Category: Aoife Connors
Shaheen, Working on Health Care Reform, Sees Challenges Aheadd
Health care reform
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
April 22, 2009
WASHINGTON – Melinda Haney, a 46-year-old mother of two from Rochester, N.H., says she is the perfect poster person for the importance of Medicaid. “If I didn’t have Medicaid, I would be dead.” Haney said.
Medicaid is a system of health care provided for low-income families and people with disabilities. Before she became a Medicaid patient in March 2006, Haney said she could not afford to take all of her prescribed medications, which cost more than $1,000 a month.
Haney, who has recovered from three bouts of cancer, said, “I wouldn’t be here for my kids if it wasn’t for health insurance.” Insulin medication, to regulate diabetic blood sugar levels, costs her $800 a month. “Even if I was working 60 hours a week, I could never afford my Medicaid bills,” Haney said.
Unable to work because of her illnesses, the former nurse assistant said she takes 14 pills in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and 12 at night, for other medical conditions.
Acknowledging that she is one of the lucky ones, Haney said, “many patients are really sick and dying because they can’t afford their medication.” Many people do not qualify for Medicaid because of their incomes, but still do not make enough to pay for expensive prescriptions.
President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders have said implementing comprehensive, affordable health care reform before the end of 2009 is a top priority. According to the Department of Health and Human Services 46 million Americans have no health insurance and 25 million are underinsured. And those are numbers that almost certainly have grown during the current steep recession.
Proposals on how to reform the system are contained in a 98-page report by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The Baucus proposals include reducing the cost of Medicare by rearranging private plan options, expanding Medicaid coverage to everyone living below the poverty level, increasing competition in the prescription drug industry and focusing on preventive rather than acute hospital care.
Baucus and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, are leading a series of hearings and roundtable discussions to consider the proposals under consideration. The White House Office of Health Care Reform, meanwhile, has published similar proposals as part of President Obama’s health reform plan.
Baucus and Kennedy say they hope to have a bill before Congress by June and Obama said he wants reform legislation passed by the fall. James Gelfand, a health policy analyst with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said, “Sen. Kennedy will be the leader on the issue; he is playing the role of master convenor, bringing everyone together.”
The creation of a national insurance exchange that acts as a marketplace for Americans to compare competitive company plans and choose the one that best suits their needs is also proposed in the Baucus plan. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H) said the insurance exchange could be “a critical component” of reform and “is certainly something I would support.”
There is ongoing debate about whether a single-payer (government) system or a competitive market-based system (private companies or employer-based) offering health insurance plans is better.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), one of the Republican senators chosen to lead the GOP’s health reform proposals in Congress, said, “One part of the answer to solving the health care crisis lies in a consumer-based, private market approach, which helps drive innovation and reduce costs.” Gregg warned, “We do not want to go down the path of a nationalized, single-payer health care system run by the federal government. This would lead to rationing and a reduction in quality of the care available to all Americans.”
Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now, a national group lobbying for affordable health care, said, “A public insurance plan, with the option of private insurance, has a much better record of controlling costs than private health insurance.”
Dr. Terry M. Bennett, a primary-care physician in Rochester, N.H., said regulating the private insurance industry is essential because right now, “the private health insurance industry’s purpose in life is to make money; they’re an industry, so they’re concerned with the health of their bottom line, not the people they serve.”
He compared reforming the health care system to “breaking all of the old chinaware and buying a new dining set, table and silverware.”
One of the main obstacles to achieving health care reform is how it would be paid for. Reforming the system is estimated to cost $50 billion to $65 billion a year, according to Obama. A portion of the revenue to finance the reform would come from a $630 billion reserve fund, included in the President’s fiscal year 2010 budget, to be created over 10 years.
The United States spends $2.4 trillion each year on health care, and the rising costs are threatening the country’s long-term fiscal security, according to the Baucus report. The Congressional Budget Office says that almost one-third of health care spending – $700 billion – does not improve patient health outcomes.
Gregg said that with 17 percent of the gross domestic product being spent on health care, “there is a significant amount of money already in the system that if allocated in a more efficient way, would go a long way towards achieving comprehensive health care reform.”
Shaheen said that reforming the Medicare and Medicaid systems and instituting cost savings in those systems will be essential to the success of any comprehensive health care reform plan.
She singled out Medicare Advantage Plans as a system that needs to cut costs, It lets people 65 and older choose between the basic Medicare plan and a private plan that provides extra benefits but sometimes costs participants more.
“The government right now pays 114 percent for a Medicare Advantage Plan of what it would pay for someone in a traditional Medicare plan,” Shaheen said. “That doesn’t make sense to be paying more.”
Obama has called for eliminating excessive subsidies paid through a Medicare Advantage Plan and instead paying what it costs to treat patients under traditional Medicare.
Shaheen said lowering the cost of prescription drugs is also an important part of health care reform.
Shaheen is proposing that re-importation of generic drugs from other countries be allowed. “So for example, in New Hampshire, I can go to Canada, right over the border, and purchase most drugs for much less cost than I can purchase them in New Hampshire, and right now you’re not supposed to do that,” Shaheen said,. “We need to change the law, to allow the re-importation of safe drugs from Canada and other countries, if they pass the Food and Drug Administration requirements.”
She added that generic drugs need to come on the market more quickly. “Right now our patent laws have prevented a lot of generic drugs from competing with those brand-name drugs and I think we’ve got to make changes in our patent laws so that they are able to compete and get into the market place faster,” she said.
Generic drugs cost 20 to 30 percent less than brand-name products. But, a patented drug allows the drug company to set the price for the duration of the patent, without any government control.
The Obama plan states that prevention of chronic illness and disease must become a cornerstone of a reformed system. Shaheen said, “Right now we have a system that’s based on acute care, on hospitalization, but we need a system that promotes wellness and preventive care.”
To achieve this, Shaheen said, the incentives have to change. The Baucus plan proposes focusing on prevention of chronic diseases like heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer.
The key element of health care reform in 2009 is about “creating a system where our health, both our personal health, our family’s health and our country’s financial health, comes first,” said Kirsch of Health Care for America Now, “and I think we’re going to do that, because we can’t sustain the current system any longer; it really is bankrupting families and our nation.”
Shaheen agrees. “We cannot wait,” she said.
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Recovery Director Keeps Watchful Eye on Stimulus Expenditures
Recovery Director
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
April 10, 2009
WASHINGTON – Tracking the expenditure of $300 million in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act for your state is a demanding job. Try planning a wedding at the same time. That gives you a sense of the craziness that surrounds the life of Lisa Levine, newly appointed recovery director in the office of Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.).
Constituents throughout the 2nd Congressional District in New Hampshire contact Levine looking for information on how to get access to stimulus funds. Levine directs them to the competitive grants and application processes.
Trying to understand the stimulus plan can be overwhelming for most people, whether you are a small-business person who needs help or a community group. “My job is to direct – weave through the recovery plan – and figure out if there is opportunity for them to access funds, and if there is, how they can access that opportunity,” Levine said.
Her role also involves “working with the Obama administration and Governor [John] Lynch’s office to make sure the Recovery Act funding is being properly spent,” she said. “It must help New Hampshire cities and towns rebuild our infrastructure, our schools, and ultimately create jobs.”
Levine travels to communities, providing information and assistance. Recently, she said, “I met the head of the New Hampshire Police Chiefs Association, in Lincoln. I gave him some good leads about where the police chiefs could access stimulus money.”
Currently she is working with Keene, which needs a new fire station, Levine said. There is a competitive grant in the Recovery Act specifically for fire stations. The grant is available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“The Recovery Act funding is targeted at building fire stations, because many fire stations are falling apart,” Levine said.
What is most interesting about the stimulus funding, Levine said, is that it is not as complicated as potentially it could have been. “I’m finding that we are getting information in a timely way,” she said.
Born in Massachusetts, Levine’s childhood was split between her two homes, one in Newton, Mass., and the other in Newbury, N.H. “On Friday afternoons my family traveled to Newbury, New Hampshire, until Sunday,” living in the Lake Sunapee region, Levine said.
Levine graduated from Tufts University and then went to law school at Suffolk University, graduating in 1995.
“It was a bad job year if you were graduating from law school,” Levine said, so she moved to Washington.
“On average most people who move to Washington stay there for three or four years, so me staying ten was a little extraordinary,” Levine said.
After working four years for Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Levine entered the world of lobbying in Washington. She spent the next 18 months working for the American Association of University Women.
During the next five years, Levine worked in Washington as a lobbyist for a large Indiana law firm.
In 2005, Levine moved home to New Hampshire, where her “entire extended family and cousins were living in Newbury.”
She settled in Concord, where she now lives with fiancé Joshua Urozitch. Levine said they can’t wait to get married in September, in the Lake Sunapee region.
The congressman will laugh when I tell you this, Levine said, “but these days most of my time away from the office is spent planning my wedding.”
Rushing into the Filene’s Basement bridal sale at noon recently, Levine and her mother were on the search for the “pretty wedding dress,” that the 38-year-old so desired. “People queue up at 6 a.m. and run into the store when it opens, hoarding dresses,” Levine said. Being an organizer, Levine had read online that going in at noon is recommended, “when the madness has quietened down.”
Her dream came through when she found the prettiest dress that “cost her $250 but retailed at $2,000.”
“Life is a bit crazy,” Levine laughed. “We have been so busy finding a location, finding someone to marry us, finding a tent and tables for the reception,” and the list seems to go on.
It doesn’t faze Levine, who is completely at ease and light hearted about the workload and busy schedule.
Upon his election in November 2006, Rep. Hodes asked Levine to work for him as director of special projects. She said, “I work with constituents to find federal funding for projects, which is why the congressman felt I was fit to become recovery director.” Levine is also the congressman’s legal counsel.
“Lisa helps me to keep New Hampshire tax dollars right here in the Granite State, so we can fund critical projects for our state’s future,” Hodes said.
House Democratic freshmen and members elected for the first time in 2006 were encouraged to appoint a recovery director or economic development coordinator, according to a spokesperson in the office of the speaker of the House.
More than 60 Democratic representatives have appointed recovery directors, said Chris Barnes, press director at the Democratic Caucus.
Republican members are not expected to appoint recovery directors since they are less enthusiastic about the stimulus funding, he added. No Senators have appointed recovery directors.
Levine works closely with Orville “Bud” Fitch, whom Gov. Lynch recently appointed as director of the state’s Office of Economic Stimulus.
“Our role is to initially identify every potential opportunity for New Hampshire in the stimulus bill,” Fitch said.
Communication about where stimulus money is spent is essential, Levine said. “Everything done in New Hampshire must be reported both on recovery.gov, the federal Web site and on nh.gov/recovery, the state Web site.”
The recovery director acts as an early-warning system if the funds are not being distributed efficiently, Levine said.
The time frame for the distribution of the stimulus funds varies among government departments. Levine said, “The funding is just beginning to flow from lots of federal agencies.”
The stimulus money is expected to create almost 16,000 jobs in New Hampshire. “We will be able to see, in a fairly short time frame, some of these jobs created and others protected,” Levine said.
Levine is optimistic that as this money begins to come into New Hampshire “people and cities and towns will begin to see some relief.”
Having traveled throughout the state, she said she was aware that people are suffering.
“The recession is pervasive, it is everywhere,” Levine said. “If folks are not losing their jobs, they know someone who has lost their job or they know someone who is struggling.”
The stimulus law is expected to create many different types of jobs. Levine said, “It’s not just one industry, not just one type of project coming into the state; there will be transportation and road projects, green jobs and funding for services.”
Levine said she thinks there will be improvement. “There is a tenacity in the state among New Hampshire folks to fight for themselves and fight for their families, because we are a proud people,” Levine said.
It is going to take time, she added, “but my hope is that as this federal funding comes to New Hampshire, we can really have an impact on people’s lives. That is the ultimate goal of this legislation.”
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Hanover High School Student Awarded $2,500 in Essay Contest
ESSAY CONTEST
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 31, 2009
WASHINGTON – Libby Tolman, a Hanover High School sophomore, has been awarded $2,500 for winning second place in the “Being an American” essay contest.
Tolman was selected as one of three finalists from the New England region, winning an all-expenses trip with her U.S. history teacher, Pamela Miller, to Washington from March 29-31.
Carolyn Kelle, also a Hanover High School student, was awarded an honorable mention and $250 in the competition.
The winners, chosen from more than 31,000 student entries from across the country, were announced at a gala dinner in the Renaissance Washington Hotel on Tuesday night.
The goal of the essay contest was to explore the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship and civic values. Students were asked to write an essay on the question, “What civic value do you believe is most essential to being an American?”
The competition was open to students in grades 9 to 12. Tolman’s essay described the value of justice.
A special guest, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, addressed the winning students and teachers at the dinner.
Tolman said, “I chose justice because when people talk about America, they talk about rights and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
The 15-year-old said, “I think that without justice there would be no way to protect those rights.”
Kelle selected perseverance as her civic value. She wrote, “Nothing can be accomplished if we do not try. There is no giving up, no backing down, if one truly perseveres.”
While in Washington, the students visited the National Archives and the Supreme Court and met with pro football Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green.
The essay competition was sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute, a nonprofit educational organization that encourages students to learn about America’s founding documents and how they continue to shape society.
In her essay, Tolman wrote, “One of the unfortunate things about justice is that it does not occur by itself; the fundamental American idea that citizens are protected from the seizure of liberty by their government no matter who they are must be advanced and developed by citizens themselves.”
Miller, Tolman’s teacher, said, “What struck me about Libby’s essay was her emphasis on justice as both a right as well as a responsibility for society to maintain, and I thought she brought that out very strongly in her essay.”
Miller described her winning student as advanced in her critical writing skills. “Libby has the ability to think at a higher level about ideas, and that is what we are seeing in her writing,” she said.
She said “Libby is a sophomore, while most of the winners are juniors or seniors.”
Tolman, she added, “is able to bring in basic substantive documents to think about—the Bill of Rights, the amendments or individuals in history—and she can marry those ideas together, leading to a higher level of writing.”
Miller said the ideas that came through in her student’s essay were “quiet powerful.”
Tolman, at a congressional reception held for the students in the Capitol Visitor Center Tuesday, said, “It’s really amazing in D.C., with all the cherry blossoms and everything—and we really got to see a lot of things—we saw the Constitution and the Bill of Rights at the National Archives.”
Miller said she presented the competition to her classes as “an opportunity for all of my students, but I did not require it.”
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Gregg Says Republicans Will Propose Amendments to Obama’s Budget
GOP Budget
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 24, 2009
WASHINGTON – President Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget for 2010 will change the course of the nation in a fundamental way over an extended period of time, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H, said Tuesday, as he led a press conference held by the Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee.
The biggest problem with the budget, Gregg said, is that Obama “doesn’t pay for it, even though he significantly raises taxes.”
The budget contains the largest tax increase ever, “yet those tax dollars are not used to essentially close the gap and make the budget more affordable, make spending more affordable, reduce the deficit and reduce the debt,” Gregg said.
Republicans say the budget will explode the size of government and leave the country with a debt that will be passed on to future generations. Gregg said the president has showed us that the debt will double in five years and triple in ten years. “That is an incredible statistic,” he said.
He added, “Think of the implications of that to a country, tripling the debt over 10 years that essentially increases the government debt by more than all of our budgets, all the debt ever put on the American people, from George Washington to George W. Bush.”
Gregg said it should be a serious concern for the nation that the international community, including the Chinese Central Bank, is “questioning the value of our dollar and questioning the stability of our debt, the worthiness of our debt.”
Gregg said if Obama wants to dramatically expand government spending in the next 10 years, he needs to figure out a way to pay for it.
Speaking about Obama’s initiatives on health care, energy and education in his budget, Gregg said, “I have a difference of opinion on a number of these issues and I agree with him on some other issues.”
Gregg said the Republicans intend to propose amendments to the budget that would “limit the rate of growth of government on the discretionary side, on the entitlements side,” and bring down the debt and bring down the deficit.
“We’re going to come forward with a whole series of amendments which essentially will construct what would be a budget but will be not be a formal budget on the floor,” Gregg added.
He concluded by saying that what the president’s budget is passing onto our kids “is a country they can’t afford.”
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Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in D.C.: Green Ties and Green Fountains
St. Patrick’s Day
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 17, 2009
WASHINGTON – On St. Patrick’s Day “we’re all Irish,” Rep Paul Hodes (D- N.H.) said Tuesday. “My wife’s nickname is Peggo,” Hodes said. “Pegg O’Hodes sounds very Irish, so I always say she is from the Irish side of the family.”
Celebrations marking St. Patrick’s Day were clearly visible in Washington Tuesday, and the White House water fountains on the north and south lawns were dyed green to mark the official Irish public holiday.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) marked the Irish saint’s day by wearing a green tie, promoting his Scottish-Irish roots. Hodes also sported a classy green tie with golden stars to mark the Irish day.
Hodes said in a telephone interview, “We are very lucky in New Hampshire to have a long tradition and great connection with the Irish.” The Shaskeen Irish pub in Manchester is a very popular loud and rousing spot on St. Patrick’s Day, Hodes said.
Hodes said he is a fan of the Irish stout. “I generally like half Guinness and half a good Irish ale.”
Barack Obama is another great Democratic president with strong Irish roots, Hodes said. “The surname is obviously of Irish origin, as in O’Bama.’ ”
The President extended an Irish “Cead Mile Failte” – one hundred thousand welcomes – to Irish Taoiseach (akin to prime minister) Brian Cowen and his wife, Mary. President Obama in his speech said “the bond between our countries could not be stronger.”
The two leaders quipped that their families had come from county Offaly in the Irish midlands. His great-great-great-grandfather came from Moneygall in county Offaly, Obama said, the same county that Cowen is from.
During the meeting between the two leaders, Cowen told the president there is an Irish saying, “Is Feidir Linn,” that means “yes, you can” before he presented the President with a Waterford crystal bowl of Irish shamrock. Obama said the shamrock represented OK? the deep and enduring bond between Americans and Irish.
Obama also announced Tuesday that Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney will be nominated as U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
Cowen was a special guest at the St. Patrick’s Day lunch hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Obama also attended the lunch after meeting with Cowen.
A traditional Irish lunch of smoked salmon, crab and avocado was served with a yellow pepper coulee. Also on the menu were lamb chops, fried potatoes, a fondue of vegetables and a shamrock cookie served for dessert with Ghirardelli chocolate praline mousse. Live traditional Irish music was performed by Liz Carroll and John Doyle.
Ireland is one of the most beautiful and miraculous countries, with some of the most extraordinary spots on earth, Hodes said. “It is a land of poetry and song with a tremendous spirit.”
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Hodes Sets Record for Fundraising for U.S. House Race in New Hampshire
HODES FEC
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 4, 2009
WASHINGTON – Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) during his 2008 campaign raised more than $2 million, according to year-end reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
This is a record for fundraising for a U.S. House race in New Hampshire, said Dante Scala, head of the Political Science Department at the University of New Hampshire. In 2006, when he raised $1.6 million, Hodes also set a record, Scala said.
It was a very crowded campaign field in 2008, Hodes said. “We had the presidential election, the Senate election and the House elections; so I knew it was important to have the financial means to compete.”
Scala said, “Hodes is a prodigious fundraiser; he did it in 2006 against an incumbent and he set the agenda again in 2008. Looking forward he could contend at a higher level because he is very good at raising money and can scare off challengers.”
Hodes can threaten opponents because “it is hard to contend against him,” Scala said. “He has set himself up for 2010 as a serious runner for the Senate.”
Hodes said the campaign was based on having the financial means “to tell stories. It’s a combination of having the means, the professional organization and the tools to communicate with the people of New Hampshire.”
Scala said, “Hodes showed in New Hampshire how quickly political fortunes can change by beating a Republican in 2006 and raising so much money in 2008.”
According to candidate reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Hodes raised $2,030,790 in the 2008 race and $1,648,323 in 2006.
The leading industry contributing to Hodes’ 2008 campaign was the finance, insurance and real estate sector, which gave $351,400, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group that tracks money in politics. This includes contributions by PACs as well as by individuals associated with those businesses.
Scala said since Hodes is on the House Financial Services Committee, “it’s a typical pattern that particular industries in that sector would give him funds and hope he would listen to the issues of concern to them.”
Top contributors in 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Poltics, included PACs and individuals associated with the law firm Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, $14,050; American Bankers Association, $11,500; and Dartmouth College; $10,300.
“The money Hodes raises comes from a diverse group that includes unions, business and an ideological base,” Scala said.
Hodes received $14,975 in contributions from the Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group.
Hodes received the fourth-highest amount given to a House candidate by the Human Rights Campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The contributions are based on a candidate questionnaire and a congressional scorecard, said Trevor Thomas, deputy communications director for the Human Rights Campaign.
“We look at a host of issues, to see where the candidate stands on key issues like HIV/AIDS, civil rights protections and sexual orientation,” Thomas said. “Hodes had a very good LGBT voting record, with 85 percent in the last Congress.”
The voting record was based on 11 votes during the 110th Congress that indicated where the House member stood on issues important to the Human Rights Campaign, Thomas said.
The campaign endorses incumbents with strong LGBT records, Thomas said. Hodes’ score of 85 trailed that of then-Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., who scored 100 and received $25,923 from the organization for his successful campaign for the U.S. Senate.
“I don’t vote ever with any thought in mind about what it means for contributions; I vote to serve the people of New Hampshire” Hodes said. “We all come from the same place and should be treated equally in the eyes of the law.”
During the 2008 election cycle, the Human Rights Campaign Political Action Committee contributed $5,000 to Hodes campaign in the primary election and another $5,000 in the general election, Thomas said.. The maximum contribution a PAC can give during an election cycle is $10,000.
The organization gave an additional $4,975 to the Hodes campaign during the 2008 election cycle. These funds were written off as retired debt from the 2006 cycle since the $10,000 limit was never reached in 2006, according to Thomas.
“Hodes is a reliably liberal vote…. It makes sense that such a candidate would be supported by the HRC,” Scala said.
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Gregg Wants Earmarks Removed While Shaheen Votes to Keep Them
Earmarks Vote
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 4, 2009
WASHINGTON – New Hampshire Sens. Judd Gregg (R) and Jeanne Shaheen (D) voted in opposite directions Tuesday on the McCain amendment that would freeze all earmarks in the $410 billion spending bill for the 2009 fiscal year.
The Senate voted 63-32, rejecting the amendment introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to remove all earmarks and continue funding federal programs at 2008 levels. The bill, which according to opponents isladen with pork, includes an 8 percent increase in spending from 2008 levels, doubling the rate of inflation.
McCain’s amendmentl would have eliminated almost 8,500 earmarks and cut roughly $32 billion from the spending bill.
Gregg, who voted for it, said, “Sen. McCain’s amendment would have continued funding for several federal departments at last year’s lower spending levels and, in my view, was a constructive way to restore fiscal discipline to this spending measure.”
He added at a time when “individuals, families and businesses across our country are tightening their belts, it is only appropriate for Congress to do the same.”
Earmarks are for incredibly important projects in New Hampshire that need funding, said Sen. Shaheen, who voted against the amendment. But she added that earmarks should be more transparent and it should always be clear which member of Congress requested each earmark so that they are accountable for them.
Sen. Gregg, a member of the Senate Appropriations committee, has included a number of earmarks to benefit many New Hampshire projects. These include $3 million for the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, $686,000 to provide broadband to the North Country, $856,000 for health care centers, $1.5 million for Operation Streetsweeper, and $750,000 for the New Hampshire Drug Task Force.
Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonprofit organization with a mission to eliminate waste and inefficiency in federal government, states that the Appropriations Act for fiscal 2008 included 11,610 pork projects costing $17.2 billion. They refer to a pork project as a line-item in an appropriations bill that provides tax dollars for a specific purpose outside of budget procedures.
During his campaign, President Obama pledged to put an end to ”business as usual in Washington,” promising transparency and an end to wasteful spending.
The pork-laden 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act was passed by the House Feb 25 by a vote of 245 to 178. New Hampshire Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes voted for the legislation.
The bill includes almost $8 billion for more than 8,500 pork projects included by individual members of Congress. Many department budgets have been increased by the bill including education, health and human services and transportation.
McCain’s amendment was supported by 30 Republicans and two Democrats.
In support of the McCain amendment, Sen. Gregg said, “Even as the federal budget deficit reaches record levels, my Democratic colleagues continue to add new government spending that will pass on a massive debt to our children and grandchildren that they cannot afford.”
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New Hampshire Senator Introduces Bill to Increase Food Safety Standards
FOOD
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - Legislation calling for a significant increase in the safety procedures governing the U.S. food supply was introduced Tuesday by a bipartisan group of senators, including Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
Greater authority would be given to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve the protection and safety of the U.S. food supply.
“Americans spend more than $1 trillion on food each year,” Gregg said. “When families go to the local restaurant or to the grocery story, or when children go to school, they shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not they will become ill from the food they eat.”
The bill aims to increase the frequency of inspections at all food facilities and give the FDA expanded access to records and testing results. This would allow the FDA to recall a dangerous food product if a company fails to recall a product at the agency’s request.
The recall of salmonella-tainted peanut products in January, one of the biggest food recalls in U.S. history, prompted the introduction of the legislation. More than 650 people were sickened and 9 died as a result of the national salmonella outbreak caused by contaminated peanut products.
The peanut recall, Gregg said, “highlights the need for Congress to act to modernize and strengthen our nation’s food safety laws.”
The bill would increase the FDA’s ability to detect and respond to food-borne illness outbreaks by “increasing inspections at all food facilities,” Gregg said, and would give the agency the power to suspend registered food facilities if there is a probability that the food poses a threat to consumers at both domestic and foreign facilities.
“I’m glad we are bringing this important issue to the forefront during the 111th Congress, and I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues on this bipartisan legislation to ensure the safety of our food and restore confidence in the quality of these products for families in New Hampshire and throughout our country,” he added.
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Plummeting Stock Market Leaves N.H. Residents With Poor Retirement Plans
401K’s
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March. 3, 2009
WASHINGTON – Plunging stock markets, down to the lowest level in 12 years, has caused a severe decline in the value of 401(k) retirement plans. “It feels more like a 101(k) at the moment,” Rep. Paul Hodes (D- N.H.) said Tuesday, lamenting that the value of his pension plan has been wiped out.
“I am in the same boat as many folks in New Hampshire,” he said.
Hodes said he truly appreciates the pain caused by the devaluation of 401(k)’s. “Many of my friends and people in New Hampshire are worried.”
Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said Americans have lost about $2 trillion worth of retirement savings in 401(k)s and traditional defined-benefit pension plans.
A 401(k) plan allows workers to increase the value of their retirement savings by investing a portion of their income before tax in stocks, bonds and money-market investments while deferring income taxes on the money until withdrawal. In many cases, employers match part of that investment.
The 401(k), a so-called defined-contribution plan to which employers and employees contribute, is the least secure retirement plan because it is exposed to the volatility and value of the stock market, unlike Social Security or defined-benefit pension plans, which guarantee retirees a fixed monthly sum during retirement.
Because of the financial crisis, some companies say they can no longer take any responsibility for their employee’s futures. Many, including Macy’s and United Parcel Service, have suspended their matching contributions to 401(k)s. Others have dropped the traditional plans or scaled back the benefits.
People’s pensions have certainly not been completely wiped out, Rep Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) said. “They are dramatically reduced and an extra burden, but if people keep their 401(k) pension money invested, when the economy pops up they will make money again.” It is the people retiring now who are most affected, she said.
Bruce Elmslie, professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire, agreed, saying that “if you want to build your savings to make money for you, you’ve got to invest in the stock market.”
He added, “it takes time to make money when investing in stocks.”
Elmslie advised that “if people have retirement investments in the stock market they should be left there; they have lost as much as they can lose by now.”
The stock market was overvalued in the same way that Americans overvalued debt and the housing market, Hodes said. “The subprime housing bubble of 30 years has burst and resulted in a huge stock market contraction.”
Hodes said the stock market is not yet reacting to the fundamentals of the recovery plan Congress approved last month, but the recovery is happening. “Stimulus will start kicking in this spring -- the Fed programs, TARP (The Troubled Asset Relief Program) and the recovery package are all efforts being made to restore the financial system.” He added that it will take some time, as President Obama has indicated.
Shea-Porter said, “I have heard and read a lot of the predictions and spoken to the economists in the Capitol. They say that 2009 will be very bad but we will see a turnaround in 2010 and 2011.”
“The fall in the stock market,” she added, “has a lot to do with people’s fear of the economy, the housing market and inventories. We must focus on the economy and getting banks creating credit.”
Elmslie said he had seen estimates that the earliest the economy will start to come out of the recession is June and the latest a year from now. “I think the bottom can’t be too far away now,” Elmslie said. “I would predict within six months.”
The stock market will not take as long to bottom out, he said. “We will not see a rapid rise that’s sustainable; it will rise and fall and stay at a certain level for a while, that will be the first sign that we are on the way back up.”
He said stock market advances usually precede improvements in unemployment rates by many months.
Shea-Porter said that as Congress makes changes in regulatory and financial systems, “we should look at what changes are necessary in 401(k)’s, Social Security and pensions.”
As the population ages; the burden on Social Security increases. Many have called for reform or even privatization of the system. But Hodes warned that “the risks of exposing one’s retirement to the whims of a market are not rational.”
The system is in need of reform because it is putting an increasing burden on the national debt and increasing the deficit, Elmslie said. “New Hampshire residents can expect to see decreasing benefits, one way or another.”
People will stay in the labor market longer and retire at age 66 instead of 62, in order to increase their Social Security benefit, Elmslie added. This will save the system money because there will be fewer people on the system’s rolls and for a shorter period of time.
Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School of Social Research in New York city and author of a book about the effect of pension losses on older Americans, said Social Security has been a dependable mainstay through boom and bust cycles because it has not been privatized.
“We need to make sure that our federal government is acting prudently and not spending the Social Security surplus for other needs,” she said.
Elmslie said that the main effect of the current stock market decline on the economy is that people are holding off on retirement, the values of homes have dried up and 401(k)s have shriveled.
Shea-Porter said that “a lot of people are so upset they’re not even looking at their portfolios because they have been hit so hard.”
“People have lost so much of their 401(k) savings” Hodes said, “so prudence and a reasonably conservative approach are required from the mainstream.”
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Plummeting Stock Market Leaves N.H. Residents With Poor Retirement Plans
Newest 401ks
New Hampshire Union Leader
Aoife Connors
Boston University Washington News Service
March. 3, 2009
WASHINGTON – New Hampshire families are still struggling with the economy, but Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., says encouraging signs are already evident.
“We are seeing a positive response from equity and the bond markets,” Hodes said Wednesday. “If the stock market stays up and keeps rising, it will have a beneficial effect on 401(k)’s.”
Recent plunges in the stock market that took it down to its lowest level in 12 years caused a severe decline in the value of 401(k) retirement plans for many New Hampshire residents.
Americans have lost about $2 trillion worth of retirement savings in 401(k)’s and traditional defined-benefit pension plans, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Hodes warned that people cannot rely on a market rebound to replenish the value of their retirement plans.
“In the long term,” he said, “we must return to a manner of fiscal prudence and cautious investing in our retirement plans.”
Craig Copeland, a senior research assistant at the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute, said, “this downturn is going to greatly change the future of retirement plans and the course of people’s retirement.”
He said “it will take years to regain the value of their pensions for those who heavily invested their 401(k) in equity.”
Speaking about the improvements in the stock market in recent days, Copeland said, “One or two days is really hard to tell. It’s going to take sustained levels of improvement; it’s not going to take care of itself in just one or two weeks.”
He cautioned that “in order for people to get the value of their stock back, they will have to stay investing.”
Many economists say it will be 2010 before the economy starts to pick up. Copeland’s view is that “when the stock market improves, it will be a strong indicator on the value of pensions.”
A 401(k) plan allows workers to increase the value of their retirement savings by investing a portion of their before-tax income in stocks, bonds and money-market investments while deferring income taxes until withdrawal. In many cases, employers match part of that investment.
The 401(k) is the least secure retirement plan because it is exposed to the volatility of the stock market, unlike Social Security or defined-benefit pension plans, which guarantee retirees a fixed monthly sum during retirement.
Because of the financial crisis, some companies say they can no longer take any responsibility for their employees’ futures. Many, including Macy’s and United Parcel Service, have suspended their matching contributions to 401(k)’s. Others have dropped the traditional plans or scaled back the benefits.
Hodes said he truly understands the pain caused by the devaluation of 401(k)’s. “Many of my friends and people in New Hampshire are worried.”
People’s pensions have certainly not been completely wiped out, Rep Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., said. “They are dramatically reduced and an extra burden, but if people keep their 401(k) pension money invested, when the economy pops up they will make money again.”
But she warned that retirees and people retiring now are the most affected.
Lisa Shapiro, chief economist for Gallagher, Callahan and Gartrell, a law firm in Concord, agreed: “The hardest hit folks are the retirees and the near retirees because they are not looking as long term.”
She noted that “more people are now continuing to work for longer and those retired are starting to go back to work part-time.”
Bruce Elmslie, professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire, also said the effect is that people will stay in the labor market longer and retire at age 66 instead of 62 in order to increase their Social Security benefit. This will save the system money because there will be fewer people on the system’s rolls and for a shorter period of time.
Shapiro said retirement investments in the market, like 401(k)’s, are designed to be long-term. These economic times are a wake-up call, she said, telling people that they need to have appropriate allocations in place as they approach retirement age.
“There is a mixed outlook in the short term,” she said, with economists expecting recovery by the end of the year. “But we don’t know whether we have hit rock bottom yet.”
Elmslie’s view is that “if you want to build your savings to make money for you, you’ve got to invest in the stock market.” He added that “if people have retirement investments in the stock market they should be left there; they have lost as much as they can lose by now.”
Hodes said the stock market is not yet reacting to the fundamentals of the recovery plan Congress approved last month, but the recovery is happening.
“Stimulus will start kicking in this spring,” Hodes said. “The Fed programs, TARP [the Troubled Asset Relief Program] and the recovery package are all efforts being made to restore the financial system.” But, he added, it will take time, as President Obama has said.
Shea-Porter said that as Congress makes changes in regulatory and financial systems, “we should look at what changes are necessary in 401(k)’s, Social Security and pensions.”
She said that “a lot of people are so upset they’re not even looking at their portfolios because they have been hit so hard.”
Hodes, for his part, said that “people have lost so much of their 401(k) savings, so prudence and a reasonably conservative approach are required from the mainstream.”
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