JEANNE SHAHEEN ADDRESSES ROTARY CLUB OF MANCHESTER, DISCUSSES PROPOSALS TO STRENGTHEN NEW HAMPSHIRE'S SMALL BUSINESSES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2008
 
CONTACT:
Kate Bedingfield
603 782 4613 (o)/603 361 8036 (c)/ kbedingfield@jeanneshaheen.org

Caitlin Legacki
603 782 4613 (o)/603 361 9643 (c)/ clegacki@jeanneshaheen.org

JEANNE SHAHEEN ADDRESSES ROTARY CLUB OF MANCHESTER, DISCUSSES PROPOSALS TO STRENGTHEN NEW HAMPSHIRE'S SMALL BUSINESSES

(Manchester, NH) —Former Governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen addressed a meeting of the Rotary Club of Manchester today.  Shaheen discussed what we can do to strengthen small businesses and the need for a leader in Washington who will put New Hampshire's interests first.
 
"I have spent the past months traveling across our state and everywhere I go, I see the same frustration: small businesses and families are struggling and Washington just doesn't get it," Shaheen said. "Make no mistake—small business is big business for New Hampshire."
 
"It is small business, not the government, that creates jobs drives employment, drives new ideas and innovation, and drives economic output. But I believe government has a vital role to play in addressing the challenges small business face from sky-high gas and heating fuel prices and increasing health care costs.
 
"We need some new strategies that let small businesses band together so they have the numbers and negotiating leverage like larger employers, while making sure we don't take a step backwards towards allowing discrimination against small businesses who have sick or older works and other insurance abuses.  And we should expand tax credits for small businesses who provide health insurance to their workers."
 
Shaheen discussed her proposals to help bring down the cost of gas for small businesses and middle class families by cracking down on reckless Wall Street speculation on the price of oil. Shaheen also supports increasing domestic production by having the oil companies drill on the 68 million acres they already lease before we open up protected shorelines for more exploration. Shaheen also discussed the critical need to develop a long-term energy policy that will end our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the development of alternative and renewable energy sources and ending the billions of dollars in tax breaks to big oil.

To lower the cost on small businesses to provide health care for their employees, Shaheen believes we should speed the transition to electronic medical records and change the financial incentives of our health care system so that we are incentivizing preventive care and chronic disease management, not acute care.
 
Shaheen also believes we can lower the price of prescription drugs by standing up to the big drug companies by ending the patent law abuses that keep affordable generic drugs from coming to market and allowing the importation of safe inexpensive prescription drugs from Canada.