U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen: Working to ensure New Hampshire’s priorities are represented in Washington
As your U.S. Senator, I work to ensure New Hampshire’s interests and the issues that matter most to Granite Staters are always represented in Washington, DC. It’s a top priority of mine to make sure that our communities—from Sunapee to Andover and across the state—have the resources necessary to best serve Granite State families.
Through Congressionally Directed Spending, a bipartisan process that helps ensure local projects are not overlooked, our state can better receive its fair share of federal resources to address everything from housing affordability and energy efficiency to the substance use disorder crisis.
This year, I was proud to secure more than $100 million for 101 New Hampshire projects, including $18,711,000 in your community to expand health care services.
As I’ve traveled across the Granite State, I’ve heard from so many folks who are struggling with mental health, and I know there’s more we can do to help Granite Staters access resources they need.
It’s a priority of mine to bring back federal resources to our state for mental wellness–especially for local organizations and programs. By working with advocates and stakeholders, we secured $17,419,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending that will support health care and education needs in the Granite State, including $1 million for Dartmouth Health to implement a training program for licensed clinical social workers. This investment will help us build our mental health care workforce and better meet needs in communities across the state.
While we have come a long way in recognizing the importance of mental health and providing support through services, there is still so much more we can do to help those struggling—particularly our youth. I was glad to work with my colleagues to secure over $74 million in additional funding for Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration grants and SchoolBased Mental Health Services grants in this year’s government funding bills to help support young people get the care and services they need.
I’ll keep advocating for federal investments that help Granite Staters thrive.
Biography
The first woman in U.S. history to be elected both a Governor and a United States Senator, New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen is a trailblazer with a reputation for working across the aisle to get things done. Shaheen has served in the Senate since 2009 and is the Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Appropriations as well as the Select Committee on Ethics.
As inflation rose across the world, Shaheen was a key supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act, which lowered costs for middle class families and provided funds to bolster clean energy and climate investments in New Hampshire, bringing inflation down and saving money for working Granite Staters.
For decades, the United States has put off the investments needed to fix our crumbling infrastructure. Shaheen was a lead negotiator of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and supported several key provisions included in the final bill that bolstered roads and bridges, rail, transit, ports, airports, the electric grid, water systems and broadband infrastructure across New Hampshire and the country.
China and other competitors continue to pose new challenges to the United States. Shaheen helped pass the CHIPS and Science Act authoring several provisions included in the final package. The historic legislation develops U.S. policy to address strategic, economic and diplomatic tools for a global strategy that will allow the United States to confront the challenges that China and other global competitors pose to the United States.
Through her leadership on the U.S. Appropriations Committee, Senator Shaheen has delivered a seven- fold increase in resources to help Granite Staters suffering from substance use disorders receive desperately needed treatment. Shaheen helped pass the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that tens of thousands of Granite Staters have access to good quality, affordable health care.
As the top-ranking woman on both the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, Senator Shaheen is a global leader on important foreign policy issues and she advocates for legislation and actions that confront our enemies, strengthen key alliances and bolster New Hampshire’s role in our national defense.
A champion for energy efficiency, Shaheen created programs while serving as Governor that saved New Hampshire families and businesses over $1 billion. In the Senate, Shaheen has continued this work by helping pass bipartisan energy efficiency legislation, which was signed into law by President Obama.
Senator Shaheen served as Governor of New Hampshire for six years and also served in the state Senate, helping create nearly 67,000 new jobs while keeping New Hampshire’s tax burden the lowest in the country. (Learn more about Jeanne Shaheen’s three terms as Governor). With bipartisan support, she expanded public kindergarten to thousands of families and made higher education more affordable with a tax-free college savings program.
Between her time as Governor and election to the U.S. Senate, Shaheen served as the Director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government. Shaheen was born in Saint Charles, Missouri. She and her husband, Bill, live in Madbury and have three daughters, Stefany, Stacey and Molly, and seven grandchildren
