Manuel Lujan: “the funding provided in the American recovery package is critical to New Mexico's students, workers, and families. Among…”

“the funding provided in the American recovery package is critical to New Mexico's students, workers, and families. Among many measures important to New Mexicans, the budget resolution provides emergency funds to close the homework gap for K-12 schools and libraries, including those on Tribal lands. It provides emergency funding for our rail and air infrastructure, including maintaining essential air service in rural areas and passenger rail throughout the Southwest. It includes emergency grant funding to support local newspapers and broadcasters, who continue to provide fact- and evidence-based reporting on local and national issues as advertising revenues plummet. New Mexico faces a digital divide, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing disparities between the students who have broadband access and the one in four who don't. Failing to address these disparities risks widening the homework gap and making it harder for students, especially those living in rural and Tribal communities, to catch up. The budget resolution under consideration does right by students, not only by helping them survive the public health emergency but also by thriving long term. By providing emergency funding for rail and air infrastructure, it also saves jobs and communities in New Mexico. Our small airports and rail stations are hubs of commerce that connect rural New Mexico with markets across the United States and the world.…”