ICYMI: Senator Hassan Discusses Bipartisan Progress in the Senate with WLTN

LITTLETON – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan joined Tara Giles and Phil Rivera on WLTN Littleton to talk about her recent stops in the North Country, including her visit to Coos County Family Health Services. Its recent expansion includes increased access to medication-assisted treatment for those struggling with opioid use. Senator Hassan and Giles also discussed the two-year anniversary of the bipartisan infrastructure law, and how it is benefitting New Hampshire. Senator Hassan spoke about bipartisanship in Congress, and how New Hampshire leads the way in bridging divisions and working together.

Read excerpts from Senator Hassan’s interview:

On her visit to Coos County Family Health Services

“I started yesterday by stopping in at the Coos Family Health Center, and they’ve just completed an expansion, and some of the funding for that was federal dollars that our whole delegation helped procure, and as a result, the Coos Family Health Center is going to be able to serve more people, including people in Colebrook, and has expanded its medication-assisted treatment program for people with opioid use disorder. And that’s very important for people to know about right now.

“People should know, if you have opioid use disorder, asking for help is a very brave and very important thing to do. So first of all, talking to your doctor, going to a community health center and letting them know that you have this addiction, and you want help, calling 211 or going to a website called thedoorway.nh.gov…I want people to know what they should ask for help, I want people to know too that we have work to do to fight the cartels that continue to flood our state and our country with dangerous drugs like fentanyl, and we are getting more tools and technology and personnel in that fight, and we are determined to win it.”

On Manufacturing in New Hampshire

“I’m going to be at PAK Solutions in Lancaster. That’s a cutting-edge business that comes up with specialized packaging solutions for people with high-tech, very valuable products. So, think about this. We passed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act just a little over a year ago, and that’s the act that’s bringing investment, both public sector and private sector investment into the semiconductor industry in NH. We’re going to be making these computer parts and be self-reliant and see the economic growth that comes with that. So, a company like PAK Solutions packages those things for the other innovators.”

On Bipartisanship & Delivering for NH

“I want to just take a step back and say that one of the questions I get from Granite Staters a lot is, ‘Gee, you must hate it in Washington, everything is so divided, people are so polarized.’ And I want people to know that, actually, the people in the US Senate get along pretty well and we have a record over the last couple of years to reflect that, because we’ve come together and done the hard work that is possible in a democracy of addressing our constituents’ concerns in a bipartisan way. Now, we have a lot of work we still have to do on everything from housing to more affordable health care, those kinds of things to be sure, and mental health is a big concern that we’re all kind of rolling up our sleeves to address.

“But the bipartisan infrastructure law was passed just about exactly two years ago. $200 million is coming into the Granite State to help us get high-speed, affordable internet throughout the state, a really big issue up here… When we know each other, I think those divisions get softened…One of the things I always try to tell my colleagues from other parts of the country – maybe it’s that ‘town meeting’ culture – [Granite Staters] are used to getting up and airing legitimate, sincere differences… we know on the ground that we’re all human, that we’re Americans, and we care about freedom, and we care about prosperity, and that both are possible when we work together and remember that we’re Americans first.”

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