Senator Hassan Secures Key NH Priorities in Bipartisan Government Funding Legislation
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) helped secure key New Hampshire priorities in the bipartisan government funding package that passed the U.S. Senate today. The legislation now goes to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
“This bipartisan government funding package will help keep our country safe, secure, and free, and will help New Hampshire families thrive,” said Senator Hassan. “While Republican leaders never should have delayed full government funding for this long, I am pleased that the legislation we passed today includes important priorities for our state and our country – including to support service members and veterans, combat the fentanyl crisis, and help our children learn and grow. I will always keep working to address the priorities that Granite Staters raise with me.”
The government funding package includes a number of key New Hampshire priorities that Senator Hassan advocated for and supported, including:
- Supporting those who defend us: A 5.2 percent pay raise for servicemembers and civilians who protect and serve our country, as well as funding for programs to help veterans get jobs after their service
- Supporting New Hampshire military operations: Funding for shipyard infrastructure, Virginia-class submarines, and for PFAS remediation
- Standing with our allies: Funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and Indo-Pacific partnerships to continue to counter China
- Strengthening border security to stop the flow of fentanyl: Significant increases in funding to help strengthen our border security, providing a record 22,000 agents at the border as well as $400 million to increase screening for fentanyl coming into the U.S. as well as for illegal guns and money leaving the U.S. – which are used to fuel the cartels
- Cracking down on illegal maritime trafficking: Funding that allows for tracking of ships that are using deceptive practices to evade export controls and international sanctions, including sanctions against Russia and Iran, which is part of a bipartisan bill that Senator Hassan introduced
- Funding disaster relief: Significant funding to support disaster and severe weather response and recovery programs
- Building the addiction care workforce: Funding to provide student loan repayment for health care workers who focus on addiction treatment and recovery in rural and underserved areas, a program that Senator Hassan helped create and is now working to reauthorize and expand
- Ensuring that the suicide crisis hotline is available to anyone who needs it: Increased funding for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which has received 9.1 million calls, texts, and chats since Senator Hassan helped establish it
- Training first responders to respond to overdoses: Increased funding for a program that Senator Hassan is working to reauthorize that provides training for first responders to know how to respond to opioid overdoses
- Providing heating assistance: $4 billion in funding, an increase from last year, for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps Granite State families and families nationwide pay heating bills and prevent energy shutoffs in the winter
- Supporting career and technical education programs: Robust funding to support career and technical education programs, including those at high schools across New Hampshire
- Supporting children experiencing disabilities: Funding to help families of children experiencing disabilities navigate the special education process and better access the resources available for children experiencing disabilities
- Expanding youth mental health support: $216 million for school safety initiatives, including specific funding that Senator Hassan has supported to help fill the shortage of mental health professionals in New Hampshire schools
- Lowering child care costs and expanding early childhood education: Significantly increased funding for Head Start programs in New Hampshire and across the country, which provide critical child care and early childhood education, and increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program, which will expand affordable child care to more families in New Hampshire and across the country
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