NM delegates hold their own in Trump era
Congressional committees aren’t getting a lot of media attention at the dawn of the President Trump era, but that’s where much of the heavy lifting gets done in Washington.
And New Mexico’s delegation has snagged some notable assignments in the 115th Congress.
Sen. Tom Udall, the Democratic dean of New Mexico’s delegation, once again holds the ace card among his colleagues — a seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
This powerful perch gives Udall a chance to influence all federal spending bills. It’s particularly important for New Mexico, whose economy is so heavily reliant on federal assistance.
Udall has also ascended to the top-ranking Democratic spot on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, another important assignment for the state given New Mexico’s abundance of Native American tribes.
The senator from Santa Fe will be busy: He also has seats on the Senate Foreign Relations, Commerce and Rules Committees. Sen. Martin Heinrich, also a Democrat, will continue to carve out a national security niche with assignments to both Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees. The Intel Committee post gives Heinrich a powerful voice on high-profile national matters, such as domestic surveillance and torture, while the Armed Services seat ensures an ability to look out for New Mexico’s four military bases.
Heinrich will also serve as the top Democrat on the joint House-Senate Economic Committee, which focuses on U.S. employment, production and purchasing power.
On the House side, Rep. Steve Pearce — the delegation’s lone Republican — has re-joined the Natural Resources Committee, giving him a stronger voice on federal land use and endangered species issues so often contentious in New Mexico.
Pearce also retains his post on the Financial Services Committee, where he will chair a new subcommittee aimed at breaking up terrorist financing networks.
Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, an Albuquerque Democrat, will remain on the House Agriculture and Budget committees.
The agriculture post gives Lujan Grisham, who has announced a run for governor in 2018, a platform on issues important to New Mexico’s many farming communities. The Budget Committee sets spending guidelines for Congress as it develops specific appropriations bills.
Lujan Grisham has also been elected as chairwoman of Congressional Hispanic Congress. That gives her a big megaphone on issues affecting Hispanics in the U.S.
Finally, Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., has retained his seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most high-profile congressional panels working on a wide array of issues affecting the American economy.
Luján was also re-elected by his fellow Democrats as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an important political post that puts him in charge of his party’s congressional races nationwide. Heinrich, who is seeking re-election in 2018, recently felt compelled to explain to constituents a late-night vote he took on drug prices early in the new Congress.
The New Mexico Democrat was among 13 Democratic senators who cast a vote early this month against paving the way to lower prescription drug prices in the U.S. by importing drugs from Canada. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, failed narrowly.
Heinrich’s vote was part of series of procedural votes related to the repeal of Obamacare. Heinrich supports Obamacare and does not want to repeal it.
Critics of the Democratic senators noted that they had received big bucks from the pharmaceutical industry — in Heinrich’s case, $150,500 between 2011 and 2016.
Heinrich and other Democratic senators voting against the move to open the U.S. market to Canadian pharmaceuticals said they were concerned about unsafe and unregulated drugs flooding the U.S. market.
“Despite what some have claimed, I have challenged PhRMA (the drug industry) on their top legislative priority and was an original cosponsor of the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which sought to allow the federal government to use its purchasing power to drive a hard bargain with manufacturers and negotiate lower prescription drug prices,” Heinrich wrote on his Facebook page in response to the criticism. “On the importation vote, the promise of being able to access cheaper prescription drugs is obviously a goal I have long shared, but so is ensuring the integrity of those drugs.”