Published: Monday, February 8, 2021
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). Photo credit: Francis Chung/E&E News
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), seen here at the Capitol in October, is working to balance his support for the administration s environmental agenda and his state s energy industry. Francis Chung/E&E News
President Biden s green aspirations have put New Mexico Democrats in a bind.
The Land of Enchantment is the biggest single oil producer for the federal government, and the New Mexico boom has infused a poor state with cash.
But in an effort to combat climate change, the Biden administration has opted to freeze new oil and gas leases while it reconsiders the federal minerals program, which accounts for 24% of carbon dioxide emissions in the country.
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President Joe Biden on Friday received his second letter of the week from lawmakers in Rocky Mountain states raising concerns about the Air Force’s decision to locate the U.S. Space Command headquarters in Alabama.
New Mexico Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, all Democrats, wrote Biden asking for a “comprehensive review” of the decision. Earlier in the week, Biden received a similar letter from Colorado’s congressional delegation.
Both Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs and Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque were on the final list of six cities under consideration for the headquarters. But the Trump administration in its final days in power picked Alabama.
By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
Leading New Mexico legislators are proposing a 4% increase in state general fund spending that would devote new resources to health care and public education amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The detailed budget proposal was announced Tuesday by Democratic and Republican members of a lead budget-writing committee.
Legislators are also proposing cost-of-living pay increases for state workers and public school employees and a bailout of the state s indebted unemployment trust fund to avoid future payroll tax increases.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is suggesting 3.3% increase in spending without blanket pay raises. Economists are predicting a rebound in state government income on top of multibillion-dollar financial reserves.
By Cedar Attanasio, Associated Press
New Mexico Democrats say they re closer than ever to increasing withdrawals from one of the country s largest endowments to fund education initiatives.
Increasing annual payouts from the $20 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund would require voters to approve a constitutional amendment. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says a 1% increase in distributions should be set aside to fund early childhood education.
While the withdrawals will decrease future growth of the fund, Democratic legislators argue that the state needs to invest more in education. They say public sentiment is shifting in their favor, and a new crop of progressive legislators can get the needed resolution passed.
Trump Asks To Drop Voting Allegations In New Mexico, For Now
- Associated Press
President Donald Trump abruptly asked a court Monday to drop a lawsuit that challenged New Mexico s use of drop boxes for absentee ballots in the 2020 general election as well as vote-counting equipment sold by Dominion Voting Systems.
The request filed Monday with a federal court in Albuquerque would dismiss the lawsuit from Trump but allow the concerns to be revisited.
Similar allegations by the Trump campaign about Dominion vote-counting have been rejected as without evidence by the federal agency overseeing election security.
State election regulators want allegations in the case to be dismissed permanently. Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver had requested that Trump s campaign be sanctioned for pursuing meritless litigation.