Quick Reads

Udall, other Senators want investigations over Trump administration’s COVID-19 response

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The letter said that states around the country, including New Mexico, face shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), and says that a cohesive, national strategy is needed to allocate the equipment where it is needed.

The federal government had a stockpile of PPE and other medical equipment in the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). The Trump administration moved oversight of the stockpile from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Health and Human Services Department, under the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, in 2018. FEMA is in charge of distribution during a national emergency.

Elizabeth Warren

Warren taps Haaland, two other congresswomen as campaign co-chairs

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U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, an increasingly important campaign surrogate for Elizabeth Warren, is now one of Warren’s campaign co-chairs. 

Warren made the announcement on Friday, announcing that Haaland and fellow Democrats Katie Porter of California and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts would hold the positions. Haaland endorsed Warren this summer. “It’s an incredible honor to have these three persistent women on our team,” Warren said in a statement. While Warren has seen her polling numbers drop in recent weeks, she is still among the top tier of candidates for the Democratic nomination along with former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in national polls, while South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg polls high in Iowa and New Hampshire, though trails in South Carolina and Nevada. 

The Iowa Caucus, the first contest in the Democratic nomination, will take place on Feb. 3.

Elizabeth Warren

Haaland endorses Warren for president

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New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland endorsed Elizabeth Warren for president on Tuesday. Haaland endorsed the Massachusetts U.S. Senator along with a number of other members of Congress ahead of Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, which Warren will debate against Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and six other candidates. 

In a statement announcing her endorsement, Haaland said she made the endorsement “because it is time for the American people to have a champion.”

“We’ve worked together to introduce legislation that demands a solution to unsafe military housing, tackles the opioid crisis, and provides universal child care. Elizabeth has been a great friend to me and a great partner for Indian Country,” Haaland said. Haaland became the first enrolled Native American woman to be elected to Congress, along with Sharice Davids of Kansas, after winning election in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District in 2018. Other members of Congress who endorsed Warren include Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and former Progressive Caucus chair Raúl Grijalva of Arizona.

2018 elections

National Democrats rally for Heinrich

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Prominent Democratic U.S. Senators are blasting out their support for Martin Heinrich after the entry of former Governor Gary Johnson shook up the U.S. Senate race. Johnson made his first public comments Thursday. On Friday, Elizabeth Warren,Kirsten Gillibrand and others tweeted support for incumbent Martin Heinrich—and criticisms of Johnson. Warren, a progressive Democrat from Massachusetts though to be considering a run for president in 2020, tweeted, “Gary Johnson – who’s supported abolishing the minimum wage, raising the Social Security retirement age, & gutting health care – jumped into the New Mexico Senate race against my friend Martin Heinrich.”

Johnson responded in a tweet that Warren was “pretty off-base on my positions.”

Gillibrand, another Senator who may run for president in 2020, wrote in a tweet thread that Heinrich “has been a champion in our fights for better health care, better education opportunities and better jobs. We can’t afford to lose his voice right now and let Gary Johnson take New Mexico backward at the expense of working families, so we need to rush Martin our support.”

Both included fundraising links for Heinrich’s campaign.

Navajo Code Talkers

In event to honor Code Talkers, Trump calls Senator ‘Pocahontas’ in front of portrait of Andrew Jackson

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President Donald Trump made a number of remarks during an event honoring Navajo Code Talkers that have drawn condemnation. Trump met with three Navajo Code Talkers in the Oval Office, in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson. Jackson was the president responsible for the Trail of Tears, a brutal removal of Native Americans from lands in the South. In all, thousands of children, women and men died and tens-of-thousands were displaced to make way for more slave plantations. There, he insulted a U.S. Senator calling her “Pocahontas.”

At the event, three Navajo Code Talkers attended the White House event and asked the federal government to create a museum dedicated to the role Code Talkers undertook during World War II.

Albuquerque Police Oversight Board

Black community wants answers on ATF’s Albuquerque sting, says it was ‘punch in the face’

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Black community leaders and citizens want to know who invited out-of-town federal agents and informants into Albuquerque and how the decision was made to focus an undercover sting operation on an impoverished, largely minority section of the city, netting a highly disproportionate number of black defendants. They plan to put those and other questions into a letter to the federal bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “We want to know exactly what happened and why,” said Patrick Barrett, a member of the two organizations drafting the letter — the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Sankofa Men’s Leadership Exchange, a grassroots organization of black men. This story originally appeared at New Mexico In Depth and is reprinted with permission. Barrett and others interviewed for this story were reacting to a NMID investigation of the sting published last month.

Congress & Federal Issues

Senators seek answers on Sessions’ role in Comey firing

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U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts led 11 senators in calling for an investigation into Attorney General Jeff Sessions and whether his role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey violated his recusal from any investigation into Russian ties with those close to President Donald Trump. The letter, which was also signed by New Mexico U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, was sent to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday. In the letter, the senators said Session’s “recusal language itself could not be clearer.”

They also seek answers to three questions: to what extent Sessions was required to recuse himself from the investigation, the scope of his recusal and the timeline of his involvement in Comey’s firing. The letter notes that Sessions met with Trump and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to discuss the removal of Comey on May 8.

Elizabeth Warren

Udall reads Coretta Scott King letter, after Senate blocked Warren from doing so (Updated)

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Hours after Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was reprimanded for challenging the integrity of a fellow Senator by reading a letter from Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., New Mexico U.S. Sen. Tom Udall read the letter on the Senate floor without question. Later on Wednesday, new Mexico’s other U.S. Senator read part of the Coretta Scott King letter and criticized the Senate for their actions on Warren. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i715XvBCkio&feature=youtu.be

Tuesday night, Warren tried to read the letter before her senate colleagues. King’s letter  criticized Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions when he unsuccessfully sought a judgeship in the 1980s. In the letter, Coretta Scott King said she opposed his confirmation to a federal judgeship.

Education

Head of accreditor for for-profit colleges leaves amid growing scrutiny

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The head of troubled for-profit college watchdog, Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, has stepped down, the agency said Monday in a statement. The resignation of Albert Gray, who served as ACICS’ president and chief executive officer for the past seven years, comes at a precarious time for the accreditor. Last week, a dozen state attorneys general called on the Department of Education to revoke the accreditor’s recognition. Without recognition, the hundreds of mostly for-profit colleges that the accreditor oversees could lose access to the federal student aid that makes up the majority of their revenue. Citing ProPublica’s reporting, the state attorneys general said that the actions of the agency had “ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable students whom it was charged to protect.”

Congress & Federal Issues

Heinrich: More protections needed following DADT repeal

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U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich signed onto a letter to the Secretary of Defense asking for the Pentagon to institute specific anti-discrimination policies applying to gay, lesbian and bisexual service members. “Doing away with the discriminatory military policy of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ brought us closer to achieving full equality for all Americans,” Heinrich told New Mexico Political Report in a statement. “However, current policies have not been updated to protect thousands of our heroic gay and lesbian service members who still face discrimination in the workplace. That’s unacceptable and it must change.” Buzzfeed News was the first to report  the letter. The letter calls on Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to expand upon the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.