Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today joined U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to tour the Albuquerque Job Corps Center and to announce $13 million in unemployment insurance (UI) modernization funds for New Mexico.

New Mexico can use the funds to pay unemployment benefits, to administer its unemployment insurance program or to deliver employment services.  Funding is being provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

“Unfortunately, many New Mexicans continue to struggle to find jobs in today’s economy. The funding announced today by Secretary Solis will go a long way toward helping them make ends meet while they continue to seek employment,” Bingaman said.

Bingaman and Solis toured Job Corps classrooms and met with students to talk about how the center is helping them.  Additionally, they toured the new Eagle Wing Hall - the first Job Corps facility in the nation to attain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) compliancy.  LEED is a Green Building Rating System that provides a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

While in Albuquerque, Bingaman also addressed a federal violent crime and firearms trafficking conference.  Bingaman, who has continued to push for more to be done to address trafficking along the border, recently secured $15 million to expand Project Gunrunner, an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) initiative that seeks to stem the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico. 

“Drug-related crime along the U.S.-Mexico border has become one of our country’s top concerns. Over the past few months we have seen the federal government strengthen its commitment to addressing this problem,” Bingaman said. “Today I am pleased to see federal and state agencies coming together to discuss national policy and strategies aimed at tackling border violence and trafficking in the southwest.”