Martin Heinrich

One thing this committee ought to be able to agree on today is that there have been some abusive and predatory practices occurring against our men and women in the military.

That Shield belongs to the Pueblo of Acoma. Inherently, it belongs to us.

Would there be changes to NAGPRA that would result in more cases being prosecuted specifically under that statute...

It's always good to have more hands, although, I would not represent that necessarily as a Departmental position.

One of them was changing the legal definition of provenance or ownership, do you have specific language in mind for that?

It would prohibit the exporting of sacred Native American items and increase penalties for stealing and illegally trafficking tribal patrimony.

I take my responsibility for representing Indian Country in Washington very seriously.

A statute that's designed to meet the needs or to address the crime at-hand would be better.

I think that's an important distinction. I think both of us would love to work with you on that front.

I take great pride in working with New Mexico's tribal communities.

But the problem still exists. The enforcement of those laws has not been strong enough.

In the Senate, I introduced a resolution that strongly condemns the theft, illegal possession or sale and export of tribal cultural items.

We must do more to provide an excellent education and quality health care for our tribal members.

In New Mexico, we have a rich cultural history rooted in Native American tradition. It is the bedrock of who we are as New Mexicans.

These items are not pieces of art--they are spiritual objects--deeply important for tribal identity.

Since the establishment of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument it has certainly been a tremendous asset for the local community and small businesses.

I know there are many New Mexicans, especially from the Northeastern part of the state, that are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to go visit and hopefully see it open for things like hiking and hunting and camping next year.

It would permanently protect unique geologic, paleontological and cultural resources in the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah area.

It would allow the Navajo Nation to receive its final settlement acts pursuant to a legal settlement dating back to 1974.

This bill would finally resolve a number of, literally decades long, public land and resource issues in Northwestern New Mexico.

You know, one of the issues that was raised earlier is this idea of identifying vulnerabilities that may exist in software, in operating systems, in hardware.

Given how easy it is to just download an app onto your smartphone to do end-to-end encryption of texting and other communications, does it--and getting to, really, Senator Lee's question--does it beg the question of whether or not we've…

We have got to figure this out because we have projects all over in forests across New Mexico where the community has come to a generalized consensus about what needs to be done.

We cannot wait any longer to get large-scale forest health projects implemented in New Mexico, and for that matter, across the West.

Last week we lost 24 homes and 21 other structures when that fire raced out of the mountains and into a subdivision.