Senator Bingaman takes all constituent feedback seriously, and his office gives these correspondences high priority.  Since January of this 2010, our office has received over 220,000 letters; for a state with about 2 million residents, this is a lot of letters.  Because of high mail volume, we can only reply to New Mexicans.  (Most Congressional offices are the same way and only respond to constituents.)

As of August 18, there are over 4,000 letters that our office is in the process of replying to.  These letters cover a range of topics—health care, the economy and banking reform, and Justice Kagan’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court are our current top three constituent issues addressed in these letters and emails—and their authors live all over New Mexico.*

Many constituents write about several issues in one piece of correspondence, while others address one specific issue in depth in their letter or email.  Because of this variety and the high volume of mail we receive, we do our best to respond to each constituent’s questions and concerns in a personalized and prompt manner.  Senator Bingaman takes constituent correspondence seriously, so we try to respond to letters and emails within two weeks, though sometimes the necessary research can make that time longer.

*Constituent correspondence requesting assistance—for example, individuals who need help with a federal agency such as the Veterans Administration, or New Mexicans who need help with international visas—are passed onto caseworkers, who work directly with these individuals to help solve a problem.