The New Mexico senator hosted a roundtable with Senate Democrats, energy experts and the head of Meals on Wheels New Mexico.

Organ Mountain News report

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich hosted a Senate roundtable Tuesday focused on rising gas and energy costs, arguing that the Trump administration’s war with Iran is hurting working families, small businesses and nonprofit service providers.

Heinrich, D-N.M., the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, hosted the roundtable with U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J. Other participants included U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., along with energy and economic experts, a New Mexico nonprofit leader and an agriculture leader from New Jersey.

Heinrich’s office said the war with Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz have pushed gas prices to their highest level in four years, with a national average of $4.04 per gallon. His office said American households have paid an average of $450 more in gas costs since the war began.

“Since the war in Iran began, gas prices have surged by more than 50 percent, and hardworking Americans are paying the price every time they pull up to the pump,” Heinrich said in a news release. “Most Americans are now paying well over $4 a gallon for gas, and since February, this has cost American households and businesses more than $54 billion.”

Shauna M. Frost, CEO of Meals on Wheels New Mexico, said rising fuel costs threaten services for homebound seniors.

“Meals on Wheels is not just a meal delivery service — we are a lifeline for homebound seniors who often have few people they can rely on,” Frost said. “When gas prices increase, it threatens services so many have come to depend on. Rising fuel costs affect nearly every part of our operations. It increases the cost of purchasing food, delivering meals, and retaining volunteers.”

The roundtable also included Claudia Sahm, chief economist for New Century Advisors; Matt Randolph, an energy commentator and host of The American Power Podcast; Liz Thompson, executive director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau; John Arensmeyer, president and CEO of Small Business Majority; and Angela Hanks, chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation.

Kim said the administration has waged war in Iran “in our name, without our say, and on our dime,” while Wyden and Padilla criticized the administration’s economic policies and their effects on household costs.

Heinrich’s office said the roundtable followed a similar event he hosted last month with local small business owners, Roadrunner Food Bank and the Women’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Team to discuss how tariffs and the war with Iran are affecting gas, groceries and everyday essentials for New Mexico families and businesses.

Heinrich has also written to the CEOs of the six largest U.S. airlines seeking information about rising jet fuel costs and how airlines plan to respond.