SHAHEEN TOURS POLARTEC IN HUDSON TO STRESS ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE OF RESOLVING BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS

(Hudson, N.H.) – With the January 1 deadline for automatic spending cuts and tax increases approaching, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spoke at Polartec, LLC in Hudson to discuss the need to resolve budget negotiations and protect the American economy and middle class. Shaheen called on Congress to avoid automatic spending cuts and tax increases and instead achieve a balanced deficit reduction plan that addresses discretionary spending, mandatory spending and revenues.

“Across-the-board cuts are the wrong approach to dealing with our debt,” said Senator Shaheen. “Businesses across the country, like Polartec, need certainty to plan, hire and grow. We have an opportunity to get the United States on a better footing fiscally and economically and we must demonstrate that we can take a serious, balanced approach to dealing with our debt. Time is running out, and people want us to sit down and work together to get this done.”

During her tour, Shaheen was briefed on the negative impacts that automatic cuts would have on the company’s production of military products and textiles.

“The ramifications of sequestration would be extremely damaging to the already challenged U.S. textile supply chain,” said Polartec CEO Gary Smith. “We have worked very hard at Polartec to balance our military work with a robust commercial market, ensuring that we can remain viable in tough fiscal climates. However, sequestration threatens the entirety of the domestic textile industry and has the potential to negatively effect not only thousands of U.S. jobs, but the health and mission readiness of our men and women in uniform."

Polartec, which manufactures advanced performance textiles, employs over 50 workers at its Hudson facilities and hopes to continue its growth in the state. Sequestration is a large concern for the company because it manufactures products for the Department of Defense. Cuts to United States defense programs could have a severe impact on their manufacture of military product lines.

The Congressional Budget Office reports that if Congress does not reach a deal, the combination of spending cuts and tax increases is expected to send our economy back into a recession and push the unemployment rate from 7.9 to 9.1 percent in 2013. Shaheen has repeatedly stressed the need to get a deal done before the automatic cuts take place and has urged her colleagues on Capitol Hill to be willing to consider all aspects of the budget to come to a comprehensive agreement. Shaheen also visited Velcro USA in Somerswoth last week to emphasize the economic imperative of addressing the country’s debt and deficits.