Press Releases
Udall: 'We Must Make Cultural, Political, and Economic Sovereignty a Reality for all American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes'
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs gave the keynote address at "Indian Nations Rising: Celebrating Native Youth," an event hosted by The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. In his remarks, Udall said cultural, political, and economic sovereignty can be achieved through economic empowerment, strengthening ties to cultural identity, improved health care, and respect for the government-to-government relationship w… Continue Reading
July 12, 2017
VIDEO: Udall: Administration’s Indian Health Service Budget ‘Cuts the Legs Out’ from Native Health Care System Improvements
IHS has not been consulted on TrumpCare, subcommittee seeks information on impact of Medicaid changes VIDEO: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/review-of-the-fy2018-budget-request-for-the-indian-health-service WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, ranking member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the budget for the Indian Health Service (IHS) and vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, told IHS officials that the Trump administration's IH… Continue Reading
July 11, 2017
Udall, Heinrich Call on Trump Administration to Listen to Overwhelming Public Support for National Monuments
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich led a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol with a number of other Senate Democrats on President Trump's executive order that could unravel dozens of America's national monuments despite the strong outpouring of support from across the nation. The senators were joined by public lands and community coalitions who called on Trump and Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to listen to the American people and keep existing… Continue Reading
July 11, 2017
Udall, Senate Democrats Urge President Trump to Implement Rules that Limit Natural Gas Waste and Safeguard Public Health
WASHINGTON - This week, led by U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), a group of 27 Senate Democrats urged President Trump to reverse dangerous decisions by his administration to suspend federal rules that protect air quality and prevent the waste of taxpayer-owned natural gas on federal and Tribal lands. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Bureau of… Continue Reading
July 07, 2017
Udall Holds Field Hearing on Need to Crack Down on Counterfeit Indian Art
SANTA FE, N.M. - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, held a field hearing at the Santa Fe Indian School to discuss the rampant problem of counterfeit Native American art in New Mexico and across the country. The hearing was an opportunity to hear from Tribal leaders and artists, experts, and law enforcement officials about how to modernize the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (IACA) to better protect Native American artists and consumers. Uda… Continue Reading
July 07, 2017
Udall, Heinrich, Luján, Lujan Grisham Announce Federal Review of Behavioral Health Access in New Mexico
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján and Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will review the level of access that New Mexicans have to behavioral health services provided through the Medicaid program. The OIG agreed to a request from Rep. Lujan Grisham, along with Sens. Udall and Heinrich and Rep. Luján, to investigate behavioral health acce… Continue Reading
July 06, 2017
Udall Visits De Baca Family Practice Clinic to Highlight how Republican Health Care Bill would Harm Rural NM
FORT SUMNER, N.M. -- Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall visited the De Baca Family Practice Clinic to highlight the essential care that rural clinics provide to New Mexicans, and to expose the harm that the Republican health care bill, now being debated in Congress, could do to the economy and health of New Mexico's rural communities. Udall has been leading the fight against the GOP bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Republican bill, also known as TrumpCare, would be devas… Continue Reading
July 06, 2017
Udall Touts Cannon AFB's Key National Security Mission During Visit
CLOVIS, N.M. -- Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, visited Cannon Air Force Base to promote the base's expanding national security mission, including its Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) facilities. As a member of the Appropriations subcommittees on military construction and defense, Udall has fought for the over $414 million that has been spent on military construction at Cannon since 2012. Also during his visit, Udall met with met with airmen, receiv… Continue Reading
June 29, 2017
Udall Demands Answers from Pruitt on Decision Not to Ban Toxic Pesticide Chlorpyrifos
Udall to Pruitt: Why did you reject the EPA's own scientific determination and deny petition to ban toxic chlorpyrifos? WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s budget, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt demanding answers about his March 29 decision to reject a petition that sought to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide associated with neurodevelopmental disorder… Continue Reading
June 28, 2017
VIDEO: Udall Blasts Republican TrumpCare Bill that would Cause Almost 300,000 New Mexicans to Lose Health Insurance
Video: https://www.facebook.com/senatortomudall/videos/10155273029767870/ WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall gave his fifth speech on the Senate floor against the Republicans' TrumpCare bill to gut Medicaid, take away health care from nearly 300,000 New Mexicans and 22 million Americans, and drastically cut funding for already struggling rural hospitals. Udall again highlighted the stories of New Mexicans and their families who have benefitted from the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) protec… Continue Reading
June 28, 2017
VIDEO: Udall Presses Army Corps of Engineers on Columbus Port of Entry Infrastructure Needs to Protect against Flooding
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EVcwzpYJ20&feature=youtu.be WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall pressed Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, chief of engineers and commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to commit to ensuring that the necessary infrastructure is in place to protect the Columbus Port of Entry from reoccurring flooding. Earlier this year, Udall joined a groundbreaking ceremony for an $86 million expansion of the Port of Entry Complex. Diversion berms to p… Continue Reading
June 28, 2017
Udall Presses Trump to Get Behind Real Solutions to Bring Down Prescription Drug Costs
WASHINGTON - As the White House prepares to gift the big pharmaceutical companies with an executive order that reportedly favors the industry over consumers, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) joined U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) and a wide group of Senate and House Democrats in pushing President Trump to keep his promise to bring down drug costs and get behind real solutions to reduce the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs, one of the central reasons why health care costs are rising. An… Continue Reading
June 28, 2017
Udall, Heinrich Blast Education Secretary DeVos For Diminishing Civil Rights Enforcement For Students
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich joined in sending a letter led by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos citing major concerns with steps the U.S. Department of Education has taken under her leadership to diminish civil rights enforcement for students across the country. The Senators highlight a number of alarming steps Secretary DeVos has taken, including proposing to slash the budget of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), hosting events with… Continue Reading
June 27, 2017
Udall Raises Concerns about EPA Implementation of TSCA Reform in Keynote Address at ELI/GWU Conference
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall used his keynote address at a conference on "TSCA Reform: One Year Later," hosted by the Environmental Law Institute and George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, to raise concerns about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s implementation of the new reform law. A year ago, Udall led passage of the landmark, bipartisan chemical safety legislation, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, to r… Continue Reading
June 27, 2017
Udall Statement on the Delayed Vote on TrumpCare
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall released the following statement after Senate Republicans announced they would delay a planned vote on TrumpCare, their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and decimate Medicaid, until after the July 4th in-state work period: "It's telling that Senate Republicans couldn't even get a majority of Republicans to vote to begin debate on their terrible bill to repeal and replace the ACA. New Mexicans and Americans oppose the Republican … Continue Reading
June 27, 2017
NM Counties to Receive $38.5 Million in PILT Funding for Schools, Roads, Local Police
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees funding for the Department of the Interior, and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced that counties across New Mexico are receiving more than $38.5 million through the 2017 Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program. Funding for this year's PILT program was provided in the bipartisan budget agreement to fund the governmen… Continue Reading
June 27, 2017
Udall: EPA's Budget Proposes ‘Offensive’ Widespread Cuts Threatening Public Health, Clean Air, Clean Water
Secures commitment from Pruitt that EPA will rethink misguided approach to Gold King Mine compensation, continue funding for water monitoring VIDEO: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/review-of-the-fy2018-budget-request-for-the-environmental-protection-agency WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), demanded that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt explain the… Continue Reading
June 26, 2017
Udall, Heinrich Fight To Provide Needed Tax Relief For Working Families In N.M.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich reintroduced legislation that would help extend and expand two critical tax credits that help put money back in the pockets of working families in New Mexico, where almost a third of children live in poverty. The Working Families Tax Relief Act would expand access and value of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) to ensure that no worker can be taxed into poverty by the federal tax system. Over 75,000 New Mexicans… Continue Reading
June 23, 2017
Udall Calls TrumpCare ‘Catastrophic’ for Indian Country
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, released the following statement on the devastating effects of the Senate TrumpCare bill on Native Americans' access to life-saving health care services: "Native Americans would be among those hardest hit by this disastrous Senate TrumpCare bill. As vice chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, I've heard from many Tribes who are deeply concerned about the lack of Tribal consultation in TrumpC… Continue Reading
June 22, 2017
VIDEO: Udall Speaks Out after Senate Republicans Unveil TrumpCare Bill to Drastically Cut Medicaid, Essential Health Care
VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/senatortomudall/videos/10155252271282870/ WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, spoke on the Senate floor for the fourth time to oppose TrumpCare, the bill that Senate Republicans released today to repeal the Affordable Care Act and drastically cut Medicaid. Udall stood up for the hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans who would lose coverage if this bill becomes law, and read the testimony of Elena, a University of New Mexico Law graduate, who - thanks to t… Continue Reading
