ICYMI: Shaheen Discusses Tariff Harms, Republican Cuts to Health Care, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and More on WMUR’s NH Business

(Manchester, NH) – On Sunday, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) joined Fred Kocher on WMUR’s NH Business to discuss President Trump’s disastrous trade war and Congressional Republicans’ unprecedented cuts to health care, which are driving up prices and making life more difficult for Granite Staters. Shaheen also discussed her ongoing efforts to protect the shipbuilding workforce at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. You can watch the interview in full here.

Key quotes from Senator Shaheen below:

On the harmful impact of President Trump’s tariffs on Granite Staters: 

• “They're very worried about the tariffs, and there's sort of a double whammy on a lot of businesses in New Hampshire because of the impact on Canadian business and Canadian tourism. I was at the Mount Washington Valley Chamber earlier this spring talking about tourism and the impact on Canadian visitors not coming in the way that they have in the past. I've heard the same thing from Hampton.”

On her efforts to protect the Shipbuilding Workforce at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard: 

• “[The public shipyards] are supposed to be exempt. I've heard from both the Secretary of the Navy, even from Secretary Hegseth at the Department of Defense, who say that they are concerned about this.”
• “The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has been the real problem. Even though everybody agrees we need to get people in the queue hired […] to keep up with work at the shipyard, it's being held up by OPM.”

On Republican cuts to health care:

• “I call it a big, beautiful betrayal of the American people, particularly on health care, because we're going to see about, according to estimates, 46,000 people in New Hampshire who will lose their health care either through Medicaid or because of the impact of the expiration of the premium tax credits.”
• “I'm hopeful that Congress will actually extend the premium tax credits. That's what I've been pushing for and there seems to be some bipartisan support for that. But we need to get an analysis, because we can't afford to go back to where we were in the ‘90s and the 2000s before we passed the Affordable Care Act.”

This month, Shaheen embarked on her “Affordability Action Tour” to hear from Granite Staters about what needs to be done to tackle the affordability crisis. To kick off the tour, Shaheen hosted a series of events centered around her efforts to lower costs on health care, by extending the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, and everyday goods, by reining in President Trump’s disastrous trade war.

Shaheen recently introduced the bipartisan Protecting Public Naval Shipyards (PNSY) Act to exempt the workforces of America’s four public shipyards, including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, from recent hiring freezes and mass layoffs. This new bill would ensure that the maintenance and overhaul of America’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet continues uninterrupted by requiring the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to exempt certain positions at public shipyards from workforce reductions.

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