Statement from Governor Hassan on Senate Budget

Statement

Governor Maggie Hassan today issued the following statement on the Senate budget proposal:

"While the Senate's budget is an improvement over the House version, we must still come together and compromise across party lines to ensure that we have a fiscally responsible, balanced budget that will keep New Hampshire's economy moving forward. As we prepare to enter Committee of Conference, I remain ready and willing to work with legislative leadership to pass a compromise, balanced and bipartisan budget that makes the strategic investments needed to help expand middle class opportunity, support job-creating businesses, encourage innovation, and attract and retain more young people here in New Hampshire.

"I continue to have serious concerns that the Senate's plan is unbalanced and will hurt families, undermine business growth and take our economy backward. The plan includes large tax cuts that will create a hole in this budget and budgets well into the future and relies on gimmicks that will ultimately leave the budget unbalanced. Meanwhile, this plan fails to reauthorize our bipartisan health care expansion plan that is providing coverage to more than 40,000 hard-working Granite Staters and reducing cost-shifting onto all of our people and businesses. It also fails to adequately fund higher education, substance misuse, mental health, corrections and transportation, and it does not include the fairly negotiated contract for state employees.

"It is clear that any budget that relies exclusively on the votes of one political party will fail to meet the expectations of our citizens, the needs of our businesses and the needs of our economy. Now is the time to work together, negotiate in good faith, and continue to make bipartisan progress on our shared priorities for the people and businesses of New Hampshire."

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