ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — From the White House to the Sunport – the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, stopped in Albuquerque Friday to highlight the federal effort to improve infrastructure across the country.

In Albuquerque, the city has received more than $20 million from the federal government to improve the airport, but it didn’t happen all at once.

“The Sunport has received three different airport grants for terminal upgrades,” Emhoff said.

In 2022, the Sunport got $7 million for modernization efforts and to make the airport more accessible for disabled passengers. In 2023, they got another $7 million to update the jet bridges – an issue that has been bothering passengers for a long time.

“You may have noticed that the heater and an air conditioner have not worked for a couple of years when you are getting on the plane,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. “I know you know because you called asking me, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ and we will be able to fix that as a part of our renovation.”

In February of this year, the Sunport got $6 million to upgrade its baggage handling system.

Emhoff said these investments do more than improve the experience of travelers.

“In addition to improving the safety and efficiency and rebuilding everything, it’s also creating great-paying jobs, many union jobs, high-paying union jobs right here at the Sunport. So we will continue to support labor,” Emhoff said.

Keller also gave an update on the construction at the Sunport. He said so far they are on schedule and on budget, so they are still expecting to finish the renovations around December of this year.