During a tour Thursday at San Juan Regional Medical Center, Sen. Martin Heinrich discussed his Pathway to Health Career Act, which would help to address shortages in health care providers and provide a pathway to well-paid career opportunities in health care.
The region received about 3 to 6 inches of snow early Thursday morning, resulting in school and other closures. Regardless, Heinrich attended a meeting for Ukrainian refugees at the First Presbyterian Church in Farmington and the hospital tour.
Heinrich, a Democrat from Albuquerque, is seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate. The Democratic primary is June 4, 2024.
Heinrich was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs subcommittee in the last Congress. He now chairs the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Federal Drug Administration subcommittee.
“I learned a lot about the military planning process for large capital projects,” he told the Tri-City Record, comparing his experience to a postgraduate degree in military history.
“I learned a lot but … there's still probably a lot more I could learn,” he said.
Speaking briefly with the Tri-City Record, Heinrich summarized some of his thoughts about the past Congress, and challenges ahead.
He also answered questions about the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I think people just need to come up with some bipartisan solutions to help manage that better and part of it is just dedicating the resources to be able to deal with a humanitarian, migrant crisis that is, in fact, not just in the U.S., but is a challenge all over the world right now,” he said.
Regarding the current numbers of people crossing the border, Heinrich said, “I don't know what that numbers are this week, but the numbers have been elevated for some time now. And they're fairly unprecedented. And we're seeing major instability in places like Venezuela that's really driving that but also folks from around the world.”
When asked about the high gasoline prices in San Juan County than the rest of the state and if there was anything his office could do the senator said, “I think having oversight on energy prices at large is always a good activity for Congress to engage in. And if anytime there's price gouging, that's something we want to keep a close eye on.”
“You know, I'm on the Energy Committee as well, so we're always concerned about price gouging.”
San Juan County was not selected as a hydrogen hub recently, but Heinrich held out hope for funding.
“My hope is there going to be more opportunities on that front? And, you know, we're just now getting the tax guidance for the incentives that we put for hydrogen in the inflation Reduction Act.
“Now that we have the that guidance that is going to drive investment to places that in particular can provide cheap, renewable energy and have existing transmission and Farmington is a really good example of that. So hopefully, we can attract that investment here.”
With time for questions running out, Caty Payette, deputy communications director for Heinrich, broached the subject of health care.
“So we have a piece of legislation that would create and modernize our grant programs to really support high quality health care worker legislation, or training,” Heinrich said.
“It's based on taking a program that was working very well, that expired, modernizing that and then reauthorizing that for the next five years, and really investing because we have this shortage in New Mexico and it's acute,” he said, adding, “But it's all over the country.”
The legislation, Pathway to Health Career Act, is intended to help with the shortage of nurses and health care workers.
About U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-Albuquerque, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and assumed office Jan. 3, 2013. His term ends Jan. 3, 2025, and he’s announced that’s he’s running for reelection. The Democratic primary is June 4.
Before serving in the Senate, Heinrich served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 2009 to 2013.
After completing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri, Heinrich and his wife, Julie, moved to Albuquerque, where he began his career as a contractor working on directed energy technology at Phillips Laboratories, which is now Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base.
Heinrich later served in AmeriCorps for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and was the executive director of the Cottonwood Gulch Foundation. He also led the Coalition for New Mexico Wilderness and founded a small public affairs consulting firm.
He was appointed in 2006 to be New Mexico’s Natural Resources Trustee and spent four years on the Albuquerque City Council.
