all American families.

• Amendment to protect American households from rising utility costs and rate increases.

• Amendment to provide consumer rebates for International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds.

• Amendment to lower prices of consumer goods for families in the United States.

• Amendment to lower energy costs for small businesses.

• Amendment to stop efforts preventing affordable energy sources from connecting to the grid.

• Amendment blocking uneconomic coal-fired power plants from being forced to operate.

• Amendment to reduce the cost of delivering electricity.

• Amendment blocking tariff implementation on raw materials used to build energy projects.

Housing

• Amendment to lower housing prices for hard-working Americans.

• Amendment to increase the supply of starter homes for hard-working Americans.

• Amendment to fund veterans housing programs.

• Amendment to fund Tribal housing programs.

Health Care

• Amendment to lower health care costs for American families.

• Amendment to expand school-based mental health services.

• Amendment to prevent cuts to health care services for veterans.

• Amendment to increase funding for the Alaska, Albuquerque, Bemidji, Billings, California, Great Plains, Nashville, Navajo, Oklahoma, Phoenix, Portland, and Tucson service areas within the Indian Health Service.

Education & Child Care

• Amendment to ensure families have access to high-quality, affordable child care options.

• Amendment to increase educator pay at Bureau of Indian Education schools.

Veterans

• Amendment to support members of the Armed Forces and their families.

• Amendment to increase access to Veterans Affairs programs in rural communities.

• Amendment blocking legislation that would reduce health care providers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Tribal Programs

• Amendment to fund Tribal historic preservation offices.

• Amendment to require any border wall construction to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Criminal Justice

• Amendment to increase the number of investigations into missing and murdered Indigenous persons.

• Amendment to improve and expand support for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

• Amendment to increase law enforcement resources to hold perpetrators of sexual assault and domestic violence accountable.

• Amendment to increase the quantity and size of grants awarded by the Office of Violence Against Women.

• Amendment to increase interdiction of fentanyl-related substances.

Food and Water

• Amendment to reduce the cost of food by ending fertilizer price gouging of the American farmer.

• Amendment to improve the dispersal of sterile New World Screwworm flies along the United States-Mexico Border to facilitate the opening of cattle crossing along the border that will help to bring down the price of beef for consumers.

• Amendment to protect clean drinking water for American families.

• Amendment to increase prosecution of parties that contaminate drinking water.

Immigration

• Amendment blocking the detention or deportation of individuals who were brought to the United States as children and received deferred action through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program.

• Amendment to reduce delays and backlogs in naturalization processing.

Election Security

• Amendment to improve election security.

Taxes & Corporate Greed

• Amendment to re-establish Internal Revenue Service (IRS) programs that make filing taxes easier for Americans.

• Amendment to boost Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement of payments by tax-evading millionaires and billionaires.

• Amendment to prohibit tax cuts for oil and gas companies generating over $10,000,000,000 in revenues.

• Amendment to prohibit all uses of taxpayer dollars to fund mining and critical minerals projects that financially benefit members of the Trump Administration or the Trump family.

Public Lands & Conservation

• Amendment to decrease the backlog of deferred maintenance projects within the Federal land management agencies.

• Amendment to reinstate all signage, exhibits, and materials removed under President Trump's Executive Order 14253.

• Amendment to prohibit oil and gas leases on public mountain biking trails.

• Amendment to prohibit uranium mining in the Rio Chama Watershed.

• Amendment to fund Land and Water Conservation Fund projects.

• Amendment to ensure species hunted for subsistence purposes are conserved.

• Amendment to prevent wildlife poaching and the spread of zoonotic diseases.

• Amendment to prevent invasive species from entering the United States.

• Amendment to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease.

• Amendment to prohibit construction of a ''Triumphal Arch.''

Disaster Relief and Preparedness

• Amendment to better fund disaster relief.

• Amendment blocking legislation that would undermine preparedness for the 2026 fire season.

• Amendment to ensure preparedness for the 2026 fire season and prohibit the reorganization of fire personnel or resources without congressional approval.

International Affairs

• Amendment to investigate instances in which over 100 children are killed at a single site within areas where there is an ongoing United States military operation.

• Amendment to require the deposit of proceeds from United States sales of Venezuelan oil into United States-domiciled banks.

• Amendment against legislation that would make taxpayer dollars available to invade Greenland.

• Amendment to enhance United States competitiveness in artificial intelligence against China.

• Amendment to promote United States competitiveness and ensure China does not dominate in future energy technologies and manufacturing.

###

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet