New Hampshire: Shaheen

The US Senate killed an amendment to the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act today that would have helped thousands of NH residents keep their homes by letting them seek court relief from crushing mortgage burdens. The amendment gave bankruptcy judges the power to reduce the size of a mortgage to help people who are in danger of being foreclosed on.  It was an important part of the effort to restore our housing market and indirectly stabilize the economy.

The amendment was fiercely opposed by the banking industry, who said it was nothing more than a bailout to the poor and middle class.

The road to economic recovery is not paved with new taxes.

by Mike Biundo

New Hampshire’s delegation in Washington needs to share that bit of cold New England logic with their congressional colleagues as they evaluate the Obama administration’s budget proposal.

 That proposal includes a giant energy tax increase, although that’s not what the administration’s economic team is calling it. They’d prefer us to think of it as revising Section 199 of the U.S. tax code. That might sound agonizingly dull, but don’t nod off. The revisions they are looking for amount to a $31.5 billion annual tax increase for U.S. energy producers, and that means more economic trouble for the rest of us.

I tell my friends and colleagues that my congressional district, CD-1, is a remarkable example of rising Democratic tides. More so than most places in New Hampshire, my home area, the Lakes Region, is an enclave for Republicans. Without even looking at empirical data, my thoughts about the reasoning for this trend are numerous. Yet, most important, in my opinion, are the lack of higher education and professional opportunities in the area. Without any UNH or Dartmouth to anchor a progressive atmosphere, the region instead is generally blue collar and has historically been reliably Republican.

When I graduated from high school in 2003, as a certified Deaniac who portrayed Shaheen in a mock debate during the 2002 election, everything except the water was red in my area.

The Washington Post today is shedding more light on the services provided by Staffer F (Kevin Koonce), the legislative director for Judd Gregg, to Todd Boulanger and Jack Abramoff:
Boulanger asked Staffer F in September 2002 for help preserving a $3.5 million earmark for a client.

In January 2003, Boulanger turned to Staffer F to fight a threat to Abramoff's tribal clients, who would donate $12,000 to Gregg's campaigns; then- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was pushing to allow Alaska Native firms to open gambling casinos anywhere in the United States. Staffer F said that his office had "flagged" the proposal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

The news side ot today's Post must be making David Broder sad; in his column today, he wrote:

For now, recruiting Gregg for Commerce is scant consolation for the loss of Daschle.