Gallup Sun

Bill could help 60% of Medicare beneficiaries who access healthcare through the IHS

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández, N.M., Dist. 3,  introduced the Telehealth Access for Tribal Communities Act of 2024, crucial legislation designed to protect access to essential healthcare services through audio-only telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries in tribal communities.

The bill seeks to extend the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency provision that allows audio-only telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries receiving care through Indian health programs or urban Indian organizations beyond 2024. This provision addresses the persistent challenge of access to healthcare in Indian Country...

WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., announced on Aug. 1 that they have successfully secured the confirmation of David O. Barnett, Jr. for U.S. Marshal for the District of New Mexico.

Barnett has served as a Counterintelligence Supervisory Special Agent in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Field Office of the FBI since 2018. Previously, he was a Special Agent in the Washington, D.C. Field Office of the FBI. Prior to becoming an FBI Special Agent in 2006, he was an FBI Intelligence Analyst and support staff in the National Capital Region from 1990 to 2006. He has received multiple commendations for exemplary service, including an FBI...

U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez called on House leadership to fully fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund on Aug. 1. In a letter to House leadership, they emphasized the urgent need for federal disaster relief funding to support New Mexico communities affected by recent natural disasters.

“As Representatives from the state of New Mexico, we have seen firsthand how natural disasters have affected our state. Federal disaster relief funding has been crucial to helping our communities recover and rebuild, but we must act now to restore New Mexico’s trust in the federal government,” Reps. Leger Fernández...

U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., issued the following statement on the Senate vote of the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Workers and Families Act:

“Families in New Mexico and across America need and deserve a fair tax system that works for them, not just corporations and billionaires,” Luján said. “From helping put food on the table to cutting housing costs, this bipartisan tax relief legislation would uplift millions of families and children out of poverty. The expanded Child Tax Credit would benefit 140,000 New Mexico children – a true game-changer for our youngest and most vulnerable. And while I will still fight to continue to expand the Child Tax Credit, this...