| “
|
- Putting New Hampshire First
- Jeanne Shaheen is focused on making a difference for the people of New Hampshire, no matter what it takes. As concerns over the coronavirus grew across the country, Jeanne took action to raise the alarm over the virus. When it hit the United States economy, she was part of the bipartisan “gang of four” charged with designing a congressional relief package that would help small businesses survive. In 2019, when President Trump tried to divert funding for construction projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to pay for his border wall, she brought Democrats and Republicans together to stop him. Originally, New Hampshire received the same amount of federal support to combat the opioid epidemic as every other state, despite being significantly harder hit than most of the country. Jeanne worked across the aisle to change that, so that the hardest-hit states got more and ultimately increased opioid response funding for New Hampshire tenfold, to $35 million in 2019.
- As Governor, Jeanne expanded affordable health insurance to tens of thousands of New Hampshire children, expanded kindergarten for thousands more children, took on the big utility companies to lower rates, rescinded an outdated law making abortion a felony, and never implemented statewide sales and income taxes, balancing the state budget without them.
- As a leader on bipartisan legislation to preserve our open spaces and wildlife, she has secured increased federal funding to preserve New Hampshire’s waterways, public and private forests, wildlife habitats and recreational areas that bring an estimated $8.7 billion in tourism dollars to the state each year. She worked to get the Nashua River protected with a federal scenic river designation, safeguarding the resources of this river and its tributaries for future generations.
- Jeanne has long fought to bring federal dollars back to New Hampshire to invest in critical transportation and infrastructure projects to fix Granite State roads, rail, bridges and ports. She has introduced legislation to address the more than 47,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country and secured tens of millions of federal dollars to replace the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge connecting New Hampshire and Maine, the I-89 Lebanon-Hartford bridges connecting New Hampshire and Vermont, and for a new bridge on the Connecticut River near Keene.
- When Granite Staters need help cutting federal red tape and bureaucracy, Jeanne gets action. Her work to expand health services for veterans allows New Hampshire veterans to get care through the VA or private providers closer to home. She elevated local concerns to national action from harmful, man-made chemicals known as PFAS that have been found in drinking water, and created the first-ever nationwide health study on the potential health impacts of these contaminants to ensure the health and safety of New Hampshire communities.
- A former small business owner, Jeanne has helped small businesses get tax cuts and other resources to expand and create jobs. And she’s worked to help them get the skilled workers they need. She brought the Job Corps program to New Hampshire to prepare vulnerable youth with the skills and necessary training to then be placed in a job or pursue higher education.
- Jeanne has repeatedly prevented the Trump administration from imposing the costly at sea monitoring fee on Granite State fishermen, and she has secured necessary funding to prevent the burden from being imposed on fishermen. And when Hampton Harbor was getting too shallow for fishing boats to use, Shaheen secured the funding to have it dredged, and now it’s once again fully operational.
- Reducing the Cost of Health Care
- Jeanne Shaheen knows that rising health care and prescription drug costs are among the most serious challenges facing Granite State families. That’s why she is helping to lead bipartisan efforts in Congress to expand and secure access to quality, affordable health care while lowering prescription drug costs.
- In the Senate, she works across the aisle to make a difference for Granite Staters struggling to afford their health care. She led a bipartisan bill to suspend implementation of a Health Insurance Tax which was signed into law and will help reduce premiums for New Hampshire families. She has also worked to pass additional bipartisan measures signed into law to help lower costs for medical devices and health care costs for small businesses. Jeanne has sponsored a legislative package that would make health care much more affordable by reducing deductibles and copayments, increasing and expanding tax credits for more middle-class families, reducing out-of-pocket costs, and capping charges for uninsured patients.
- During the COVID-19 crisis, Jeanne has fought for and helped secure tens of millions in federal funding to support New Hampshire’s hospitals, health care providers and health care workers on the front lines. She has ensured that federal relief packages include support for health care providers in every community.
- When the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Jeanne helped lead the bipartisan opposition to defeat those efforts and save health care for more than 20 million Americans and nearly 100,000 Granite Staters who are covered through the ACA’s Medicaid expansion or the Health Insurance Marketplace, particularly to protect coverage for people with preexisting conditions. Jeanne is determined to protect health care coverage for the people of New Hampshire, despite the Trump administration’s continued efforts to sabotage the health care law and repeal the entire ACA. She has led all of her Democratic colleagues in legislation calling on the Administration to defend the ACA in court. She is also one of the Senate’s most vocal opponents of Trump’s short-term “junk” health care plans, which would allow health insurers to potentially discriminate against the 570,000 Granite Staters with pre-existing conditions, including those with cancer, asthma and diabetes, and take coverage from those seeking treatment of opioid addiction.
- With prescription drug prices skyrocketing, Jeanne is leading on bipartisan, common-sense legislation to lower prescription drug costs for Granite Staters by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, encouraging cheaper generic prescription drugs to market, and taking action to lower insulin prices. She has worked to stop big drug companies from collecting tax breaks for their TV advertising.
- Jeanne is fighting to stop the predatory surprise medical bills that are hitting Granite Staters for emergency room visits. When big Wall Street firms profiting from surprise medical bills ran misleading ads trying to stop her from working on a bipartisan solution to end them, Jeanne told them she would not be intimidated and would continue to work to address this unfair challenge facing Granite Staters. These measures would make an enormous difference for New Hampshire families, and Jeanne will continue to lead bipartisan efforts to stop these outrageous bills.
- Bolstering Our Economy and Creating Jobs
- A former small business owner, Jeanne Shaheen believes every Granite Stater should be able to get the resources and training needed to get a good job and succeed in today’s economy. As Governor, she helped New Hampshire businesses create nearly 67,000 jobs, lowered electricity rates for small businesses and consumers, and she created a job training fund to help train workers in new, high-tech skills. She was the first New Hampshire Governor to personally lead overseas trade missions to bring more investment and jobs to the state. Her efforts made a big difference to the state’s economy and international trade continues to benefit New Hampshire today.
- Her leadership on small business issues was recognized when Jeanne was named as one of four Senators charged with developing the small business relief in the COVID-19 economic stimulus bill. Jeanne was instrumental in negotiating a significant increase in funding for small business relief. She was praised by Republicans and Democrats for her bipartisan efforts creating the emergency small business program, which is providing nearly $660 billion in aid to help small businesses stay afloat and keep their employees paid.
- As a senior member of the Small Business Committee, Jeanne worked to expand Small Business Administration loan programs and led bipartisan efforts to support innovation and research by small businesses, helping businesses export their products abroad and making it easier for entrepreneurs to cut through red tape and start businesses. Jeanne continues to fight against tax cuts that disproportionately hurt small businesses, including the elimination of the online sales tax.
- Jeanne knows connecting workers with good-paying jobs is a challenge, so she is taking action to expand technical and vocational training and apprenticeship programs, and increase grant funding for community colleges. She was instrumental in securing funding to open the Manchester Job Corps Center, which provides low-income youth job and skills training. A strong proponent of union rights, paid family and medical leave, and an increased federal minimum wage, Jeanne believes that everyone in New Hampshire should be able to get the skills and education needed to get a good-paying job.
- Confronting the Coronavirus
- Jeanne Shaheen raised the alarm about the coronavirus or “COVID-19” weeks before the Trump administration took it seriously. Throughout this pandemic, Jeanne has worked to help New Hampshire address its economic and public health impact and to make a difference for our communities, small businesses, hospitals, first responders and workers so severely impacted by this virus.
- When this pandemic hit the United States economy, Jeanne was named as one of four Senators on a bipartisan team charged with developing the small business relief in the COVID-19 economic stimulus bill. The Trump administration and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell originally proposed a stimulus package that favored big corporations and allowed CEOs to take huge bonuses, and Jeanne helped in the fight to remove those corporate handouts to put small businesses first. She helped negotiate a significant increase in funding for small businesses and workers and, when problems arose with these programs, has worked to ensure help goes to those who need it most. Thousands of New Hampshire small businesses have received over 17,000 grants, forgivable loans, and other forms of assistance totaling over $2 billion so far. Jeanne recognizes that the need is even greater than that and continues to work to secure more federal support for her state.
- Small states like New Hampshire could have been at a disadvantage when federal funds were allocated, but Jeanne worked to get the Granite State the funding it deserved, and she continues to work to increase federal support for our state. Originally, the Republican stimulus bill included zero dollars for state relief and included a $3 billion bailout for big oil. Democrats eliminated the federal funds for oil companies and Jeanne secured $1.25 billion for New Hampshire, more than it would have received if funds were allocated only by population, and millions more for law enforcement, childcare, housing, low-income heating and other needs to help the state through this crisis.
- Jeanne also recognized the enormous impact that this crisis is having on our education system. The Trump administration’s allies in the Senate tried to pass a bill without emergency education support funding, ignoring the new reality facing schools and teachers during this crisis. Jeanne fought for and helped deliver nearly $90 million to New Hampshire to ensure our schools, teachers and students have the resources they need at this moment.
- Jeanne worked across the aisle to deliver federal support to help New Hampshire hospitals and health care providers through this crisis, fighting for and securing hundreds of billions in federal funding to support hospitals and those on the front lines in New Hampshire and across the country. She has worked to ensure that federal relief packages include support for health care providers in every community, including in rural areas. And Jeanne worked with stakeholders in the private sector to deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) that the state needed to fight the coronavirus and help those on the front lines.
- When President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to push through a spending package that included zero dollars for hospitals, Jeanne knew that would not work for New Hampshire, where hospitals, from Lakes Regional General Hospital to Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, as well as providers across the state, have been losing critical revenue and have incurred enormous costs treating COVID-19 patients. Jeanne listened to leaders on the frontlines, fighting for and helping health care providers with $100 billion in new funding for hospitals.
- Jeanne has been, and continues to be, a tireless advocate for our health care workers on the frontlines of this health care battle. She fought to secure financial support to cover child care costs for health care workers, including nurses, so they are able to continue to help Granite Staters in need. Despite the President’s claims that everyone can get a test who needs one, testing has been woefully inadequate in New Hampshire. In addition to funding for health care providers, she helped secure $17 million for New Hampshire to expand testing.
- Jeanne knows that there is so much more to do to ensure the health, safety and economic security of New Hampshire and the United States during this crisis, and she will continue to make a difference for Granite Staters. Jeanne is in constant contact with New Hampshire health care providers, first responders, small business owners, state officials, service organizations and workers, and she knows they need urgent help. She is working to ensure they have the resources necessary to weather this crisis and rebuild a stronger economy.
- Granite State veterans put their lives on the line for our country, and Jeanne Shaheen will always fight to make a difference for them and make sure they get the benefits and services they’ve earned. Jeanne’s office has helped thousands of New Hampshire veterans get their VA benefits and has worked across the aisle to pass legislation that makes it easier for veterans to access services and care.
- In the Senate, Jeanne works across the aisle to make a difference for veterans. She took on her own party to make sure New Hampshire veterans could get health care closer to home. Her legislation to renew and expand community care for veterans living in states like New Hampshire without a full-service VA was signed into law.
- Jeanne knows that surviving military spouses should never face burdens as a result of their spouse’s service. She worked to pass bipartisan legislation that is now law to repeal the “widow’s tax,” which had blocked as many as 65,000 Americans from receiving their survivor benefits.
- She has worked with Democrats and Republicans to reform the VA and reduce wait times for veterans who need to see a doctor. With the support of veterans service organizations, she secured approval to open a new and expanded Manchester Veterans Center and to open a new VA clinic in Keene, and to give tax credits to businesses that hire veterans.
- Fighting for Women's Rights
- Jeanne Shaheen is a fierce advocate for women. Throughout her career, she has done whatever it takes to protect a woman’s access to a full range of health care services. As Governor, Jeanne Shaheen repealed a law making abortion a felony and signed legislation requiring insurance companies to cover birth control. In the Senate, she has worked across the aisle to bolster women’s rights and helped lead opposition to partisan efforts aimed at overturning Roe vs. Wade.
- In the Senate, Jeanne authored and steered to passage the “Shaheen Amendment” to provide women in the military who are victims of rape or incest health insurance coverage for abortion, so they have the same coverage as non-military federal employees.
- Jeanne Shaheen has also led opposition to President Trump’s global and domestic “Gag Rule,” which blocks federal funding for family planning programs at home and abroad if they also provide abortion. She has consistently worked across the aisle to block cuts to Planned Parenthood to protect access to birth control, cancer screenings and other critical health services. Jeanne has introduced federal legislation guaranteeing patients access to birth control at the pharmacy and will continue to push for bipartisan legislation that secures and strengthens women’s health care access.
- The only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen is a fierce advocate for women and girls across the world. She wrote and passed the Women, Peace and Security Act to prioritize the inclusion of women in all matters concerning national security, including conflict prevention and peacebuilding, and she is working with the Trump administration to ensure it is implemented. Peace agreements impact everyone, and Jeanne knows with women at the table, agreements are proven to be more effective and last longer.
- Jeanne has dedicated her life to making sure that women are safe and protected at home and at work. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she has protected and added the highest amount of funding ever for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs so that both communities and law enforcement are prepared and supported in their efforts to protect survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Her legislation establishing a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights was signed into law in 2016. Jeanne Shaheen has always advocated for equal pay for equal work and leads legislation that would strengthen the Equal Pay Act and make sure that any woman can hold her employer accountable for pay discrimination.
- Protecting Our National Security
- A leading voice on American foreign policy as a member of the Armed Services Committee and the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen is committed to strengthening our international alliances and keeping Americans safe.
- In response to Russian interference in the 2016 election, she worked with Republicans to hold the Kremlin accountable, co-sponsoring and negotiating sanctions authority for Congress and re-establishing the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group to fortify our alliances and help combat Russian influence on American allies. On the Armed Services Committee, Jeanne led efforts to sound the alarm about Kaspersky Labs, a Russian-owned company whose software could be used to hack the U.S. government, leading to a U.S. government-wide ban on that software. After Russian President Vladimir Putin banned her from Russia for her tough stand against Russian attempts to interfere in our elections and hack U.S. government computers, Republican and Democratic Senators stood with Jeanne in solidarity and support of her work.
- Jeanne has worked with Republican colleagues to fight for tough action against ISIS terrorists in Syria, including those responsible for the murder of New Hampshire journalist James Foley. When Americans have been imprisoned abroad without justification, Jeanne has worked with Republicans, the State Department, the Department of Defense and the White House to secure their freedom and bring them home. When an American missionary, Pastor Andrew Brunson, was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey, Jeanne worked with Republicans to secure his release. She negotiated with the Turkish President for his freedom and visited him in prison with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). He was released and returned home in October 2018. After Amer Fakhoury, a U.S. citizen and Dover business owner, was wrongly detained in Lebanon, his family contacted Jeanne, who teamed up with a Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the Trump Administration to secure his release in 2020 so he could return home.
- Safeguarding Clean Drinking Water
- Jeanne has always believed everyone in New Hampshire and across the country deserves access to clean and safe drinking water. As Governor, she conserved New Hampshire’s water supply and made necessary preparations for potential emergencies. Jeanne is now leading efforts in Congress to expose toxic “forever” chemicals, called PFAS, found in equipment used by firefighters and the military and recently discovered to be contaminating water supplies across New Hampshire.
- When Granite Staters on the Seacoast and in Merrimack contacted Jeanne about their concerns surrounding these chemicals in their water, she took action. Jeanne secured $30 million in federal funding so the first-ever national health study on drinking water contamination from these chemicals will be conducted first in New Hampshire at Pease International Tradeport. Jeanne’s study will finally give Granite Staters much-needed answers about the health impacts of these contaminants and will guide the federal response nationwide to these chemicals, so that every family has access to clean and safe drinking water. Jeanne is also working to address health concerns regarding firefighters’ occupational exposure to PFAS chemicals and recently passed a ban on these chemicals in fire-fighting foam into law.
- Jeanne continues to focus on how water contamination impacts our service members and our veterans. She has led efforts to create a national database for veterans experiencing health problems to make it easier to check if they have been exposed to the contaminants, which are often present on military bases.
- Addressing Climate Change and Protecting the Environment
- Jeanne Shaheen knows climate change is a real, existential threat to our state and our world. That’s why she has been and continues to be a leader advancing innovative and effective policies and ideas to promote clean energy, energy efficiency and reductions in the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. In the Senate, Jeanne is a champion for bipartisan energy legislation to reduce harmful emissions and grow our clean energy economy.
- Jeanne is a leader advancing legislation in Congress to direct the Trump administration to meet the standards set by the Paris Climate Accord. To make progress on energy policy, Jeanne has teamed up with Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, authoring and steering to passage critical energy efficiency legislation that protects our environment while saving billions of dollars for American families in energy costs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by millions of tons annually by making new homes and buildings more energy-efficient.
- Jeanne is a leading champion of our environment and fighting climate change that threatens the natural beauty and economic future of New Hampshire and the world. A leading voice on conservation in the Senate, Jeanne led efforts to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which helps preserve New Hampshire’s wildlife habitats and outdoor recreation areas that bring an estimated $8.7 billion from tourism to the state each year. She has secured increased federal funding to preserve New Hampshire’s waterways, public and private forests, wildlife habitats and recreational areas to safeguard the state’s open spaces and wildlife. Jeanne worked to get the Nashua River protected with a federal scenic river designation, safeguarding this river and its tributaries for future generations. She has consistently fought to block oil drilling off of New Hampshire and is leading bipartisan legislation to ban drilling and protect New England’s seacoast.
- As Governor, Jeanne led the country in making clean energy a priority, enacting landmark legislation requiring fossil fuel plants to reduce emissions of new pollutants, making New Hampshire the first state to do so. She challenged the big utility companies to cut energy bills for consumers and encourage clean energy, and she created the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), which has helped preserve more than 230,000 acres in New Hampshire. She also preserved tens of thousands of additional acres of New Hampshire’s North Country wilderness, and was a top advocate for clean, alternative energy sources in New Hampshire, leading by example for the whole country.
- Combating the Opioid Epidemic
- Jeanne Shaheen was one of the first members of Congress to declare the opioid epidemic an emergency and take action to address it. She took on Presidents of both parties to increase opioid response funding for New Hampshire and is a national leader advocating and achieving a more aggressive response to the addiction crisis.
- States like New Hampshire that were suffering the most from the opioid crisis initially received the same level of funding as every other state. Jeanne saw that was wrong, and she went to work to make sure that the hardest-hit states get the resources they need. Thanks to her leadership, funding to New Hampshire increased tenfold to $35 million in 2019 to expand treatment and prevention services, including peer-based recovery support. Much of that funding comes because of language she put into law ensuring that the hardest-hit states are a priority. Jeanne is leading bipartisan efforts to support local treatment providers, law enforcement and first responders to protect health care and treatment coverage for people fighting addiction. Stopping the flow of drugs into our communities is a top priority for Jeanne, and she has led efforts in Congress to crack down on fentanyl and other substances sustaining the epidemic.
- New Hampshire is making progress in its efforts to combat the opioid crisis, but there is more work to be done, so Jeanne wrote and introduced sweeping legislation, the Turn the Tide Act,” which would provide $63 billion over the next 10 years to invest in treatment, prevention, and recovery efforts. Her bill would promote the use of non-opioid forms of pain treatment, ensure that insurers do not act as barriers to vital naloxone access, and would also address New Hampshire’s shortage of workers helping those struggling with substance use disorder by providing loan repayment and increasing Medicaid payments and would make an enormous difference both nationally and in New Hampshire in helping curb this ongoing epidemic. A key component of her legislation that was requested by New Hampshire’s treatment providers was signed into law in 2019, allowing opioid response funds to address meth and cocaine dependency.
- Reforming Our Immigration System
- As a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, Jeanne Shaheen is a trusted, bipartisan voice on America’s national security. She consistently advocates for common-sense efforts to provide strong security at our borders and ports of entry. As a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, she helped negotiate billions in federal dollars for fencing, additional border patrol agents, and improved surveillance and screening technologies.
- Bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform is a top priority for Jeanne. She has worked with Republicans and Democrats to develop legislation to help address challenges related to immigration. She has sponsored legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers. She believes that young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and have been covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program should be able to become American citizens.
- A lifelong advocate for children, Jeanne knows that we do not have to abandon our values as a nation to keep America safe. She has supported legislation to improve conditions for children in immigration custody as well as efforts to block the Trump administration from increasing immigration detention. Jeanne believes that separating children from their parents, and then keeping them apart in horrible conditions, is wrong. She has led oversight of the administration’s family separation policy as well as legislation to stop it.
- Jeanne is a national leader in combating the opioid epidemic and has led legislative efforts to stem the flow of drugs through our borders. She recognizes that stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S. is integral in the fight against the opioid crisis, and passed legislation in 2019 to sanction fentanyl producers and traffickers abroad, which will help stem the flow of fentanyl through our ports of entry and borders.
- Strengthening Our Education System
- A former high school teacher, Jeanne Shaheen believes that education is the key to a good job and financial security. She has consistently worked across the aisle to support students and teachers, expand early childhood education and provide much-needed relief to Granite Staters saddled with student debt. She is leading the charge to strengthen job training and STEM education so New Hampshire workers have the skills they need for jobs in emerging industries.
- Jeanne is fighting for legislation in the Senate to combat student debt relief scams and to make sure institutions of higher learning are held accountable for their students’ ability to pay back their debt. She is the sponsor of legislation to ensure that students can easily access information on their loans, to allow borrowers to refinance their debt at lower rates, and to strengthen the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
- As Governor, she made kindergarten a reality for tens of thousands of children, and in the Senate, she helped pass a law to expand federal support for early childhood education. Jeanne knows that investing in early childhood education saves Granite State families money in the long run and is critical for closing the achievement gap. She has consistently advocated for child care, early childhood and preschool development and is leading legislation to expand and improve the child care tax credit.
- She passed a tax-free college tuition savings plan as Governor and is leading efforts in the Senate to provide relief for families struggling with student loan debt. When the Trump administration tried to cut critical college affordability programs, including federal work-study and financial aid grants, Jeanne stopped them.[7]
|
”
|
Click here for more information on the Republican primary
Click here for more information on the Democratic primary
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
Justin O'Donnell
Maggie Hassan 
