Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
As soon as President Biden stepped out of Air Force One during his visit to New Mexico last month, I handed him a letter advocating for additional investments and forward-looking missions at Cannon Air Force Base.
During my time in Congress, I have secured over $660 million in military construction funding to modernize the facilities and infrastructure at Cannon. I have worked to deliver these investments because I know the enormous importance of Cannon to Clovis, Curry County, New Mexico, and our national security.
I am disappointed by the Air Force’s recent decision to relocate a squadron from Cannon to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in the coming years. However, I remain confident in Cannon’s future.
Last month, I invited Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind, the commander of the Air Force Special Operations Command, and Dr. Ravi I. Chaudhary, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and Environment, to join me, Sen. Ben Ray Luján, Clovis Mayor Mike Morris, and other local community leaders for a meeting at Cannon.
At that meeting, we secured a commitment that Cannon Air Force Base will remain a stronghold for the Air Force well into the future.
The funding the New Mexico Congressional Delegation has delivered for Cannon laid the foundation for this future. That includes funding I secured to build a new 192-bed on-base dormitory, a new fire station, and an emergency communications center. Our Congressional delegation has also called on the Defense Health Administration to improve access to critical medical care at Cannon for service members and their families.
In recent years, I have also worked to deliver historic federal infrastructure investments for Clovis and surrounding communities. That includes $322 million in federal funding to complete the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System — or Ute Pipeline Project — that will provide cities in eastern New Mexico and Cannon Air Force Base with a dependable, reliable water supply for generations to come.
I have also secured $3.5 million to support major road reconstruction in downtown Clovis and worked to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which has already delivered more than $3.6 million for repairs at the Clovis Regional Airport.
The economic significance of Cannon to Clovis, Curry County, and New Mexico cannot be overstated. According to an analysis by the University of New Mexico’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, in Fiscal Year 2020, Cannon and the Melrose Air Force Range contributed an estimated direct, indirect, and induced effect of 6,413 jobs, over $400 million in wages and salaries, and $2 billion in a total industrial output.
Cannon is also indispensable to our national security. Cannon hosts the Air Force’s second largest special operations wing and provides favorable air space and year-round flying conditions.
The Air Force also benefits from the unwavering support provided by the eastern New Mexico community – a community with the highest level of appreciation for the base’s mission and the service members and families there.
I am all in to support Cannon and eastern New Mexico. Alongside the New Mexico Congressional delegation and our strong local partners in Clovis, I will fight to make sure the White House, the Pentagon, and Air Force leadership strengthen and invest in Cannon’s future.
Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., is a United States senator. Contact him through his website:
