Trump Executive Orders

Floor Speech

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Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, in an overnight maneuver on Monday, President Trump unlawfully and unilaterally blockaded much of the Federal budget. Hitting ``send'' on a two-page memo, the Trump administration triggered a chaotic 24 hours that has thrown every town, county, Tribe, nonprofit, doctor's office, hospital, nursing home, school, and preschool in my State into disarray. From New Mexico's Roundhouse--our capitol--to the classroom, to the emergency room, there were a thousand questions and zero answers.

Now the Trump administration has both withdrawn and not withdrawn this blockade. In so-called clarifications, President Trump has made things about as clear as mud, but here are three things that are crystal clear: First, President Trump's funding blockade was blatantly unconstitutional and illegal; secondly, it has caused real harm; and third, this was a test run where chaos was actually the point.

If you are trying to follow the news and getting confused, it is not you. If you heard that President Trump blocked all Federal Medicaid reimbursements, you heard correctly. If you heard that the White House claimed Federal Medicaid reimbursements were exempt from the blockade, you also heard correctly. If you heard that despite being allegedly exempt, Medicaid reimbursement was still blocked, you heard correctly. Same story for Head Start, same goes for food assistance, or SNAP, and for school lunches, and that list goes on and on and on.

Even today, after a Federal court ruled that the Trump administration had to pause the pause, I am still getting reports of organizations that cannot access Federal funding portals. In the midst of all of that, there are very real consequences.

Let's just take Medicaid just for a start. Almost a quarter of my State's budget moves through the Medicaid portal--the one that was shut down yesterday. Eight billion dollars in Federal Medicaid funding comes to New Mexico every single year. Millions and millions of dollars' worth of Medicaid reimbursement happen on that portal in any given day.

Seven out of ten nursing home residents, 55 percent of newborn births, more than 700,000 people in total in my State depend on Medicaid for their healthcare. Because a Medicaid blockade would impact over a third of New Mexico's population, it really impacts all of our healthcare providers, from small, rural clinics to our largest hospitals.

Shutting that down is a big deal, but it wasn't just that. I heard from childcare and Head Start providers, rental assistance programs, Tribal governments, local law enforcement, fire departments, and nonprofit organizations that provide everything from support to our veterans to healthy meals for seniors and families.

We need to call out Trump's brazen action for what it truly is. It is a power grab and a test to see just how much he can get away with. President Trump and his cronies are testing how far they can go to dismantle and dismember our democracy in service of his strongman impulses and his ideological agenda.

Our message to him: The stove is hot, Mr. President. You should remember that.

The Constitution and Federal law are clear on who controls the spending of our taxpayer dollars. The President cannot simply override or delay or rescind Congress's appropriations bills once they are signed into law--full stop.

This has been upheld time and again by the Supreme Court, by the Justice Department, the Government Accountability Office, and it was codified into law in the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Under that law, the President cannot unilaterally stop the disbursement of Federal funds that Congress has appropriated and the President has signed into law. Sound familiar? A President unilaterally stopping the disbursement of Federal funds that Congress has appropriated? Yes. This is exactly what President Trump just tried.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I know how much work goes into writing and passing our bipartisan funding laws.

I am here now talking on the Senate floor because I will fight like hell to stop this or any of Trump's brazen, illegal funding blockades, and I am not alone. I am joined by my colleagues here in the Senate on the Senate floor tonight, my colleagues in the New Mexico Federal delegation, my State's attorney general, and countless of my constituents.

Now, let me read just a few letters that I received from New Mexicans over these last 2 days:

Tamborah from Deming, who depends on Social Security disability benefits and Medicaid, was scared she would not be able to keep up with rent or basic necessities during the pause.

Tamborah wrote to me:

I will not be able to pay full price rent. My heart is filled with uncertainty. I am afraid for my neighbors with children. It has saddened my heart to see so many people including myself become unsure of the future.

Caitlin from Taos wrote to my office expressing concern for her safety and security should DreamTree, a federally funded youth shelter in northern New Mexico, shutter its services due to Trump's pause.

She wrote:

Without DreamTree, I wouldn't have a roof over my head, which would cause a lot of worry and fear, being vulnerable to sexual assault, which happened to me in the past. DreamTree is not just a program: it's home, it's my safe space.

Dolores from Albuquerque is fearful she won't be able to make ends meet if she loses her job because of the freeze.

She wrote to me:

Please help! I am a senior citizen trying to make ends meet. I am alone paying my own bills. I work in the Senior Community Service Employment Program and President Trump's administration is going to cut the funding. I won't be able to pay my bills. I am so afraid.

Shelley from Albuquerque, a dietitian, nutritionist, is scared for the very lives of her patients who depend on Medicaid to survive.

She wrote to me:

Those I serve on the Developmental Disabilities Waiver are Medicaid recipients, and some rely 100 percent on the specialized formula for tube feeding.

To reiterate, they get 100 percent of their nutrition from that formula, primarily through a tube in their stomach. If they do not have it, they will starve.

Louis from Las Cruces is concerned that his grandson won't be able to support his family if President Trump's border eliminates NIH funding and consequently his grandson's job.

Louis wrote to me:

My grandson graduated with honors from [New Mexico State University]. He is the recipient of an NIH grant which has been suspended. He has a wife and child. I don't think the President understands his actions affect real people.

Joan from Santa Fe has already lost money due to Trump's funding freeze. Joan wrote:

I've just lost a $5,000 contract, and this order is going to have a negative ripple effect through the economy. Please protect federal workers from the Trump administration's purge and harassment.

Mara from Albuquerque, who is a biomedical student at the University of New Mexico doing cancer research and is fearful of what this freeze means for her job and ability to do this important work, wrote:

I am personally affected by this pause because of the NIH grants that sustain my lab and pay the salaries of my staff and students. These grants were applied for and awarded in good faith and they pay for extremely important cancer research.

Melissa from Albuquerque is a Head Start childcare provider and has a son at Head Start. Melissa wrote to me:

I am employed by Head Start. My son is a student at Head Start. I believe in what we do, I believe in the men and women I work with. These teachers change children's lives. I am so saddened and stressed. Can you please help?

Andra from Albuquerque is a researcher at the University of New Mexico whose work is funded by the National Science Foundation. Andra wrote to me:

I work at the University of New Mexico as part of a team entirely funded from the National Science Foundation. We have been notified that we may lose our funding. This will likely result in the loss of my job, along with those of my colleagues.

Eytan, a Forest Stewards Guild member in New Mexico, is worried about how a Federal funding freeze could lead to more deadly and destructive wildfires across our State.

Eytan wrote to me:

This disruption puts New Mexico at significant risk for a catastrophic wildfire as we head into another high-risk fire season.

Sienna from Taos is a behavioral healthcare provider concerned that the loss of Federal funding could prevent her from meeting the needs of toddlers and their families.

Sienna wrote to me:

This is a total assault on New Mexico's most vulnerable populations. Our programs assist families everyday and this funding is at risk. Halting federal grants will impact the early childhood programs serving low-income kids.

These letters paint a painful picture of the chaos and uncertainty that President Trump's actions have created in my State alone.

What do you say to those Americans, President Trump? How could you possibly defend taking their taxpayer dollars, the work of their elected leaders, the Constitution you swore to defend just a few days ago and pushing that all aside?

What funding exactly was thrown aside with it? Let me read you a list of funding impacted in just New Mexico, even as we still do not know which programs are or are not on the chopping block.

I will start with the New Mexico High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program. If you have one in your State, you probably know it as an HIDTA program. This program includes 17 counties that are coordinating on drug intelligence, interdiction, investigation, and prosecution efforts to reduce the impact of illicit drugs. These are the folks coordinating to go after the cartels, who are going after the fentanyl trafficking. How woke is that? Stopping fentanyl trafficking. They received over $1 million last year for this work.

New Mexico's program to prevent and prosecute violence against women--this program works to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders accountable. New Mexico received over $1 million for this program last year.

The New Mexico crisis intervention program was created through our Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill that I helped to negotiate. This program funds the enforcement of red flag mandates to combat and prevent gun violence. Last year, Federal funding for New Mexico's crisis intervention program totaled over $4 million.

New Mexico's crime victims funds. These programs help New Mexican community organizations and public agencies provide services directly to the victims of crime. Last year, the Crime Victims Reparation Commission of New Mexico received $1.2 million in Federal funds.

Justice assistance grants for police departments. Last year, New Mexico local law enforcement entities received about $1 million in Federal justice assistance grant funding, and that funding is used for personnel, equipment, training, and technical assistance for New Mexico's police departments.

You heard from my colleague from Connecticut about fire grants, assistance to firefighter grants and staffing for adequate fire and emergency response. These programs fund equipment and resources for our fire departments, including volunteer firefighters in rural areas and emergency first responders.

Just last year, many of us in this body worked hard to get this program reauthorized, and I can't tell you of another program that is more popular at home than the fire grants.

Since 2015, fire departments across my State have received over $22 million through these programs.

New Mexico homeless support services. Last year New Mexico nonprofits received $17 million to the Housing and Urban Development Department's Continuum of Care Program to help put a roof over the heads of people who have been living on the streets.

Road improvements to prevent traffic deaths. You heard me. Those woke road improvements. In 2024, New Mexico local governments received almost $2 million to make our roads safer. Local governments, from Truth or Consequences to the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, rely on this funding to make their streets safer.

Road construction for railroad crossings. Recently, New Mexico was awarded $44 million for road construction in Gallup to build a safer rail crossing.

New Mexico's community schools. New Mexico community schools rely on the Community Schools Program for social support services for their students and families. Last year, schools in Bernalillo County received $2.4 million to support the work of their educators and their students.

Literacy programs. Comprehensive literacy development programs, $60 million to help kids read better.

The community health centers. Each year, 16 federally funded community health center organizations in our State leverage, on average, $76 million to serve over 300,000 patients, to provide them with healthcare--17 percent of those patients are completely uninsured; 40 percent are covered by Medicaid.

How about essential air service for our rural airports? That is something that gets incredible bipartisan support in this body because it makes sure that rural communities have access to air service. Carlsbad air terminal, Clovis Regional Airport, Grant County Airport-- all rely on this program to maintain their commercial air operations. These three rural airports receive $15 million a year, more or less, through this program.

New Mexico's housing trust fund. The housing trust fund money is used for affordable housing for extremely low- and very low-income households.

It is not like any of us have a housing problem in our States right now, do we?

Small business loans. The Small Business Administration loan program has supported 112 New Mexico small businesses with almost $50 million in loans. And those loans help those businesses grow; they allow them to purchase new facilities, equipment, supplies.

Let's not forget New Mexico's farmers. Last year, New Mexico received funding to support our specialty crop farmers. Those are the farmers who grow crops essential to the economy, as well as to the history, the identity, of our State--crops like chili, onions, pecans, garlic, stone fruit--just a few examples.

These programs that I have just read through are a fraction of the list. They aren't even a quarter of it. So let's go a little deeper now into more concrete examples of the disruptions and harm caused by President Trump's blockade. And each of these were shared directly with me or with one of my staff just in the last day and a half.

This one really pisses me off: Sexual Assault Services of Northwest New Mexico. They provide lifesaving services to sexual assault survivors in our State, and the freeze meant that this organization may not make payroll because they were locked out of the Federal reimbursement portal. They don't even know if their grant is still coming through. They said that ``as a victims' service provider, this memo directly threatens our ability to serve survivors of sexual assault.''

Women's Economic Self-Sufficiency Team--we call them WESST in the central part of the State. WESST serves around a thousand New Mexico small businesses--2,000 people a year--with consulting and training, incubation, microlending programs. They told me Federal funds directly and indirectly provide the majority of their operating budget. They planned to open a seventh Women's Business Center in Hobbs, NM, to focus on growing childcare businesses. That expansion was put on hold by the freeze.

They employ 34 staff and operate six Women's Business Centers throughout New Mexico.

They are incredibly concerned about the continued survival of the SBA Office of Women's Business Ownership and the Minority Business Development Agency.

Here is another really woke one. Cannon Air Force Base and the Ogalalla Land and Water Conservancy. They told me the readiness and environmental protection integration program that is at risk is more than a funding mechanism; it is a lifeline. This project addresses the incredibly severe water scarcity challenge faced by the entire region where groundwater from the Ogalalla Aquifer is now the sole source of water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural needs.

But without this program, the Ogalalla Aquifer is projected to lose its functional capacity as early as 2028. That would leave the region without water that they need to survive, but it also cripples those local communities, and it would jeopardize the very viability of Cannon Air Force Base and the Melrose Air Force Range.

Albuquerque Public Schools. This is the largest school district in New Mexico. It is actually the 31st largest in the entire Nation. It serves almost 80,000 students across 143 schools, and one of Albuquerque's largest employers with over 11,000 staff and well over 5,000 teachers.

Because of the freeze, APS was forced to halt all nonstaff-related funding for grants from the Department of Education, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.

Here is what they told me: APS paused spending on its Federal community school grant, magnet school grant, Centers For Disease Control grant, and transportation funding for upcoming college field trips.

Their community school grant provides essential support--including counseling, tutoring, food assistance, and housing programs--for almost 2,000 students across three schools in Albuquerque. We have learned that these community schools are vital to better outcomes in our public schools.

The magnet school grant serves over 2,000 students across four more schools, funding programs that keep students engaged and prepare them for the 21st century workforce.

The CDC Prevention grant supports students in all of our 141 APS schools, providing critical health and wellness resources.

Finally, students at 13 schools who were looking forward to a college field trip to New Mexico Tech next month just had their trip canceled because the district could not access Federal grants to pay for their transportation.

Silver Consolidated Schools, which serves over 2,500 students and their families in Southwest New Mexico, they told me the Silver Consolidated School District is 2 years into their 5-year, nearly $6- million school-based mental health services grant. And this grant created, once again, in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, has allowed the school district to put mental health services in each school in the district. These are services that the students, especially those in crisis, have come to rely on in a four-county region that lacks basic mental health services.

These programs I have just read through, they are not the whole list. They aren't even a quarter of it. So let's go now--and some of you watching are wondering, Why come to the Senate floor? Why decry an action that the President has already supposedly reversed?

First, I think we have to ask: Has he reversed it? According to his Press Secretary, the funding is still blocked. Again, these are laws, not guidance. They are laws passed by Congress, signed into law by the President of the United States.

And let me tell you about just a few of the projects under some of these laws that President Trump is unilaterally blocking funding for: projects from the Inflation Reduction Act, which is law, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which is now law.

Over $9 million for the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System Project, which would continue fieldwork and design on a project that will, eventually, bring drinking water to more than 75,000 people in Clovis, Portales, Cannon Air Force Base, and other communities in eastern New Mexico.

Another 5 million for the Jicarilla Apache Rural Water System Project, which would contribute to final design and construction of the water system serving the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

Just over 5 million for the city of Santa Fe from the infrastructure law to complete the San Juan-Chama Return Flow Pipeline that will return treated unconsumed San Juan-Chama water back to the Rio Grande. This project was Santa Fe's primary strategy to mitigate the water supply shortages that we struggle with and create a sustainable water source.

I could go on and on and on. It is really remarkable how many people in my State have just been thrown into chaos by all of this. Now, before I finish, I want to be clear that this type of chaos and uncertainty is not what Americans elected President Trump to deliver. It is illegal. It is a type of action that puts our democracy--really, the whole structure of our government--in jeopardy.

But if your focus is just on money, if the fate of our democracy feels a little too abstract, then understand this: President Trump has also blocked funding from going out under the infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Again, these laws are laws passed by Congress and certainly not what New Mexicans sent me to Washington to deliver. They want certainty.

Americans are calling on us--really, all of us--to work together on policies that will bring down the cost of their groceries, their rent, their internet, their healthcare. They want us to help get fentanyl off of our streets or make our communities safer and support survivors of sexual assault. They want us to put our veterans in safe housing.

And according to a number of New Mexicans, they still can't access Federal funding.

They want us to help the small businesses and support the public lands that are the beating heart of local rural economies. They want us to create jobs that they can build a family around, jobs they can be proud of, jobs that are in their own communities. They don't want all this chaos.

I would hope that my Republican and my Democratic colleagues alike, especially the appropriators--we work together every single year to try to produce bipartisan bills. By nature, those bills have to be written in a bipartisan way. I have written many of those bills since I joined the Appropriations Committee with my Republican colleagues, some of which got reported out of committee unanimously.

I hope we can all join together in calling on the President to just get back to following the law that we all passed together. Let's get back to creating certainty for our communities, for our small businesses, for our democracy itself.

Benjamin Franklin put it years ago like this: We have a republic, if we can keep it.

I will fight like hell to keep it. And I know that I am not alone.

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