In an interview with Chris Ryan, Senator Jeanne Shaheen discusses her thoughts about last night’s address to Congress by President Biden, agrees with President Biden that defeating COVID is our number one priority and commends New Hampshire for leading the nation in percentage of citizens being vaccinated, sees the President’s proposed American Families Plan and American Jobs Plan as needed investments in America’s workers, talks about the give and take of the legislative process, and responds to President Biden’s description of the Republican Party as being too fractured to be able to negotiate.
Senator Shaheen shares her excitement of being there for what is being considered an historic presidential speech due to the presence of two powerful women on the dais—Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the first person of color.
The Senator, who was the first woman to be the Governor of New Hampshire, says, “It was a wonderful picture. I thought that it sent a strong message to the rest of the country and to all the little girls out there that you can do anything you want and be anything you want if you try.”
When she was asked about what changes might be made to the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan and the $2.2 trillion infrastructure bill, the American Jobs Plan, Senator Shaheen expresses her agreement with the President that the first step is to defeat the Coronavirus by increasing the number of vaccinations. The Senator commends the job done by her home state in leading the nation in the percentage of people vaccinated.
Senator Shaheen believes that the American Families Plan addresses important problems faced by working families—childcare and family leave.
With a Senate evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, to pass these large spending bills every vote will be critical. Senator Shaheen discusses the importance of bipartisan negotiations and her commitment to making sure that taxpayer dollars are spent effectively on needed programs and projects.
Recently, President Biden said that the Republican Party is so divided over support of President Trump that they do not have the ability to negotiate. Senator Shaheen was asked how this might affect reaching compromises over proposed legislation.
“I don’t think we negotiate with the Republican Party. I think we negotiate with individual senators, as we look at legislation as it comes out of Congress.”