Shaheen Discusses Local Effects of Proposed Medicaid and Affordable Care Act Cuts with Health Care Leaders, Marks Introduction of Legislation to Protect Connecticut River Watershed at Kilham Bear Center

(Lyme, NH) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) hosted a roundtable in Lebanon to discuss the local impacts of Congressional Republicans’ bill to make unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Shaheen also visited the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme to mark the recent introduction of her Connecticut River Watershed Partnership Act (CRWPA) to restore and protect the Watershed. Photos from both of today’s events can be found here.

At West Central Behavioral Health in Lebanon, Shaheen hosted a roundtable with local health care leaders to highlight the impacts Congressional Republicans’ bill will have on patients and providers in the Upper Valley region. The bill adds unnecessary red tape and guts funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“Republican-led cuts to Medicaid and the ACA will have real costs for Granite Staters, and that’s why I’m continuing to speak with health care leaders, caregivers and patients across New Hampshire,” said Senator Shaheen. “What I heard from folks at West Central Behavioral Health cements what we already know to be true: If the Republican tax bill is signed into law, the impact will be felt in every corner of our state through higher costs and less accessibility for the health care Granite Staters need.”

The roundtable was the latest stop on Shaheen’s “Medicaid Impact Tour”—a series of discussions across the Granite State to underscore the harm cuts to Medicaid and the ACA would have on New Hampshire, including by raising the cost of health care and leaving tens of thousands uninsured. 

Later in Lyme, Shaheen toured the Kilham Bear Center and hosted a roundtable discussion to highlight how her Connecticut River Watershed Partnership Act would promote conservation, restoration, education and recreation efforts along the Watershed by formalizing collaboration among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, states, local communities and nonprofit partners.

“It was great to visit the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme to see their work to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned and injured black bear cubs,” said Senator Shaheen. “New Hampshire’s wildlife and treasured outdoor spaces would benefit from the formal collaboration that my legislation would create to protect and restore the Connecticut River Watershed.”

Shaheen has led efforts to safeguard our natural environment and invest in climate resiliency while boosting New Hampshire’s recreation economy, including by securing full funding and permanent authorization for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which has helped protect more than 2.5 million acres of land and supported tens of thousands of state and local outdoor recreation projects throughout the nation. In 2022, Shaheen helped to secure $3.7 million in Congressionally Directed Spending from the LWCF for a large conservation easement for Bear Hill. In 2020, Shaheen helped lead the Great American Outdoors Act into law to permanently fund the LWCF and provide mandatory funding for deferred maintenance on public lands. 

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