In The News
Senators scrap Russia trip after Kremlin snubs Shaheen
by Kyle Cheney
Two Republican senators have called off a planned trip to Russia after the Kremlin denied a visa to a Democratic colleague, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Shaheen, an outspoken backer of a Russia sanctions bill that Congress approved overwhelmingly earlier this year, had been scheduled to visit Russia along with GOP colleagues Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and John Barrasso of Wyoming. But a Shaheen spokesman said the senator believes the Kremlin has placed her under a travel sanction, prohibiti… Continue Reading
December 26, 2017
Senator Jeanne Shaheen: #MeToo Is Not Enough. Survivors Deserve Justice in the Legal System
by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
"Silence Breakers" are celebrated as Time magazine's 2017 Person of the Year, #MeToo has gone viral, and countless women are courageously sharing their stories. Sexual harassment has come out of the shadows, and Americans have opened a larger conversation about sexual assault. But survivors who seek justice continue to encounter an often hostile legal system that compounds their suffering. Last year, I led the effort in Congress to pass the Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act to empower survivo… Continue Reading
December 20, 2017
North Swanzey ZIP code dispute goes to Congress
by PAUL CUNO-BOOTH
NORTH SWANZEY - Ongoing complaints about mail being delivered to the wrong addresses here have reached the U.S. Senate. New Hampshire's U.S. senators - Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both Democrats - introduced legislation Tuesday that would extend the ZIP code for Swanzey to include North Swanzey, a goal of town officials that the U.S. Postal Service rebuffed earlier this year. North Swanzey is one of Swanzey's five villages, and fully incorporated in the town's borders. But it sha… Continue Reading
December 18, 2017
Senator tours Methuen Construction
by Kristen Giddings
PLAISTOW - U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen visited Methuen Construction in Plaistow on Monday to discuss the company's workforce development efforts, along with its continued growth despite the industry's difficulties finding qualified workers. Joseph Barbone, president and chief executive officer of Methuen Construction, led Shaheen on a tour of the facility and spoke about steps the company is taking to grow its workforce. Shaheen said Methuen Construction is a "model for other companies in New Ha… Continue Reading
December 16, 2017
Shaheen, Hassan Urge Lawsuit on Net Neutrality
New Hampshire's congressional delegation is urging the state attorney general to join other states suing the Federal Communications Commission for repealing "net neutrality" rules. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and Reps. Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter wrote to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and Attorney General Gordon MacDonald on Friday. It came a day after the Republican-controlled FCC voted to scrap an Obama-era rule that guaranteed equal access to the internet. Supporters of th… Continue Reading
December 14, 2017
Sens. Shaheen, Hassan call for more resources to fight opioid crisis
by KC Downey
MANCHESTER, N.H. - New Hampshire's U.S. senators are calling for more resources to help fight the opioid crisis. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan are among those calling for a significant increase in federal money in the year-end funding bill to deal with the impact of addiction. "What we have heard from leadership in the Senate and House is, 'We don't have the funds to deal with this crisis to meet our own domestic priorities.' Well, we are here to say, 'That's not good,'" Shaheen said… Continue Reading
December 14, 2017
Bipartisan Group of Senators Introduce Legislation to Reform Sexual Harassment Investigations in Congress
by Reid Nakamura
A bipartisan senate group introduced new legislation to reform the processes by which sexual harassment investigations involving members of Congress are conducted. The Congressional Harassment Reform Act - backed by 20 senators both Republican and Democrat - would change the reporting process for victims, end the process's strict secrecy rules and require lawmakers to pay settlements out of their own pocket rather than taxpayer money. The bill was supported by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand … Continue Reading
December 14, 2017
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen: Republicans are ramming through a bad tax bill
by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
There is bipartisan agreement that we need tax reform that focuses on the middle class and helps small businesses create jobs.We can do this in a fiscally responsible way, but that requires Republicans and Democrats working together as we did the last time Congress passed tax reform 30 years ago.Unfortunately, the bill rammed through the United States Senate two weeks ago in the dead of night on a party-line vote fails to achieve those goalsInstead, the bill is a partisan document that adds $1.5… Continue Reading
December 13, 2017
Defense Bill Contains Money on Shaheen-Supported Water Study
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A $700 billion defense authorization bill signed into law by President Donald Trump includes an amendment by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen to fund a nationwide health study on the implications of PFOA and related chemicals in drinking water. The nationwide study will be conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Shaheen, a Democrat, said Tuesday the amendment is particularly important for families living in the Seacoast area, following t… Continue Reading
December 12, 2017
Health study on PFC exposure moves forward
by Jeff McMenemy
PORTSMOUTH -- The first national health study on the health effects on people exposed to PFCs in drinking water continues to move forward as a result of legislation from U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. President Donald Trump signed the Defense Authorization Act into law, which includes an amendment for the health study from Shaheen, which gives the Department of Defense authority to fund the health study. Thousands of adults who work at Pease International Tradeport, and children who attend two day-… Continue Reading
December 12, 2017
Trump signs into law U.S. government ban on Kaspersky Lab software
by Dustin Volz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed into law on Tuesday legislation that bans the use of Kaspersky Lab within the U.S. government, capping a months-long effort to purge the Moscow-based antivirus firm from federal agencies amid concerns it was vulnerable to Kremlin influence. The ban, included as part of a broader defense policy spending bill that Trump signed, reinforces a directive issued by the Trump administration in September that civilian agencies remove Kaspersky Lab sof… Continue Reading
December 11, 2017
Granite Staters urged to sign up for health coverage before Dec. 15
by Amy Coveno
MANCHESTER, N.H. - New Hampshire's senators are urging Granite Staters who need health insurance to sign up this week for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Dec. 15 is the final day to register for coverage for 2018. Advocates said obstacles thrown up by the federal government have made it more challenging to sign up this year, but a grassroots effort is underway to make sure everyone who needs it has coverage. There are six fewer weeks to register this year, and the advertising budget h… Continue Reading
December 08, 2017
Twin State officials urge Congress to reauthorize funding for health centers
by Ethan DeWitt
New Hampshire and Vermont's governor and senators urged Congress to reauthorize funding for community health centers Friday, arguing in a pair of letters that the current halt in funding is hurting organizations within the state. "Health Centers across our states are the pillar of primary health for our most vulnerable population," read a joint letter from Republican Govs. Chris Sununu and Phil Scott, of Vermont. "Without action by Congress, New Hampshire and Vermont's Health Centers face a los… Continue Reading
December 01, 2017
Why Senator Jeanne Shaheen Is Fighting to Put Women and Families at the Forefront of the Health Care Debate
by Heidi Murkoff
There's been no issue that's divided Americans this year the way health care has. Congress has spent the year trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and proposing bills that would gut Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), allow states to opt out of providing essentials benefits, such as birth control, well-woman visits and prenatal care and newborn care, and take us back to the days where insurers could charge people with preexisting conditions more for life-saving… Continue Reading
December 01, 2017
Congressional Delegation Joins Gov to Request Disaster Aid
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - New Hampshire's congressional delegation is joining Gov. Chris Sununu in requesting a major disaster declaration and federal emergency assistance for five counties following an October storm that caused widespread damage and power outages. The all-Democratic delegation wrote to President Donald Trump on Thursday, saying the magnitude of the damage caused by the Oct. 29-Oct. 30 storm is such that an effective response is beyond the capacity of New Hampshire's state and l… Continue Reading
November 29, 2017
Shaheen: GOP Tax Bill Would Hurt N.H. Homeowners By Eliminating Property Tax Deduction
by Peter Biello
Now that the Senate Budget Committee has passed the Republican tax plan, GOP leaders hope the full Senate will take it up this week. While the fate of the bill is unclear, Democrats seem to be united against it, calling it a giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen joined NHPR's Peter Biello to discuss the legislation. Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity Republican Senator John Cornyn has dismissed repor… Continue Reading
November 28, 2017
When Sexism is the Difference Between War and Peace
by Kristina Romines
Most women have attended a talk or panel where every single speaker was male. Most of us have been talked over. Most of us have witnessed first-hand how women are shut out of critical discussions. It happens on issues that almost exclusively impact women, like their healthcare, and it happens on matters of grave national importance. The latest case in point: Before Thanksgiving, a committee with a 21:1 male-to-female ratio heard testimony from three men on whether one man should be able to blow… Continue Reading
November 28, 2017
The Afghan All-Girl Robotics Team Just Had Another Major Win
by Natalie Gontcharova
The Afghan all-girls robotics team is racking up the victories this year. When attempting to travel to the U.S. for the FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition this past summer, the team was denied entrytwice for unknown reasons. But at the last minute, they were able to enter the country with intervention from the government and finished with a silver medal for courage at the competition in Washington, D.C. Last weekend, the six teenage girls scored another major win, earning the Entrepre… Continue Reading
November 28, 2017
Women Leaders Aren't Making Enough Foreign Policy Decisions, And It's a Problem
by Meredith Horowski and Lillyanne Daigle
In this op-ed, Beyond the Bomb, co-founders Meredith Horowski and Lillyanne Daigle call to attention the lack of female voices in foreign policy. One day after President Trump's inauguration, millions of women - and some men - from coast to coast took to the streets for the Women's March in one of the most remarkable grassroots uprisings in recent decades. We were disgusted by the malignant behavior of our new president, an accused sexual predator and a swaggering bully. We were outraged by the… Continue Reading
November 28, 2017
Sen. Shaheen Leads Bipartisan Letter to the State Department, Seeking to Measure the Harm of Trump's "Global Gag Rule"
by Mattie Kahn
In a letter sent to Sec. of State Rex Tillerson earlier this month, four senators from both parties expressed their "grave concerns about the impact" of the global gag rule, which bans humanitarian organizations around the world from receiving U.S. funds if they provide women with or even just refer women to abortion services. The rule has been implemented under every Republican administration since Ronald Reagan was in office and overturned under every subsequent Democratic president. But when… Continue Reading
