All across New Hampshire, we continue to see signs of a strengthening economy driven by innovation.
Our unemployment rate is now 2.6 percent, among the lowest in the country and our lowest in over 15 years. And for the third year in a row, we were ranked the strongest state in the nation based on more than a dozen measures of quality of life.
Yet while New Hampshire’s economy is in many respects ahead of the curve, too many families are being left out or left behind. We need to take action to ensure that all Granite Staters who work hard have the opportunity to succeed.
That’s why I announced my Innovate NH 2.0 plan – outlining the policies I will focus on as a United States senator to foster innovation, support job-creating businesses and expand opportunity for hard-working families.
Innovate NH 2.0 builds on the innovation plan I laid out during my 2012 gubernatorial campaign, which I have worked with members of both parties to achieve during my time in office. Together, we froze tuition at state universities and lowered it at community colleges, increased and made permanent the R&D tax credit to help innovative businesses succeed and provided technical assistance to support growing companies. I have focused on these priorities while responsibly balancing the budget – without a sales or income tax – managing the budget to a surplus and significantly increasing our rainy day fund.
Innovate NH 2.0 outlines five key priorities that I will take to the United States Senate: (1) encouraging business innovation and growth, (2) developing a 21st-century workforce, (3) helping middle class families make ends meet, (4) building a cleaner, more affordable energy future and (5) fixing our roads, bridges and other infrastructure systems.
The plan ensures fiscal responsibility by eliminating special tax breaks for Wall Street and Big Oil, ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, and asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share.
This vision stands in stark contrast to the dysfunction we’ve seen from a Senate majority in Washington that is run by special interests. As senator, I will fight to change that and get results for New Hampshire’s families and small businesses.
We know that innovative businesses and entrepreneurs are the engines of economic growth in the 21st-century economy. The first step of this plan builds on what we have accomplished in New Hampshire to encourage business innovation and help new companies start up and grow. In the Senate, I will work to reduce the regulatory burden on new companies, expand the federal R&D tax credit and build on successful bipartisan ideas like the State Small Business Credit Initiative to help small businesses thrive.
But businesses can’t succeed without a strong, 21st-century workforce – and Innovate NH 2.0 builds on our efforts to make higher education more affordable and support job training efforts to strengthen the workforce development pipeline. In the Senate, I will fight to allow students to refinance their loans, achieve debt-free public college and expand technical training and apprenticeships.
As we work to support our businesses and our workforce, it is also critical to break down the barriers that are holding back middle-class families. In the Senate, I will work to enact a $1,000 tax cut for middle-class families, raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour and pass the federal Paycheck Fairness Act to help ensure everyone earns equal pay for equal work.
In order to support innovative solutions, we must build a cleaner, more affordable energy future. As senator, I will fight to set strong national goals for clean energy, expand RGGI and develop a national net metering model rule.
And we must also work to meet the infrastructure needs of a 21st-century economy. That’s why Innovate NH 2.0 calls for encouraging more public-private partnerships, establishing a national Infrastructure Bank, supporting commuter rail from Boston to Nashua and Manchester and strengthening our water infrastructure.
Many of the ideas in this plan already have bipartisan support, and I look forward to working with members of both parties to make progress on critical issues for Granite State families and small businesses.
Through Innovate NH 2.0, we can stand up to corporate special interests and make real progress to foster innovation, support job-creating businesses and expand opportunity for hard-working families. We know it is possible to work across party lines to move forward on these critical priorities – because that is exactly what we have done in New Hampshire.
As a United States senator, I will roll up my sleeves and work to build a future where all hard-working Granite Staters are included in our economic success.
(Gov. Maggie Hassan is a candidate for
U.S. Senate.)