It’s time to report back to you about my work in Congress. The first half of this year has had its ups and downs in Washington, but I remain focused on jumpstarting the American Dream. Here’s what I’ve been working on.
Jobs and the Economy
In January, I introduced a bill to help entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground. My legislation, the Reward and Encourage New Business Act, would permanently double the tax deduction for new businesses from $5,000 to $10,000. This would help new entrepreneurs and grow the economy.
The economy has improved, and the national unemployment rate has dropped to 6.3 percent (in NH, it’s 4.4 percent), but the recovery has not lifted all of our citizens. Low-income and middle class Americans have faced stagnant wages. A simple and effective way to jumpstart the American Dream is to raise the minimum wage. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, gradually raising the minimum wage to $10.10/hour would boost the paychecks of 25 million hard-working Americans and help up to 4.5 million Americans get out of poverty. Independent think tanks like the Economic Policy Institute estimate that raising the minimum wage could create 85,000 jobs. The money that workers earned from these jobs would be spent in their communities, thus helping small businesses.
Manufacturing is New Hampshire’s second-biggest industry. As a founding member of the Congressional Make it in America Working Group and the Trade Working Group, I am working to promote the export of U.S. goods and encourage businesses to create good paying jobs in the U.S. I have cosponsored several bills to promote American manufacturing and improve our economy, including H.R. 2821, the American Jobs Act.
New Hampshire’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership in Education Initiative (AMPEd) has succeeded, funded by the Recovery Act (stimulus) that I helped pass in 2009. AMPEd is allowing our New Hampshire community colleges to train a world-class advanced manufacturing workforce in partnership with local businesses. Each college now offers a manufacturing career pathway to prepare students for high-paying, high-tech jobs with businesses here in New Hampshire. This program has driven our economy into the 21st century. Recently I was honored to speak at the opening of a new manufacturing plant in Rochester. The plant will rely on workers trained at Great Bay Community College’s new Advanced Technology and Academic Center. For more information, please go to www.greatbay.edu.
Continued below the fold -
Veterans
I am committed to standing up for our nation’s veterans, especially in the wake of serious allegations against employees of the Veteran’s Affairs Department. I have great admiration and respect for Secretary Shinseki, but it’s time for a new Secretary who can give a fresh look at the VA’s institutional problems.
I recently voted in favor of H.R. 4031, the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014, which would authorize the Secretary of the VA to remove any senior VA official for poor performance. I was pleased that this bill passed the House, but it is only the first step of many that should be taken to improve the VA’s performance.
The long wait times to access medical care at the VA are outrageous. I recently cosponsored H.R. 241, the Veterans Timely Access to Health Care Act, which would ensure that every veteran seeking care from the VA is seen within 30 days of their request.
I also cosponsored H.R. 1980, Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery Act, which would remove bureaucratic red tape by allowing veterans to see local doctors for their initial diagnosis and avoid long wait times at VA hospitals.
I’ve held a number of meetings to hear veterans and their families discuss the challenges facing the veterans community. At my most recent events in Portsmouth and Conway, veterans had the chance to share their concerns with Manchester VA officials (including VAMC Director Tammy Kruger in Conway) and representatives from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. Former service members talked about health care, jobs, and Department of Defense proposals.
New Hampshire is still the only state in the nation that does not have a full-service veterans hospital or equivalent access. Although there have been many improvements for veterans, further steps are needed to expand access to in-state medical care for New Hampshire’s veterans. That is why I reintroduced my Veterans Health Equity Act, which requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that every state has a full-service veterans hospital or that equivalent services are made available through contracts with hospitals in the state. I have also introduced H.R. 4561, the Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, which would provide the VA with the necessary tools to provide care to veterans in rural areas.
This session, I have also helped pass legislation that would guarantee veterans access to in-state college tuition rates (H.R. 357) and improve job opportunities for veterans (H.R. 1412). I also authored and won passage of provisions to expand access for military families to alternative rehabilitative therapies and to continue support for the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (H.R. 1960), and included many provisions in both the Fiscal Year 2014 and Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization bills.
Student Debt is Crushing the Middle Class
Students today are leaving college with a historic amount of debt. It’s our responsibility to take steps to make it easier for kids to go to college – and to graduate, ready to enter the workforce. The Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, legislation I’ve cosponsored, would allow students with outstanding government and private loans to refinance their loans at the lower interest rates available to new borrowers.
Seniors
A budget is a moral document, and should not include reckless schemes to balance the budget on the backs of New Hampshire seniors. We must not accept a budget that takes from Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries, period. During the budget negotiations last year, I spoke out repeatedly about protecting earned benefits. I am happy to report that no cuts to Social Security or Medicare were included in our two-year bipartisan budget compromise.
This April, the House Majority voted to pass once again their own one-year budget, the Ryan Budget. This budget is unacceptable because it revives proposals that would hurt seniors by turning Medicare into a voucher program; cutting Meals on Wheels and medical research; and slashing Medicaid, jeopardizing nursing home care.
Together with Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security embodies the moral fabric of our country. These programs are the foundation of economic security for America’s seniors and most vulnerable citizens, and we must protect them.
Net Neutrality – Preserve an Open Internet
I am working to stop a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposal that would undermine Internet freedom by ending net neutrality. Net neutrality is the simple principle that lawful content on the Internet should be equally accessible to everyone. Internet service providers, such as Comcast and Verizon, should not be allowed to discriminate by creating “fast lanes” and “slow lanes” for web content, allowing some pages, apps, and videos to load faster than others.
The Internet has allowed the proud tradition of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship to reach every corner of the globe. Its openness has enabled a new generation of innovators to turn a bright idea and a laptop into a business. The last thing our recovering job market needs now is for these engines of growth to be slowed.
Congress must act to preserve an open Internet, one that enhances, not limits, our ability to exercise free speech and entrepreneurship.
Our Right to Privacy
Since revelations about the NSA’s activities came to light, Americans have expressed a clear desire to end the government’s dragnet surveillance programs. That is why I voted against a National Security Agency (NSA) reform bill. I had originally cosponsored the bill, but after it passed through committee, it was watered down during private meetings between House Leadership and the White House. We were not allowed to have an open debate or amend it, so I voted no.
Women Are Breadwinners, Too
In March, I hosted a summit on the economic issues facing women and their families in New Hampshire. I was joined by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), along with NH Senate Minority Leader Sylvia Larsen and NH House Speaker Terie Norelli. The summit featured a discussion on paycheck fairness, work-life balance, and quality, affordable child care.
Working women are America's mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives. We're America's factory and office workers, health care professionals and scientists, business executives and teachers. Women are working everywhere, but women in America still make only 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. Equal pay for equal work is a fairness issue and an economic issue. Families rely on women’s paychecks, and they, too, are being shortchanged.
I'm proud to be an original cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act in Congress, and I am pushing for a vote in the United States House of Representatives.
Healthcare: Fix it, Don’t Repeal it
Before the Affordable Care Act passed, insurance companies were allowed to write their own rules regarding coverage, which led to denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions, imposing annual or lifetime caps on coverage, or throwing people off plans they had paid for as soon as they got sick. I support the healthcare law’s goals of allowing all Americans to access affordable, quality healthcare. We need to fix the problems, not repeal the law that is helping people get insurance coverage and medical care.
Here in New Hampshire, it is deeply disappointing that, for 2014, only Anthem is offering plans on the Marketplace, and that it has chosen to offer a narrow network of hospitals. I have been working to fix these problems. I’m pleased to report that at least two new insurers will offer coverage on the Marketplace starting next year.
I asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to start actively evaluating network adequacy, and it announced that it will do so next year. This means insurance companies will have to show that their doctor and hospital network is not too small. The upcoming expansion of Medicaid in New Hampshire will also bring coverage to 50,000 people who could not afford health insurance before.
There is more to be done. I’ve already hosted two roundtables in New Hampshire, and I’ll keep working to improve the law so everyone in our state can access affordable health insurance and the financial security that comes with good coverage.
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, BRAC Language, and the U.S.S. Thresher
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is vital to our national security and an economic engine of New Hampshire. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I worked on and voted to specifically prohibit the government from initiating additional rounds of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), protecting the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
The House Armed Services Committee also passed my resolution recognizing the 51st anniversary of the sinking of the U.S.S. Thresher. The U.S.S. Thresher, which was based at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, sank roughly 200 miles off the coast of Cape Cod on April 10, 1963. All 16 officers, 96 sailors, and 17 civilians perished aboard the nuclear submarine. We must honor the legacy of those who lost their lives on the U.S.S. Thresher, and continue to recognize the excellent work that the men and women of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard do to help keep our nation safe.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for reading, and please reach out to my office at any time. If you can't get an answer from a federal agency in a timely fashion, or if you feel you have been treated unfairly, my office will work to resolve the problem or get you the information you need. Thanks for reading, and have a great summer!
Best Wishes,
Carol