Category: New Hampshire
Shaheen Chairs, NH Businessman Attends Hearing on Boosting American Exports
EXPORT
New Hampshire Union Leader
Joseph Markman
Boston University Washington News Service
12/09/09
WASHINGTON – The glitz of recent economic development in countries like China and India should not overshadow America’s more lucrative trade relationship with Europe, economists said at a hearing Wednesday chaired by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
New Hampshire businessman Charles Howland stressed that point in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs. Howland, president and chief engineer of Warwick Mills, Inc., a New Ipswich company that engineers protective textiles, joined with the chief economist at the U.S. State Department and two other experts in examining the trade and investment ties between the United States and Europe.
With high unemployment and stagnant economic growth, the United States needs to find ways to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to invest in markets across the Atlantic Ocean, Shaheen said.
“It is easy to forget that, by far, America’s largest, most vibrant, and perhaps its most critical economic relationship is actually with Europe,” Shaheen said at the hearing. “It would be a mistake to neglect this crucial partnership as we attempt to dig ourselves out of this economic downturn.”
Robert Hormats, undersecretary of state for economic, energy, and agricultural affairs, testified that American exports to the European Union are more than five times the amount sent to China every year. Even combining China with Russia, Brazil and India, the European connection is much more substantial, Hormats said.
“We need to build on this strong, transatlantic foundation,” he said.
New Hampshire has its own ties to the European market. Shaheen, when she was governor, led the state’s first trade delegation outside of North America, and in 2007 Europeans bought nearly $1 billion worth of goods from companies in New Hampshire, Shaheen said.
Warwick Mills was founded in 1870 with a focus on making cotton textiles. Through the decades, it has produced parachute fabric for the U.S. military during World War II, created a specialized weave for use in body armor, and made high-strength fabric for the space shuttle Endeavour’s parachute, according to the company’s Web site.
Howland said more than 50 percent of his sales are to the European market, which is his most important business relationship. Key partners include Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
In order for Warwick Mills and other American companies to succeed overseas, Howland said they need to focus on developing “best in class” technical products to sell to niche markets. That way, Howland said, the United States can work to retain or create manufacturing jobs.
“We exist on the value of our innovation,” he said. “We must innovate to thrive.”
Howland called on the Department of Defense to work more closely with the Commerce Department in its Small Business Innovation Research initiative, in the hopes of facilitating American exports. The initiative provides up to $850,000 in early-stage research and development funding directly to small technology companies.
The New Hampshire businessman said most small businesses in the United States find exporting “a mystery” because the large domestic market has made it easy for them to avoid the more difficult task of getting their product overseas. He urged the government to create a “portal” involving some combination of embassies and government trade departments to encourage Atlantic trade and boost the U.S. economy.
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Sen. Gregg Introduces Bill to Create Task Force Addressing National Debt
DEBT
New Hampshire Union Leader
Joseph Markman
Boston University Washington News Service
12/09/09
WASHINGTON – Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., along with a bipartisan group of senators, introduced legislation Wednesday that would create a task force to examine ways to reduce the national debt.
As Congress faces a vote on whether to raise the federal debt ceiling above the current $12.1 trillion limit, Gregg and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., have spearheaded an effort to address the debt, which they say is likely to surpass 100 percent of gross domestic product within a few years, nearing levels not seen since the end of World War II.
“Congress feels entitled to spend with a blank check and little regard for the future of our economic stability,” Gregg said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “We are swimming in a sea of red ink that will drown any chance our children have for prosperity or even a decent standard of living.”
The bill, co-sponsored by 27 Democrats and Republicans, proposes an 18-member commission of lawmakers and members of the executive branch. To address “unsustainable long-term fiscal imbalance,” the proposal would put “everything on the table” and would require the panel to submit a report after the 2010 elections.
Responding to criticisms that they are seeking to avoid scrutiny before next year’s elections and that they have not set any specific goals, Conrad said he “harbors no illusions” about the political pressures that come with trying to reduce government spending while increasing revenue.
“The regular legislative process is simply not going to get the job done,” Conrad said.
Gregg and Conrad, who hold the two top spots on the Senate Budget Committee, called for “fundamental tax reform” as a path toward easing the deficit, saying the country’s “inefficient tax system” collects only 76 percent of the revenue it is due.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., among others, has criticized the proposal, calling it too blunt an instrument to deal with what is really a problem of rising health care costs.
Conrad argued that health care reform “will not be enough to solve this problem,” though he and Gregg acknowledged that spending on entitlements – Medicare and Social Security – consume an outsized amount of federal resources.
“We owe it to the Americans who depend on these retirement and health care programs, as well as our children who will pay for them, to fix our broken entitlement system,” Gregg said.
The Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act, which would require a final vote on its recommendations during the “lame-duck” portion of the current Congress, represents an updated version of a bill Gregg and Conrad introduced in 2007.
The Democratic leadership appears split on the issue. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is reportedly considering the task force and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the House Majority Leader, is in favor, Conrad said. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has rejected the idea in favor of the existing legislative process.
Gregg countered that “a bipartisan, fast-track process is the best way to arrive at workable solutions.”
“It is no longer enough for Congress to simply talk about reform; it is time for action and leadership,” Gregg said.
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Paid Sick Leave Sparks Debate in New Hampshire and Across the Country
SICK DAYS
New Hampshire Union Leader
Joseph Markman
Boston University Washington News Service
12/08/09
WASHINGTON – The customers at Arthur’s Market in Rochester, N.H., are buying less of the store’s specialty meats and produce lately, straining co-owner Kathy Gagnon’s ability to keep a staff of 18 people employed. And so she casts a skeptical eye toward efforts to mandate that companies provide paid sick days.
“It would cost me a fortune, and I’m barely getting by as it is,” Gagnon said in a telephone interview. “I’d probably have to replace some of them myself and work more than the 70 hours a week I already work.”
Employees are also struggling in today’s economy, and Jenn, a Granite State retail worker, recently lost two and a half days of pay because her employer does not provide paid sick days. First her 4-year-old daughter caught the seasonal flu, Jenn said, and she lost a half day of work because her husband, who works in marketing, couldn’t skip a series of meetings. Then Jenn herself fell ill and missed two days of work.
“I live paycheck to paycheck, so we’re basically your typical middle-class family,” said Jenn, who requested that only her first name be used for fear of upsetting her employer. “It’s not like we make any surplus income.”
Legislation in New Hampshire, Washington, D.C., and cities and states nationwide that would force all but the smallest companies to pay workers for a set number of sick days each year is drawing fire from businesses even as the H1N1 flu pandemic provides momentum for worker advocates who’ve been pushing reform for years.
Advocates argue that current federal law – The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 – does not go far enough in protecting sick workers. The law provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for employees of companies with 50 or more employees. Pointing to studies that show 60 million Americans go without paid sick time, supporters consider the issue a fundamental workplace right.
“The idea that people are working in this country with no paid sick leave is pretty foreign to the environment we work in,” said Mark MacKenzie, president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO. “There's a place where governments have a role. One of the places is to figure what is good public policy.”
Critics counter that the government should leave employee benefits to negotiation between employers and their workers. They fear that mandating paid sick leave would hurt businesses like Arthur's Market, which are already struggling to earn a profit.
“It is inappropriate for government to be trying to mandate a one-size-fits-all benefit plan for employers in the private sector,” said David Juvet, senior vice president of the Business and Industry Association, New Hampshire’s statewide chamber of commerce. “This is not the right time to be putting additional costs on the small-business community.”
State Rep. Mary Stuart Gile, a Merrimack Democrat, introduced a bill in January to give five days of paid time off to workers at New Hampshire businesses with 10 or more employees. After negotiations weakened the mandate, the bill stalled before Thanksgiving in a House committee, where it was sent for more study.
Nikki Tobiasz Murphy, director of the New Hampshire Women’s Lobby and campaign manager for the Gile’s legislation, said opposition concerns are overstated because both the state bill and a broader national bill – the Healthy Families Act – take into consideration employers that are already offering paid time off as a benefit that can be used at an employee’s discretion.
“It will not be a human resources nightmare,” Murphy said. “We do not want to penalize businesses in any way that are already doing best practices.”
In addition to bills working their way through Congress, 12 states, including every one in New England, are considering action on paid sick days. San Francisco, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., have enacted similar laws.
Kristin Smith, a family demographer at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute, said the paid sick leave effort has gained a lot of visibility because President Obama and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged people to stay home from work or school if they have flu-like symptoms.
“This has been an issue for a long time, and maybe it’s gaining more momentum because of H1N1, but I don’t know that it’s been an effective tool,” Smith said.
Along with the Healthy Families Act, which was originally introduced in Congress five years ago and would mandate up to seven days of paid sick leave for businesses with 15 or more employees, there are also two pending emergency measures focused on containing the H1N1 outbreak.
U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., said he is skeptical of assertions about the innocuous nature of both the Healthy Families Act and the two emergency bills, and has decided to adopt a wait-and-see stance.
“If it makes workers more productive, I think it’s good for business, although it imposes some burdens on business,” Hodes said. “I am concerned, especially at this time, with a fragile economy.”
Advocates argue that having millions of Americans without paid sick time actually hurts businesses because of what they term “presenteeism” – when employees show up to work sick so they don’t lose pay and end up infecting their fellow workers.
Yet those on the front lines of human resources at small-to-mid-size companies, even those that offer some form of paid time off, worry about the economic impact of any new benefits laws.
At Bancroft Contracting Corp., a Maine construction company with a permanent field office in Berlin, N.H., which already provides some paid time off, human resources head Harold Skelton said, “We don't have money like that to throw around.”
Skelton, who oversees about 150 employees, cautioned that “something would have to give. That’s really a considerable impact on our bottom line.”
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Support Program Prepares Members of N.H. National Guard and Families
Mental Health
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Dec. 5, 2009
WASHINGTON – Patrick Sadlemire and Kaileigh Hubbard, who have been dating for two years, have always had communication problems. Little things like calling the landlord to fix a faucet or deciding what they would have for dinner were hard for them to work out, Hubbard said.
“After weeks of bottling my emotions up, something as simple as a bottle cap on the floor would make me verbally throw everything at him but the kitchen sink,” Hubbard, a Concord pre-school teacher, said. “He would become more defensive about all the issues I was bringing up to him at once and would say just about anything to me to make me stop. It was becoming very scary.”
In addition to difficulty communicating, Sadlemire said, he has anger issues and they have financial problems.
Sadlemire, 24, a produce associate at Hannaford Supermarkets in Concord, joined the New Hampshire National Guard four years ago and is among the 140 members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment who are preparing for deployment to Afghanistan early next year.
As a member of the New Hampshire National Guard, Sadlemire was able to get help in working out solutions to the problems the couple was facing. In July Peter Collins was assigned to them as a “care coordinator” by the Full Cycle Deployment Program, a New Hampshire National Guard program that could be copied by other National Guard units across the country.
Started two and half years ago, the program adds pre-deployment planning to the nationwide Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, which provides National Guard and Reserve members and their families with information, services and referrals during and after deployment, according to Col. Rick Greenwood, director of manpower and personnel for the New Hampshire National Guard.
When a service member signs up with the Full Cycle Deployment Program, the member and his or her family are assigned a care coordinator, who develops a lasting relationship with the member and the family, Greenwood said.
A care coordinator, who must have a minimum of a master’s degree in social work or a related field, acts as a case manager who helps service members and their families to figure out what needs and problems might lie ahead and to assess situations across a spectrum of domains. The care coordinator then either offers guidance directly or coordinates with service providers in the civilian community who can present the families with the help they need.
“We provide the individual care and attention to our service members and their families prior to the deployment,” Greenwood said. “The pre-deployment planning is the biggest difference that New Hampshire is doing now.”
The most common problems service members and their families have encountered involve financial, emotional and legal issues, according to Collins, a licensed social worker for 25 years. He’s also helped people deal with relationship issues and the preparation for and anticipation of what children’s reactions might be.
“In pre-deployment planning, we put together a fairly detailed plan that takes the knowledge that we have about service members and families, and some of the problems they’ve experienced in deployment and in reintegration, and we kind of take that step forward, and that can minimize or take away problems from developing later on,” Collins said.
“A lot of the problems that service members face could be mitigated or lessened if intervention was provided before they deploy, if they could anticipate what might come up, and start to put preventive and proactive supports in place,” said Daisy Wojewoda, project director of veterans’ services at Easter Seals New Hampshire, the nonprofit that contracted with the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and the New Hampshire Guard to provide care coordinators.
Approximately 1,400 of the Guard are going to deploy in the next 18 months, according to Greenwood. What differentiates them from regular active-duty Army is that they live a civilian life rather than on a military base and that they and their families don’t get the service and support a military base would provide.
The New Hampshire model was recognized by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who included the Yellow Ribbon Plus amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama at the end of October.
“New Hampshire is leading the nation in developing programs to assist our National Guard, reservists and their families before, during and after deployment,” Shaheen said in a statement. Providing personalized assistance is one of the greatest ways to honor the sacrifice and dedication of the members of the military, she said.
From Sept. 11, 2001 to Sept. 30, 2009, according to the Department of Defense, about 1.4 million regular active-duty personnel of all branches were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about 570,000 National Guard and Reserve troops were mobilized, of which about 28 percent were deployed two or more times. Of the total number of National Guard and Reserve troops, 2,900 list New Hampshire as home.
The Yellow Ribbon Plus amendment seeks to evaluate and improve the nationwide Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, calling on the Pentagon to identify lessons learned from programs that have expanded beyond Yellow Ribbon, including New Hampshire’s Full Cycle Deployment Program.
It’s not certain that the new Yellow Ribbon Program will have the personalized service that the New Hampshire National Guard provides, according to Lt. Col. Les’ Melnyk, a Pentagon spokesman. It will require extensive collaboration among Department of Defense agencies and each state’s National Guard, he said.
“It's one thing to be able to handle problems as they develop, it's another to prevent problems from developing,” Collins said. “And if that can happen across the country, that would be a wonderful thing.”
After about five months of weekly meetings with Collins, Sadlemire and Hubbard are more stable financially, and they have been able not to let their fights escalate to the point where they’re yelling, Sadlemire said.
“I have been able to remain calm during tense conversations or situations,” he said.
Hubbard said that Collins has changed their life. “He came into the relationship at our lowest point, picked us up off of the ground, sat us on our butt and said let's fix this thing,” she said.
Sadlemire left Dec. 8 for six to eight weeks of training in Indiana before going to Afghanistan.
Although still terrified, Hubbard said, she tries to stay positive about Sadlemire’s deployment.
“Like so many other significant others and soldiers, I am ready for it to begin,” she said. “I am thankful that, through my work with Peter, I am more equipped to handle the stresses of deployment.”
“This program offers sanity and stability – two things that go out the window when your soldier leaves,” she added. “To have someone who understands the process is invaluable.”
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Sen. Shaheen Hears Concerns Over Health Reform from AARP members in N.H.
AARP
New Hampshire Union Leader
Joseph Markman
Boston University Washington News Service
11/19/09
WASHINGTON – Following the unveiling of the Senate Democratic leadership’s version of health care reform, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., fielded questions ranging from Medicare cuts to prescription drug costs on a teleconference call with 5,900 New Hampshire AARP members Thursday morning.
The legislation, which the Congressional Budget Office said would cost $848 billion over 10 years and extend insurance coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans, would also impose higher Medicare payroll taxes on couples making more than $250,000 a year and trim various aspects of Medicare, including $118 billion over 10 years from Medicare Advantage spending.
Joanna from Canaan, one of the AARP members calling in and a self-described “big supporter” of a government-run insurance option, urged Shaheen to convert some of her Republican colleagues into getting behind the so-called public option in the Senate bill, which would allow individual states to opt out.
“The government has shown with Medicare that they know what they’re doing with health care,” Joanna said, “and I have more confidence in a government-run program than private companies.”
Shaheen responded that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bill would spur competition through its public option, but that the legislation was only a “starting point” and would change as it faced vigorous debate.
The senator also suggested Joanna call Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., to help convert him herself.
Gregg said recently about the opt-out government-run insurance plan: “Assuming that the states will opt out of a federally subsidized government-run plan is like assuming your children will opt out of their allowance.”
Barbara from Salem said she is a diabetic and wondered about the Senate’s fix for the Medicare Part D “doughnut-hole” prescription drug coverage gap, in which she finds herself every year.
“There are some changes in the bill that I think will help with this,” Shaheen said. The legislation would provide a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs and provide a better path for generic drugs to get to the market.
“It’s a good start. Obviously we need to keep working,” Shaheen said.
Donna from Merrimack, who said her son pays $700 per month in premiums to a private insurer, asked if the measures before Congress would alleviate the financial pain people like her son face.
“There are changes in the bill to help folks with the cost of insurance coverage,” Shaheen said. “It provides subsidies so you only have to pay a certain part of your income.”
On the cost-cutting front, Fred from New Ipswich said he was a senior and very concerned about Medicare cuts in the health reform bills.
“How can you comfort me that Medicare will not be diminished in the future?” Fred asked.
Shaheen responded by calling attention to an aspect of the bill she introduced in September that would help senior citizens with follow-up care after leaving the hospital, significantly reducing the cost to Medicare of re-hospitalization.
“There are real savings we can provide by doing a better job providing health care to people,” Shaheen said.
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UNH Professor’s Love of the Ocean Brings Him on Course to Help White House
ROSENBERG
New Hampshire Union Leader
Joseph Markman
Boston University Washington News Service
11/12/09
WASHINGTON – University of New Hampshire professor Andrew Rosenberg’s trip to the Galapagos Islands to survey sea turtles when he was 17 may not have sparked his desire to work on the ocean, but it certainly helped cement it.
“His focus was always on the water and on marine stuff, ever since I met him,” said Peter Thomas, a friend of Rosenberg’s since high school and now an official with the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission.
“As his friend I probably didn't realize how intense he was academically,” Thomas said.
Rosenberg, a marine sciences professor and former deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, is working as a temporary adviser to a White House task force on the use of the nation’s coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, which President Obama created in June, is working to set rules for marine spatial planning, which many officials refer to as ocean zoning, to deal with disagreements among commercial, recreational and conservation interests competing for use of the nation’s waters.
Sailing with his father at an early age helped Rosenberg develop a strong connection to the sea.
“I always knew that I wanted to work on the ocean,” he said in an interview at a Washington hotel between meetings of the nonprofit environmental group Conservation International. “I liked science. I definitely didn’t want to be a lawyer like my father and my sister and my brother.”
Rosenberg, who is 54, was born in Boston and grew up in Newton, Mass., where his father, brother and sister live today. His mother, a speech therapist, died a few years ago.
As a teenager visiting his family’s home on Cape Cod, Rosenberg said he found himself fascinated with marine biology when he helped a neighbor analyze invertebrate samples and examine oil dispersion on a man-made lake.
That neighbor was Dr. Shields Warren, known for leading a team to Japan after World War II to study and aid atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Though the experiments were “small-scale stuff,” Rosenberg said, the time working with Shields was very influential.
Rosenberg graduated with a bachelor of science degree in fisheries biology in 1978 from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and earned a master’s in oceanography in 1980 from Oregon State University and a doctorate in biology in 1984 from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
He will be working in Washington part-time, commuting back home to Gloucester, Mass., his wife, Marian, and his UNH graduate students for part of the week. He is also taking on the position of senior vice president for science and knowledge at Conservation International, where he will oversee 70 scientists in 40 countries.
Paul Sandifer, who served with Rosenberg on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, said Rosenberg is a good negotiator.
“He tends to push for as much conservation in order to sustain a resource,” Sandifer said. “But he’s also very realistic about what we need to do to make sure people still get to use the resource.”
The commission’s findings are now being used to help the Ocean Policy Task Force, which Rosenberg will be advising, to set up a transparent, public process for deciding how the ocean can be used, depending on the environmental, economic and social effects of proposed projects. Rosenberg said that there are a number of federal agencies that deal with the ocean and that the task force will try to figure out how they can work together.
Lynn Rutter, a program coordinator at UNH’s Ocean Process and Analysis Laboratory, said that she started working in the field just as ecosystem-based environmental management first began to take off, and that it has thrived in large part because of Rosenberg’s efforts.
Rutter has worked with Rosenberg both as a student and a co-worker at the university, and said she is constantly amazed by his ability to connect with and drive students to succeed.
“He gets people to really work to their greatest potential with a lot of autonomy,” Rutter said. “It’s a very special skill to both be able to personally do well with people and have success with [analysis].”
“I don’t know how he manages to do everything he does,” said Lindsey Fong, a UNH graduate student who studied for a degree in natural resources under Rosenberg. “He is the reason for all my success in graduate school.”
Christine M. Glunz, a spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement, “His experience as a member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, as well as his expertise on many relevant ocean-related issues, makes him a valuable addition.”
At the end of the year, when his advising duties come to an end, Rosenberg will take a leave of absence from the university and continue to work in Washington for Conservation International, where, he joked, he is “in charge of all knowledge” though not necessarily wisdom.
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Veterans History Project Collects War Stories
VHP
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 10, 2009
WASHINGTON – Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., announced Monday her office is participating in the Veterans History Project in conjunction with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, encouraging veterans to tell their stories for future generations.
“We honor the selfless service of our nation’s veterans, who put themselves in harm’s way so that Americans can enjoy the comforts of peace and freedom,” Shaheen said in a statement. “New Hampshire has more than 130,000 veterans, many of whom served in conflicts around the globe, and I’m proud to work with the Library of Congress to make sure New Hampshire veterans’ stories are available for future generations.”
The Veterans History Project, created in 2000, collects first-hand recollections of the nation’s wartime veterans. The stories are either written or recorded with a video camera or an audiotape recorder. The project also collects original diaries, letters, maps and photographs.
Shaheen said that there is information on her Web site for New Hampshire veterans who want to record their stories and that assistance is available from her staff.
The project relies on voluntary participation of veterans. The Library of Congress is receiving about 100 collections per week, and has about 67,000 collections, with close to 7,000 fully digitized and available online, according to Monica Mohindra, senior program officer for the project.
“We’re hoping to encourage and inspire citizens across the country to interview the veterans in their lives,” Mohindra said in a phone interview. “Rather than putting the burden on the veterans themselves to tell their stories, we’re asking the country to interview the veterans. Honor them by interviewing them and collecting their stories.”
The project works with congressional offices, educational institutions and various organizations across the country, including the library in Madison, N.H., the Manchester VA Medical Center, the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton and the University of New Hampshire Center for the Humanities.
In coordination with the Veterans Home, one of Shaheen’s staff members interviewed three New Hampshire veterans and videotaped their stories for the project’s archives.
So far, the project has preserved 145 New Hampshire veterans’ stories. However, collecting stories from New Hampshire veterans doesn’t seem to be that easy.
“So far it’s been hard to drum up interests among veterans and among people to collect stories,” said Mary Cronin, director of the Madison Library, which has participated in the project for about a year but has not had any veterans share their stories.
Cronin said the library is trying to do more networking and get the word out to the community. She even put the information on Twitter this week, hoping to collect more stories, she said.
“Some veterans are reluctant to talk about those war experiences because they’re traumatic. That’s a hurdle for them.” Debra Krinsky of the VA Medical Center said. “We have to let the veterans come to us and want to share their experience.”
The center has participated in the project for about five years and has about 40 veterans’ collections, said Krinsky, the center’s acting public affairs officer.
The New Hampshire Veterans Home joined the project four years ago and has about 15 collections, including the three recently recorded in cooperation with Shaheen’s office, according to Jackie Bonafide at the Veterans Home.
“If you don’t pass that [war experience] along through oral history, you’re missing a lot. It’s very important for future generations to preserve that oral history,” Bonafide said.
“It’s very significant,” Kinsky said, “and it’s very beneficial for them [veterans] to know that their contributions and their sacrifices have been recorded and documented and will be saved for future generations.”
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Republic Campaign Leadership Pulls Away From Senate Primaries
NRSC PULLBACK
New Hampshire Union Leader
Joseph Markman
Boston University Washington News Service
11/05/09
WASHINGTON – An announcement by the National Republican Senatorial Committee that it will not give money or support to the Senate campaign of Kelly Ayotte or any other Republican Senate candidate running in a primary contest in 2010 makes no difference to the campaign, according to an Ayotte spokesman.
NRSC Chairman Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told ABC News that endorsements are “overrated” considering their potential for negativity and that his committee “will not spend money in a contested primary. There’s no incentive for us to weigh in.”
As both parties scrambled Thursday to react to Cornyn’s statement, they disagreed sharply over the impact of his words.
New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesman Derek Richer argued that the announcement was “devastating” for Ayotte and that her four potential primary opponents “must now smell blood in the water.”
Cornyn’s statement came on the heels of the GOP’s Tuesday defeat in upstate New York, where a historically reliable Republican House seat was lost to a Democrat after a fight among Republicans over who should be their party’s candidate. The moderate Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava quit the race at the last minute after conservative grass-roots organizations and national figures such as Rush Limbaugh rallied around a more conservative candidate.
Brooks Kochvar, the campaign manager for Ayotte, who stepped down as state attorney general in July to run for the Senate seat, said the NRSC’s announcement will not change what’s going on in New Hampshire.
“It doesn’t have any impact on our race at all,” Kochvar said. “Her campaign has been focused on New Hampshire.”
New Hampshire Democrats, in a statement Wednesday night, called the announcement a “serious blow” to Ayotte and questioned whether Cornyn should ask Ayotte to return the $10,000 he has donated to her campaign from his leadership political action committee.
“He can’t say on the one hand he isn’t involved in the primary while giving Ayotte $10,000 with the other hand,” Richer said on Thursday. “Half of that money is earmarked for use in the primary.”
Kochvar said that if individual senators want to help or contribute to Ayotte’s campaign, she welcomes their support, but she’s focused right now on New Hampshire voters.
The Senate seat is being vacated by Sen. Judd Gregg. Rep. Paul Hodes, currently in his second term in the House, is currently the only announced Democratic candidate.
“Paul Hodes and the Democrats can say what they want, but the fact is Kelly Ayotte has significantly more support from the state of New Hampshire,” Kochvar said. “Paul Hodes’s campaign is desperate. He’s trailing in the polls, and they try to manufacture stories about her being a Washington candidate when Paul Hodes has never met a liberal special-interest group he doesn’t like.”
Sean Mahoney, a Porstmouth businessman and one of Ayotte’s potential primary rivals, said the national committee’s action will not affect his decision-making as he explores a possible Senate candidacy.
Nevertheless, Mahoney said, he appreciated Cornyn’s remarks.
“New Hampshire has a long tradition of campaigns rooted in retail, grassroots campaigning, and I’m heartened to see the Washington elite recognize the vital role that grassroots Republicans will play in the primary next September,” he said in a telephone interview.
Republican businessman Bill Binnie of Rye, declared his candidacy for the seat on Wednesday and said Thursday that he also supported Cornyn’s decision.
“The NRSC recognizes this campaign will be competitive and ultimately needs to be decided by the people of New Hampshire,” Binnie said in a statement. “This is the right thing to do.”
Senate Passes Unemployment Benefits Extension, Expansion of Housing Tax Credit
BENEFITS VOTE
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 4, 2009
WASHINGTON – The Senate voted 98-0 Wednesday to approve an economic relief bill that would extend unemployment benefits, expand tax credits for homebuyers and offer tax breaks to businesses hit by the recession. Both Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., supported the bill.
“Many of our nation’s unemployed workers have been anxiously waiting for these benefits to come through, and I’m happy to report that relief is on the way,” Shaheen said in a statement. “I am proud of the bill that passed the Senate today. It will help nearly 2 million Americans who are still unable to find work, protect small businesses struggling in this challenging economic climate and stimulate economic activity to help create jobs and grow our economy.”
Gregg in a statement called the extension of unemployment benefits “an appropriate and needed effort.”
”I supported this measure, as I believe it will provide important assistance to those hit hard by unemployment and incentives to boost economic activity,” Gregg said. “It also is fully offset and will not add to the deficit.”
The Senate bill is estimated to cost $2.4 billion over 10 years and its backers say its cost would be fully offset by an extension of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act until June 30, 2011.
The vote originally was scheduled for Thursday but came to the Senate floor late Wednesday afternoon.
The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act, would extend unemployment insurance by up to 14 additional weeks for jobless workers in all 50 states and extend benefits for six weeks beyond the 14 for workers in hardest-hit states with unemployment levels of 8.5 percent and above.
The House passed a bill a few weeks ago that extends benefits for 13 weeks to jobless workers in the 27 states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent. The Senate-passed legislation will now go to the House, where quick passage is expected.
The $8,000 tax credit currently available to first-time homebuyers would be extended through June for buyers who sign purchase agreements by the end of April. In addition, a $6,500 credit would be available to homeowners who have been in their current residence for the last five years or more and are buying another house.
The credit is available only for the purchase of principal residences with a purchase price of $800,000 or less.
“The slumping housing market is one of the main causes of this recession, and it is absolutely critical that we got get it moving again,” Shaheen said. “Winter months are some of the toughest for the housing and construction industries, and this tax credit extension should help to get us over that hump. But this tax credit should not and will not exist forever.”
Companies of every size hit by the recession would be allowed to carry back losses incurred in either 2008 or 2009 to get refunds of taxes paid in the previous five years.
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Stimulus Bill Vote Expected This Week
HOUSING CREDIT
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Nov. 3, 2009
WASHINGTON – After weeks of advocacy by Democratic senators, the Senate is expected to vote Thursday on an economic relief bill that would extend unemployment benefits, expand tax credits for home buyers and offer tax breaks to businesses struck by the recession.
“I’m pleased we’re finally getting to vote on Thursday,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., “but I’m very disappointed that it’s taken so long.”
After an overwhelming procedural vote on Monday that moved the bill forward, Shaheen expressed confidence the Senate will approve the legislation.
“I think it will pass with a strong vote,” Shaheen said in a phone interview.
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said in a statement: “In these difficult times it is appropriate to extend unemployment insurance temporarily for those who have been unable to find work. I support extending unemployment benefits, but doing so in a way that is paid for and that does not pass the costs onto future generations. The current proposal before the Senate is properly paid for. That said, I am hopeful that we will be allowed to offer amendments to improve this important package as we continue exploring additional ways to spur economic growth.”
This legislation would extend unemployment insurance by up to 14 additional weeks for jobless workers and extend benefits for six weeks beyond the 14 for workers in states with unemployment levels of 8.5 percent and above.
The $8,000 tax credit currently available to all first-time homebuyers would be extended through June for buyers who sign purchase agreements by the end of April. The tax credit, part of the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February, was set to expire at the end of this month.
In addition, a $6,500 credit would be available to homeowners who have been in their current residence for the last five years or more and are buying another house.
“The housing market is one of the things that got us into this difficult economy, and being able to continue to stimulate the housing market is going to be very important,” Shaheen said.
By helping homebuyers and businesses, Shaheen said, the legislation could boost the housing and construction industry and create jobs.
Companies of every size hit by the recession would be allowed to carry back losses incurred in either 2008 or 2009 to get refunds of taxes paid in the previous five years.
“As we help businesses with their losses, that’s going to encourage them to hold on to their employees and to be able to grow,” Shaheen said.
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