Senator decries Congress taking recess

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Sen. Martin Heinrich is home for the next week for a President's Day recess called by congressional leaders despite the looming prospect of massive automatic spending cuts.

On Friday Heinrich address the Legislature in Santa Fe talking of his frustration with Congress and members not being able to come up with a solution to keep those cuts from taking effect.

The automatic cuts , known as the sequester, result in more than $1 trillion in mandatory across-the-board cuts.

Heinrich says the result could be devastating.

"This is a really big cut," Heinrich told KRQE News 13.  "Anytime we're talking about cuts between 9 and 10 percent it's very hard to absorb that without hitting people's jobs.

"I am part of a group that sees this as completely unacceptable, and it's our job to come up with an alternative.  But that means that both sides are going to have to give."

Many in Congress including Heinrich were critical of the decision to take next week off being that so much works needs to be done.

The mandatory cuts were part of a congressional deal last year that allowed the federal debt to rising.  They were to take effect at the end of 2012, but a short-term deal postponed them until next month unless Congress takes additional action.

Heinrich, a former Albuquerque city councilor and member of the U.S. House, was elected to the Senate last year succeeding Sen. Jeff Bingaman who retired.