#

First “Big Pharma.” Then “Big Oil.” Now…”Big Tampon?”

On Monday, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan sent a press release headlined, “Following Reports of Tampon Shortage, Senator Hassan Calls on Major Tampon Producers to Increase Supply.” It’s part of her “work to hold corporations accountable for unfair price increases and address shortages.”

Except, like her allegations about oil companies manipulating gas prices, Hassan’s claim of price-gouging by the feminine hygiene industry is unfounded.

“Access to menstrual products should be treated like every other essential good. At the beginning of the pandemic, price gouging of essentials like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and hand sanitizer was rightly criticized as an exploitation of an emergency for financial gain. Menstrual products should receive that same consideration,” Hassan wrote in a letter to the CEOs of Procter & Gamble, Edgewell Personal Care, Kimberly-Clark, and Johnson & Johnson.

Hassan’s accusation of “unfair price increases” does not appear to be supported by the facts. Instead, “supply chain issues and historically high inflation have affected all manner of goods,” Axios reports, including tampons. COVID drove up demand for plastic and cotton to make personal protective equipment, both key materials for making feminine hygiene products.

And, like much of the shortages seen over the past couple of years, COVID-related supply chain issues are having an impact as well. Shipping costs to move material and products have also gone up as diesel fuel prices continue to climb. Add to that the ongoing labor shortage many companies are experiencing.

Then there is the impact of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, constraining the normal supply of fertilizer used to grow cotton, further exacerbating supply issues. The price of raw cotton is up more than 70 percent.

And there is another twist Hassan doesn’t mention: Amy Schumer.

Procter and Gamble spokeswoman Cheri McMaster told Time that part of the blame belongs to comic Amy Schumer. She stars in a series of commercials for their products that have been wildly successful. “(R)etail sales growth has exploded,” McMaster told Time.

As the demand went up more than 7 percent, Procter and Gamble started running its Maine plant 24/7 to try and keep up. The industry says it is looking for ways to increase production.

“While the tampon shortage is part of a larger supply chain issue, price-gouging essential products is an unacceptable response,” Hassan said — without providing any effort of gouging.

“We understand it is frustrating for consumers when they can’t find what they need,” a P&G spokesperson told CNN. “We can assure you this is a temporary situation.”

In her tampon shortage press release, Hassan also pointed out she “led legislation to require a federal investigation into reports that Big Oil was artificially raising gas prices, and follows Senator Hassan’s previous calls for additional actions and updates regarding the FTC’s oversight of anti-consumer trade practices in the oil and gas industry.”

Hassan’s claim that oil companies have manipulated gas prices has been repeatedly investigated and dismissed by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Political observers say what’s really at play is giving Hassan another way to motivate women voters, particularly young women who tend to vote Democrat and also tend not to show up in midterm elections. Hassan had campaigned aggressively on the abortion issue, which she refers to as a “women’s health” issue, advocating abortion without limits up to the time of birth.

Interestingly, one word that doesn’t appear anywhere in Hassan’s “tampon shortage” letter or press release?

“Women.”

(To be fair, the progressive phrase “people who menstruate” didn’t appear, either.)

Hassan said she is giving the CEOs of personal hygiene manufacturers until June 17 to come up with a solution.

Voters are giving Hassan until Election Day.

New Hampshire has one of the strongest state economies in the country, with high rates of high-tech jobs, low unemployment, and a GDP growth rate that outperforms California, according to a new data analysis from WalletHub. 

The report, which looked at how each state’s economy has fared since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic recession, ranks the Granite State as the fifth-best economy in America, behind Washington state, Utah, California, and Massachusetts.

New Hampshire easily outperforms the remaining New England states, with Connecticut coming in at 25, Rhode Island at 36, Vermont at 41, and Maine trailing at number 44.

However, according to experts, New Hampshire could be headed toward a recession as runaway inflation continues to drive up the price of energy, housing, and other needs.

New Hampshire comes in second, behind Tennessee and ahead of California, when it comes to positive change in gross domestic product or GDP. It is tied for first with Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota for the lowest unemployment rate. It is fifth when it comes to having the highest number of immigrants with advanced educations, and is fourth in the percentage of high-tech jobs.

Gov. Chris Sununu said the overall picture is good, but warned there are negative forces outside New Hampshire’s control that could be a problem.

“We’ve taken steps over these last few years to ensure that New Hampshire’s economy remains strong,” Sununu said. “But given Washington’s inaction in combating inflation and out-of-control spending, an economic downturn is on the horizon, and we are doing everything we can at the state level to minimize the impact on our citizens.” 

One expert interviewed by WalletHub, Robert Wyllie, Assistant Professor of Political Science ad Director of Political Economy Program at Ashland University in Ohio, said the country as a whole should be concerned about a potential recession and inflation getting worse. He said we could see a return to the 1970s.

“High inflation, fueled in part by high energy prices, combined with slow growth points has drawn many comparisons to the 1970s,” Wyllie said.

A recent University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy report warned of a stagnating economy. New Hampshire’s economy needs state and federal leaders to address roadblocks that come up as the world economy tries to move past COVID.

“As the state, nation, and world hopefully emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic carnage it created, New Hampshire is, to some extent, subject to economic forces beyond its control,” the report states.

The state’s many long-term challenges include the housing shortage, the shrinking labor force, the need for childcare, and infrastructure investments.

“New Hampshire has many economic advantages that position it well as it seeks to address the challenges of wage stagnation, childcare shortages, educational inequity, an aging workforce, housing affordability, struggling families, and C- infrastructure,” the UNH report states. “It has a strong and diverse economic base from which to grow, and its workforce is well-educated. With foresight and will, New Hampshire can chart a course to a productive, prosperous economy that addresses these challenges and enhances the well-being of all who live here.”

However, New Hampshire has also repeatedly been ranked near the top of the “Freedom Index” by multiple sources, due to its low tax and low regulation environment. And that could be both a reason its economy is overperforming today and has a brighter future tomorrow.

In the Wallethub report, Vincent Gloss, assistant professor of economics at George Mason University argued that “economic freedom (i.e. lower regulation, lower taxes and lower spending, safer property rights) does not only minimize downturns associated with exogenous shocks such as a pandemic, but it also accelerates recovery. Governments should look at policies that allow firms and families more flexibility in their decisions and that means stepping back.”

Keene Mayor George Hansel has yet to announce his candidacy in New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District race, and he has already been targeted by a political dirty trick.

The Keene Sentinel ran a story on Sunday declaring, “Keene Mayor George Hansel announces run for Congress.” It was based on “a tweet from his new campaign account.” The paper did not speak to Hansel.

Less than 24 hours later, the Sentinel pulled the report and posted a correction: “A story written by The Sentinel and posted on our website Sunday evening claiming that Keene Mayor George Hansel would be running for the N.H. Congressional District 2 seat, currently held by longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, has been removed.”

The account, @Hansel4Congress, became active in just the past few days and it followed news outlets like NHJournal. Its few posts featured anti-Trump and pro-abortion messages likely to hurt a candidate’s efforts in a Republican primary, a sign that it was a political dirty trick. Sources familiar with the account tell NHJournal it was created by a Republican who opposes a Hansel candidacy.

On Monday, the account had been suspended by Twitter.

Hansel’s actual Twitter account had no mention of a potential congressional bid as of Monday afternoon. However, the Federal Election Commission reports the “George Hansel for Congress” committee was formally created on Friday, May 27. The treasurer is listed as David Hansel.

Republican insiders have been buzzing for weeks about the possibility Hansel might challenge Democrat Kuster, particularly since businessman Jeff Cozzens dropped out of the GOP primary in April. With polls showing President Joe Biden’s approval rating below 40 percent — and Kuster not doing much better — Republicans believe a 2022 wave could be big enough to bring down the five-term incumbent, despite her $2.4 million war chest.

After the GOP’s surprising successes in the 2021 election cycle, the National Republican Congressional Committee put Kuster on its expanded target list.

Hansel did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the FEC filing. He was first elected mayor of Keene in 2019 and had easy re-election in November, facing no serious challengers. Before becoming mayor of the left-leaning college community, Hansel was a two-term city councilor. He is currently vice president and manager of innovation/engineering and Keene’s Filtrine Manufacturing Company, a business founded by his uncle, Peter Hansel.

Because the lines of New Hampshire’s new congressional districts have yet to be finalized for November’s election, political analysts at organizations like the Cook Political Report have not released their view of the Second District’s midterm prospects. No Republican presidential candidate has won in the district this century, and the last Republican to represent the district was Rep. Charlie Bass, who won in the 2010 red wave midterm.

Hansel positioned himself as fiscally responsible in his first term as mayor. He pushed for an economic development action plan for the city and the creation of a home weatherization/renovation program for Keene’s eastside homes through a public/private partnership, according to his campaign. He also lobbied for the adoption of RSA 79E that allows Keene businesses to take advantage of New Hampshire’s development incentives.

He has also supported the Black Lives Matter movement and maintained a local mask mandate after the state order expired — positions likely to be problematic in a GOP primary.

Already in the race are Bob Burns and Lily Tang Williams.

A candidate in the U.S. Senate race is out with a new ad promising to take on President Joe Biden and her fellow Democrats to lower gas prices for the average American.

No, it is not another Republican entering the crowded GOP primary, but endangered incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. Fresh off her poorly-received trip to the southern border where she was criticized for calling for more wall construction, Hassan’s new ad distances the first-term incumbent from her party and president.

“I’m taking on members of my own party to push a gas tax holiday,” Hassan says in the ad out Monday. “And I’m pushing Joe Biden to release more of our oil reserves. That’s how we lower costs and get through these times.”

Hassan’s ad is getting noticed by national political reporters who see it as another signal Democrats in competitive races will be running away from Biden as the midterms approach.

“We’ve seen plenty of ads from Republicans this election cycle seeking to pin blame on Biden and congressional Democrats for higher gas prices,” writes The Washington Post. “In a new ad from New Hampshire, Sen. Maggie Hassan, a vulnerable Democrat, has now embraced the issue, too.”

“New ad for Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), who continues to distance herself from Biden ahead of November,” tweeted Natalie Allison of Politico.

And in an article headlined, “This ad tells you a whole lot about Joe Biden’s political problems,” CNN’s Chris Cillizza said notes Hassan is willing to be openly critical of the sitting president.

“[Hassan’s] message is unmistakable,” Cillizza wrote.

“1) Gas prices are a major problem in the country.
2) Biden and Democratic leaders aren’t doing enough to solve it.
3) Hassan isn’t afraid to tell her party — and her President — that they need to do better.”

Not every New Hampshire Democrat is delighted by Hassan’s campaign tactics.

“Maggie is going to lose her base if she tries to separate herself from Biden by running to his right,” tweeted state Rep. Eric Gallager (D-Concord) “Biden has been doing a much better job than she has. This has been seen most recently on Title 42 where Biden was on the right side of it, and Maggie was on the wrong one.”

Party activist Carlos Cardona dinged Hassan for her ad, saying she should be focusing on liberal priorities instead, like those found in Biden’s abandoned Build Back Better bill.

“If our Senator is serious about helping Granite Staters, she should start by not giving away money to gas companies. Pass the #ChildTaxCredit or do a form of #UBI for all  #NHPolitics,” Cardona tweeted.

Rebecca Beaulieu with the environmental activist group 350 NH said Hassan should do more to help with climate initiatives instead of helping oil companies’ profit.

“Sen. Hassan should instead be calling for a Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax: this would raise billions of dollars that could be sent to Americans to help with the costs of high gas prices. Big oil doesn’t deserve to make huge profits off the climate crisis they created. Exxon, Chevron, and other big oil companies are making huge profits because of their high gas prices,” Beaulieu said.

Republicans say they are delighted to see Hassan attacking Democrats, believing it will only discourage her party’s base without converting any independents. They note she has voted with President Biden 98 percent of the time. “Maggie Hassan’s campaign strategy is to pretend she has no voting record.  She is trying to completely remake herself in the final seven months of the race and pretend no one notices.  Well, everyone does notice and won’t be fooled so easily,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson T.W Arrighi said Monday.

Don Bolduc, one of the Republicans running in a primary to unseat Hassan, said there is no way to separate her policies from Biden’s.

“Sen. Hassan promising relief on gas prices is the equivalent of an arsonist saying they can help put out a fire. The Biden-Hassan anti-energy agenda got us here, and the only way out is sending Hassan packing” Bolduc said.

Bruce Fenton, the crypto-millionaire running in the primary, blames Hassan’s staff for the incoherent messaging, and Hassan for failed leadership.

“Her marketing consultants and handlers seem sort of all over the place, so it’s not really clear what she’s attempting to say she stands for,” Fenton said. “Her voting record speaks for itself. Politicians who support terrible policies always try to distract voters, but this won’t work this time.”

Fenton might have a point. While Hassan has recently been vocal in pushing for a gas tax holiday during the inflationary price spikes, she was also responsible as governor for saddling New Hampshire families with an additional $240 million in gas taxes since 2014. Hassan’s four cents a gallon hike, passed in 2014, added $30 million a year in new taxes. It was at the time the first increase in decades.

And Hassan has long supported restrictions on oil and gas production, including Biden’s decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline, a move the senator continues to support.

Kevin Smith, the former Londonderry town manager in the running to challenge Hassan, said the senator keeps stealing positions from the GOP as she frantically tried to win reelection.

“If Hassan keeps trying to run from her far-left record at this rate, by the time September rolls around she will have called for the election integrity she voted against, decried the out-of-control spending she voted for, and railed against Biden’s foreign policy disasters she stood silently by. It’ll be interesting to see how her first speech at CPAC is received given her long, far-left record that runs contrary to her election-year moderate makeover rhetoric,” Smith said.

State Senate President Chuck Morse, R-Salem, said Hassan’s political maneuvering is obvious, and won’t fool any voters.

“Maggie Hassan votes for Joe Biden’s agenda and nominees 98 percent of the time. It’s laughable she would even try to distance herself from her best friend in the Washington Swamp with her latest gimmick ad,” Morse said. “Whenever President Biden comes to New Hampshire, she’s there for the photo-op. We need real, American First energy solutions to combat our current problems – not gimmicks from someone who did nothing while Keystone was shut down and we started funding dictators’ bloody war machines across the globe instead of producing oil in North America. When I’m in the U.S. Senate, I’ll actually take on Joe Biden and his backward energy policy head on.”

A compromise proposal to create an Indigenous People’s Day in New Hampshire was killed by state House Democrats earlier this month, who argued honoring Native Americans was not enough.

Columbus Day, they insisted, must die.

Democrats on the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee unanimously voted HB 1173 as inexpedient to legislate, rejecting the idea of leaving both Columbus Day and Indigenous People’s Day on the calendar.

“I don’t entirely understand their opposition,” said Rep. Oliver Ford (R-Chester).

Ford is one of the bill’s co-sponsors, which would have established an Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Aug. 9 to coincide with World Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Ford’s bill had nothing to do with the October Columbus Day holiday. That was not good enough for progressives who want to eliminate the celebrations for Christopher Columbus, he said.

“I specifically think they are separate issues,” Ford said. “If he wasn’t a nice guy, then don’t celebrate a day for him. But don’t substitute it for another day.”

The other co-sponsor, Rep. Jess Edwards (R-Auburn), said people on the left have been trying to do away with Columbus Day in the State House for years, and some members are burning out on the fight. 

“It’s an unpleasant issue,” Edwards said. “There are people who are advancing the bills who have so much anger and hostility against the United States. They use the Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a weapon.”

Edwards said his bill was a response to a progressive effort last year to eliminate Columbus Day celebrations in New Hampshire in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Edwards sees Columbus Day as a celebration of this country’s discovery and attempts to end that celebration as un-American.

“I’m a patriot. I love this country. Mankind is flawed, but the United States has done the greatest things on behalf of freedom in the world,” he said,

Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D-Durham) opposed Edwards and Ford’s bill, saying holding the celebration in August is meaningless. 

“Aug. 9 is just another day,” Horrigan said.

Horrigan wants to see New Hampshire stop celebrating Columbus Day in October and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Horrigan bases his opinion on the historical record of the atrocities Columbus and his men committed in the New World.

“A lot of good things came out of his voyage, but a lot of bad things came too,” Horrigan said. “According to the historical record, he was a pretty nasty guy.”

However, the historical record also shows the residents of the New World weren’t perfect, either. Slavery, ritual human sacrifice, and cannibalism were all practiced by the indigenous people of the Americas long before Europeans arrived.

When Columbus landed in the New World, he and his men started taking the native people as slaves, using them as forced labor, or selling them off to slaveholders in Spain.

Concord, Manchester, Nashua, and other municipalities have adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations to coincide with or replace the Columbus Day holidays. Last year, President Joe Biden became the first president to acknowledge Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Andrew Bullock, executive director at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner, does not take a position on when it should happen but says he believes there should be a day to honor indigenous people in America. He would like to see the Columbus Day celebrations come to an end as well.

“I don’t know that (Columbus Day celebrations) reflect the current native perspective in New Hampshire,” Bullock said.

Controversy over Columbus Day is nothing new. Columbus was adopted as a patron for Catholic Italian immigrants in the 1880s. The Italians connected to Columbus as they sought to be accepted as Americans. In the 1920s, Columbus Day celebrations were at times violently opposed by the Ku Klux Klan because of the Klan’s hatred of Catholics.

Sen. Lou D’Allesandro (D-Manchester) says he thinks it is great to have a day for indigenous people, but it can’t be Columbus Day.

“I would be totally opposed to that,” D’Allesandro said. “Columbus Day has great meaning for Italian Americans who have done so much for this country.”

D’Allesandro said the holiday is similar to St. Patrick’s Day for Irish Americans, a great way to celebrate both heritage and the American ideal.

“Italians have done very many good things in this country and stood up for this country,” D’Allesandro said.

House Republicans are pushing several proposals to curb COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements, including banning private businesses from requiring a shot for employees. But New Hampshire’s healthcare professionals are pushing back — hard.

“A vaccination mandate should be job-related and consistent with business necessity,” says Pamela DiNapoli, executive director of the New Hampshire Nurses Association.

And New Hampshire Hospital Association President Steve Ahnen points out, “Hospitals have an inherent responsibility to protect the health and safety of their patients who, by their very nature, are very ill and the COVID-19 vaccine is the most effective way we can do that.” He objects to any legislation that would “essentially render moot any requirements that an employer has determined are in the best interests of those they serve by simply saying no to the vaccine requirement on the grounds of a conscientious objection declaration.”

The debate, which is dividing some in the business community from their traditional Granite State GOP allies, comes down to whether business owners should be free to set their own rules for employees, or if employees should have the right to ignore workplace rules regarding vaccinations.

“People say businesses have a right to do that, but they don’t have the right to get involved in people’s medical,” said state Rep. Al Baldasaro (R-Londonderry).

Baldasaro is sponsoring a number of proposals, including HB 1224, which would prohibit state and local governments from having any vaccines requirement, and it would prevent what he says is discrimination against people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dozens of bills related to the COVID-19 vaccine were filed at the start of the session, though many in the State House think they will get narrowed down to a few laws that will make it to Gov. Chris Sununu. Among proposals under consideration is House Speaker Sherman Packard’s own HB 1455. It would prevent state enforcement of any federal vaccine mandate and limit the number of times a person can be required to get a COVID-19 test to once a month.

“I am not against the vaccine in any way shape or form,” Packard (R-Londonderry), said when he introduced the bill. “What I’m against is the mandate from Washington D.C.”

There are also efforts to allow people to more easily opt-out of the state’s new vaccine registry. Another bill would stop employers from requiring COVID-19 tests while yet another would make people who lose work due to vaccine refusal eligible for unemployment benefits. 

Many in the state are opposed to bills that would ban mandates. The New Hampshire Hospital Association told lawmakers that requiring vaccinations in healthcare settings is “absolutely the right thing to do.”

“Requiring vaccinations of healthcare workers from communicable diseases is not new for hospitals in New Hampshire. Hospitals have required vaccination against several communicable and deadly diseases such as mumps, measles, rubella, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and influenza as a condition of employment, with the same type of medical and religious exemptions allowed for COVID-19 vaccines,” the New Hampshire Hospital Association said in written testimony.

Tom Cronin, director of government relations for the University System of New Hampshire, said in a letter to lawmakers that HB 1490 would prohibit the enforcement of any vaccine requirements on a college campus. Long before COVID-19, most campuses required students to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, meningitis, and chickenpox, Cronin noted. The bill also prevents colleges from requiring mask-wearing and other measures shown to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“Legislation that would permit individuals to disregard well-founded public health guidance, such as requirements to wear face coverings in busy, indoor spaces, undermines efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus on our campuses,” Cronin wrote.

The New Hampshire Nurses’ Association is also opposed to the proposals limiting employer mandates for the vaccine and masking requirements.

“By prohibiting employers and places of public accommodation from adopting mandates, that would otherwise protect employees from the transmission of COVID-19, has the potential to cause death or serious physical harm to vulnerable populations requiring such protections,” the New Hampshire Nurses’ Association said in a letter to lawmakers.

Republicans reply they don’t oppose the vaccine or mask-wearing, just the mandates. President Donald Trump, viewed by some as a vaccine skeptic, recently announced he is fully vaccinated and has received the booster. 

Baldasaro, who is not vaccinated, said people need to be free to not undergo any medical procedure that they do not want. 

“I believe that goes against their privacy,” Baldasaro said.

He said he still suffers ill effects from the medications and vaccines he was required to take while a member of the United States Marine Corps. 

Another proposal, HB 1358, would eliminate COVID-19 testing as an employment requirement while at the same time making it easier for employees to get an exemption from the vaccine. Again, the New Hampshire Nurses’ Association disagrees with this approach.

“Restricting evidence-based testing requirements and/or allowing conscientious objector exemptions may significantly inhibit employers’ ability to maintain a safe work environment while putting vulnerable and immune-compromised individuals at risk,” according to the association. 

Packard said the issue for him is the federal mandate, which he believes is a major overstep.

“I encourage people to get vaccinated, but I will not be blackmailed by the federal government,” he said.

President Joe Biden pushed for a federal vaccine mandate, using the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enact the mandate. That effort was rejected by the courts, including the United States Supreme Court, and the OSHA mandate was withdrawn.

Is Chris Sununu Joe Biden’s favorite Republican?

It sounded that way during the Democratic president’s press conference on Wednesday when he invoked Gov. Sununu’s words to make the case that he has been the victim of Republican obstruction.

Biden took to the lectern facing yet another loss on the legislative front as federal election laws he supports were preparing to go down to defeat in the U.S. Senate. His $5 trillion Build Back Better bill also remains stalled. Meanwhile, his poll numbers have fallen more in his first year in office than any modern president, and 70 percent of Americans say the country is on the wrong track.

Biden said he did not believe polls showing his support among independent voters had fallen to 25 percent, but he does believe he is doing a great job.

“I didn’t overpromise. I probably outperformed what most people thought would happen,” Biden said. In fact, he later added he plans to travel across America in the coming months and talk to the voters face to face, “now that the big problems are fixed.”

As for his high-profile legislative failures on Build Back Better and the federal voting laws, Biden said the blame belongs to the Republicans in the Senate. And he used Sununu’s words to make his case against the GOP.

“I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done,” Biden said. He then read an excerpt from an interview Sununu recently gave The Washington Examiner about why the New Hampshire governor decided not to run for Senate.

“They were all, for the most part, content with the speed at which they weren’t doing anything. It was very clear that we just have to hold the line for two years. OK, so I’m just going to be a roadblock for two years. That’s not what I do,” Sununu said, noting Republicans were trying to wait until they would hopefully win the presidency in 2024. “It bothered me that they were OK with that,” Sununu said.

“I said, ‘OK, so if we’re going to get stuff done if we win the White House back, why didn’t you do it in 2017 and 2018?’” Sununu asked, saying there were “Crickets. Yeah, crickets,” and that “They had no answer.”

It showed that the most important thing for the GOP was to make sure Joe Biden didn’t get anything done, the president concluded, demanding, “What are Republicans for? Name me one thing they’re for?”

In fact, Democrats control the Senate and they have the votes to pass Build Back Better, as well as the votes to break the filibuster and pass any legislation they choose. Republicans don’t have the votes by themselves to stop either measure.

But having a prominent Republican like Sununu making the case the GOP is the problem is a political gift to Biden.

Sununu declined to respond to requests for comment after the speech, but GOP strategists and activists in both New Hampshire and D.C. agreed it was a problem Sununu created for himself.

“Attacking Washington is fine,” one Republican strategist said. “Everybody hates Washington. But attacking Republicans in Washington, particularly Republicans in the Senate? Not smart.”

Sununu’s comments aren’t news in New Hampshire, echoing attacks he has repeatedly made on D.C. and the Congress. In fact, earlier in the day, Sununu expressed similar sentiments during an online video event with The Washington Post.

Explaining that he preferred to serve as a governor because you can “get things done,” Sununu said:

“You don’t do that in Washington. That’s not my gig. Nobody does it. Democrats don’t do it. Republicans don’t do it. They are often all too satisfied with just stopping a process. They’re all too satisfied with just being the party of no if they’re in the minority or being a roadblock.

“I think there’s no higher ground there,” Sununu added. “I think Democrats and Republicans are equally to blame for that.”

Music to Democrats’ ears, Republicans say.

“Sununu is myopic,” one D.C,-based GOP strategist told NHJournal. “He’s just thinking about triangulating and not about what he’s handing the Democrats.

“I know he believes he is such a brilliant campaigner, but he just got outmaneuvered by a 79-year-old with a 30 [percent] approval rating.”

Longtime Democratic strategist Terry Shumaker was pleased with Biden’s performance, and Sununu’s role in it.

“I thought he was terrific in a way regular Americans can relate to, especially saying several times in different ways, when you find out what Republicans stand for, please let me know,” he told NHJournal. “Quoting Gov. Sununu saying that all GOP senators want to do is obstruct Biden was a high point too.”

GOP U.S. Senate candidate, state Senate President Chuck Morse, responded to Biden’s comments by mocking the president’s attempt to push the blame onto the GOP.

“It wasn’t Republicans that have caused inflation to be the highest it’s been in 40 years. It wasn’t the Republicans that shut down the Keystone Pipeline and made us dependent on Russia and OPEC nations for our energy. It wasn’t Republicans that opened up our borders to anyone that wants to get into the country, including murderers and drug dealers,” Morse said in a statement. “Joe Biden, Maggie Hassan and the Democrats did that, and maybe instead of pointing the fingers at everyone else, they should fix the mess they’ve made of this country.”

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu today praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling shutting the Biden administration’s attempts to use a workplace regulatory agency to enforce a COVID vaccine mandate on private businesses.

However, the court permitted the vaccine rule to be imposed on healthcare workers at institutions that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding, unless those employees have medical or religious exemptions.

“I would like to thank the Supreme Court for listening to the countless businesses across our state that would have faced catastrophic workforce shortages had this mandate gone through,” said Sununu. “I am as pro-vaccine as they come, but today’s decision to halt the president’s overreaching vaccine mandate is good news for employees and the businesses that keep our supply chains running and economy open.”

New Hampshire was one of 27 states that sued the Biden administration in various venues over its attempts to use the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration (OSHA) to impose mandates on employers with 100 or more workers. The mandates, which required employees to either be vaccinated or undergo regular testing, would have affected 84 million workers.

OSHA issued its mandate in November, parts of which– including a mask mandate for unvaccinated workers — were scheduled to take effect this week.

Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain re-tweeted a statement calling the OSHA rule “the ultimate workaround for the federal government to require vaccination,” a point noted by the court during its oral arguments last week. Klain’s attitude fed suspicions among some legal observers that the White House’s decision to issue the OSHA order is just the latest example of the Biden administration issuing a policy they know is unlikely to survive legal scrutiny for the sake of political messaging.

For example, when Biden issued a federal moratorium on evictions last August, he admitted, “The bulk of the constitutional scholars say it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster.” The Supreme Court swiftly struck it down.

It only took a week for the Supreme Court to do the same with the OSHA mandate, once it reached the high court. “Under the law as it stands today, that power [to regulate the pandemic] rests with the states and Congress, not OSHA,” Justice Neil Gorsuch said Thursday.

“By blocking the OSHA mandate, the Supreme Court showed that it’s possible to take statutory limits on federal power seriously, not just constitutional ones,” said Ilya Shapiro, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. “After all, even if we accept federal regulation of workplace safety as constitutional, there’s a difference between occupational risk and the general risk of living in a pandemic.”

Sen. Maggie Hassan has touted her leadership on the newly-passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending package. But a new radio ad is calling her out for the fact her state came in ‘dead last’ in funding from the bill.

“In a split 50-50 U.S. Senate, Joe Biden needed every Democrat vote to pass his infrastructure plan. Maggie Hassan had the power to change the plan, but didn’t. She allowed it to pass with New Hampshire coming in dead last in total funding,” the ad’s narrator said. “New Hampshire got the least amount of money for projects like roads bridges, and high-speed internet.”

Listen to the new radio ad targeting Sen. Maggie Hassan here.

It is a complaint Gov. Chris Sununu has made repeatedly since President Biden signed the spending plan. “We’re 50th in the country for roads and bridges, and they’re coming to New Hampshire to tout roads and bridges,” Sununu asked when Biden came to New Hampshire last month to talk up the infrastructure spending. “And our federal delegation is taking a victory lap?”

Hassan, on the other hand, is bragging about the role she played in crafting this spending bill.

“I helped lead negotiations around this bill to make sure it responds to the pressing infrastructure needs of small and rural states like New Hampshire,” she said in a statement.

And Biden gave her a big shoutout during his visit to Woodstock, N.H.

“Maggie, you did one hell of a job because, folks, you should know that Maggie was a key player in every aspect of this law,” Biden said. “She was always making sure New Hampshire’s roads and bridges, like the one we’re standing on today, were safe, and this one is not.”

Patrick Hynes with the Independent Leadership for New Hampshire PAC running the ad says these claims are not accomplishments, they’re indictments.

“Sen. Hassan says she negotiated the infrastructure bill. She drove a hard bargain … for states like New York, California, and Massachusetts where she gets most of her money. But she left New Hampshire out in the cold. The Granite State ranks dead last in infrastructure dollars,” Hynes said. “It’s disappointing that after all the blind loyalty Hassan has shown to Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer, New Hampshire still finished dead last in infrastructure dollars. It shows where we are on her priority list.”

New polling shows America’s priority is fighting inflation, named the top concern of voters in a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. And a Fed analysis found the Biden administration’s spending has directly added to inflation pressures. That may explain why a majority (57 percent) of voters — including 28 percent of Democrats — blame Biden.

Hynes, a GOP communications adviser, notes 85 percent of Hassan’s campaign contributions come from out of state, much of it from New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

And the ad makes a point that is all-but-certain to be echoed by Republican messaging in next year’s election: Because these bills can only pass with the support of every Democrat, Hassan is the “50th vote” on every dollar spent and every policy put in place. It will be very difficult for her to distance herself from the massive pricetags on these spending packages or individual policies like billions for EV charging stations when she literally could have killed anything she objected to with a single vote.

“Maggie Hassen could’ve gotten us more infrastructure dollars,” the ad concludes, “but she allowed us to be dead last.”

U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas says the Biden’ Build Back Better” plan he voted for last Friday “is fully paid for and will reduce the deficit by $112 billion.”

Rep. Annie Kuster also says the bill “is fully paid for” by “making super-wealthy corporations and the top one percent pay their fair share.”

But nearly every economic review of the legislation, including the Congressional Budget Office analysis they both claim to rely on, says the bill will add billions in new debt. And the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) projects the actual cost of the bill is closer to $5 trillion.

That is just one aspect of the budget reconciliation bill Kuster and Pappas helped pass in a straight partisan vote (Maine’s Rep. Jared Golden was the only Democratic “no” vote) that has received little attention from New Hampshire’s media. Democrats say the Child Tax Credit monthly checks, increased healthcare subsidies, and taxpayer-funded pre-K for all will be popular with voters. And they may be right. But there are other details almost certain to appear in campaign ads next year.

ADDING TO THE DEBT

New Hampshire’s congressional delegation touted their votes when the House bill passed last week, even as the Congressional Budget Office released a report indicating the $1.75 trillion social spending bill could increase the deficit between $160 and $360 billion over ten years, despite Biden administration promises the spending will be covered by increased taxes.

And the CRFB points out the Democrats’ plan includes ten years of revenue, but only includes spending on some of the largest items for five years — or even one. For example, the Child Tax Credit sending monthly checks to couples earning up to $150,000 costs $130 billion. But Democrats only include it in their 10-year plan for just one year. Assuming the checks don’t stop in 2024 — an election year– and instead last for the entire 1o years, the actual cost is an additional $1 trillion. None of which is paid for in the current plan.

BENEFITS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Under the Trump administration, recipients of the monthly Child Tax Credit checks ($300 per child under age six and $250 for each child ages six to 17) had to have Social Security numbers. Under the Build Back Better bill passed by Kuster and Pappas, that requirement is gone, allowing many more people in the U.S. illegally to collect the taxpayer-funded benefit.

The bill also includes a 10-year “amnesty-lite” program in the form of work permits, Social Security numbers, eligibility for welfare benefits, and the ability to get a driver’s license for some 4 or 6 million illegal immigrants. The Washington Post calls it “the largest mass-legalization program for undocumented immigrants in U.S. history.”

TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY

The Biden budget lifts the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions for federal filers from $10,000 to $80,000. Few Americans — and very few Granite Staters — pay $80,000 in state and local taxes. According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, the top 20 percent of earners would reap more than 96 percent of the benefits of a SALT repeal, and the top one percent of all earners would see 57 percent of benefits.

Lifting the SALT deduction cap helps subsidize the costs of high local taxes in places like Massachusetts, New York and California. But it does little for the taxpayers of the Granite State. The roughly 10 percent of folks in New Hampshire who itemize deductions only receive about 0.4 percent of the total SALT deduction benefits.

MASSIVE INCREASE IN THE SIZE OF THE IRS

Public pressure killed the Biden administration’s plans to increase bank reporting requirements to reach more lower-income earners — a plan supported early on by both Kuster and Pappas. However, House Democrats did vote to drastically increase the size of the IRS in hopes of collecting more tax revenues.

Democrats voted to add $88 billion of new funding for the IRS, including $45 billion dedicated to enforcement and $4 billion to administer green energy initiatives. The biggest expense will be some 80,000 new IRS agents to conduct audits. The revenue target set by the legislation is $400 billion in additional tax collections over ten years. Given that high-income earners tend to have tax attorneys handling their finances, many observers believe this $40 billion a year will come from small business owners and upper-middle-class individuals.

Democrats dismiss this data, arguing the benefits of the bill outweigh any problems.

“This legislation will lower taxes while bringing down the cost of the everyday expenses that burden so many Granite Staters,” Pappas said. “It will invest in a strong workforce that will help our small businesses and economy thrive. It will lift up working people, give our kids the best head start we can, and chart a course for a healthier, stronger, more resilient future.”