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NH’s senators agree more than disagree (videos)
By Paul Briand
Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Kelly Ayotte are on different sides of the aisle politically in the U.S. Senate, but they share common ground on a variety of issues affecting their home state of New Hampshire.
They articulated their cooperation on several issues — from the U.S. Air National Guard Base at Pease and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, to manufacturing and the cost and debt of a college education — during a breakfast forum sponsored by the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce.
The event, which attracted about 120 people, was held Friday morning at the Great Bay Community College, cited by the senators for its Advanced Technology and Academic Center (ATAC) in Rochester. which trains students in the kind of technology skills needed for workers at the program’s primary sponsors, Safran Aerospace Composites and Albany Engineered Composites, aerospace manufacturers located in Rochester.
Here is what they had to say about manufacturing and other business related issues:
New Hampshire is in a unique position in that Ayotte and Shaheen are the only two senators from the same state who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee and who sit on the Senate Small Business Committee. Ayotte called themselves “force multipliers for New Hampshire.”
They articulated political differences on the Affordable Care Act, which Shaheen supported in the Senate. Ayotte wasn’t in Congress at the time but said she would have opposed it.
Here’s what they had to say about it:
And they agreed, on various levels, on the need to compromise as a way for Congress to end its current gridlock and only reacting crisis to crisis. Here’s what they said:
Shaheen noted on the issue of college debt that “student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in this country.” That has an impact on the economy, as she hears from real estate professionals that young people can’t afford to buy a house because of the college debt they have.
She said she supports the proposal that would allow people to refinance their college loan debt in the same way they can refinance a home or a car.
Ayotte said she supports tax breaks for employers who help pay for their workers to advance their education.
For Seacoast Online’s coverage of the forum, click here.
Live Free or Die Alliance
www.livefreeordiealliance.org
Source: http://townhall.livefreeordiealliance.org/xn/detail/4091641:BlogPost:73073
