A Week to Remember (Next November)
- Amplify NH
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
It’s been a long and chaotic week around the globe, across the country, and right here in New Hampshire. From Trump’s destructive tariffs and escalating trade wars, to Congressional Republicans passing a budget that guts Medicaid to pay for more tax cuts for billionaires like Elon Musk, to the NH House Republicans passing a budget that raises costs and cuts essential services, it’s clear that it will be hardworking Granite Staters who will pay the price for these reckless Republican economic policies.
It will be weeks like this that help define the electoral battles to come and it will be critical that we hold those accountable for the economic chaos, higher prices, and devastating cuts to essential services Granite Staters rely on.
Trump Tariff Chaos Hurting Granite Staters
The turmoil that President Trump’s tariffs are causing across the globe, Granite Staters are already starting to feel the impact of these reckless policies and unstable economics. New Hampshire businesses are already seeing higher costs, cancelled orders, and a more bleak outlook. And with the chaos in the stock market driven by the haphazard announcement of tariffs, thousands of Granite Staters are feeling the impacts in their own bank accounts.
Given the break-neck pace of news coming out of Washington, it’s easy for Granite Staters to lose track of who is responsible for these reckless actions. As the Trump administration continues to make life more expensive for families and difficult for small businesses, its critical that we hold the Trump administration, along with their allies in Washington and at the NH State House accountable.
Congressional Republicans Gut Medicaid to Pay for Tax Breaks for Billionaires
This week, Congressional Republicans took the next step toward steep cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk. The budget passed by Congressional Republicans would require $1.5 trillion in cuts to essential programs like Medicaid. Here in New Hampshire, these Medicaid cuts would also result in 60,000 Granite Staters losing their health care coverage altogether.
While New Hampshire’s congressional delegation pushed back on this proposal and voted against it, if Congressional Republicans get their way, Granite Staters will pay the price for their reckless policies that eliminate essential programs like Medicaid.
NH Republicans Raise Your Costs on Granite Staters
As we explored in our last newsletter, NH Republicans at the State House this week passed a budget that will raise costs on Granite Staters across the board. Let’s take a look at some of the lowlights of their budget:
The NH House Republican budget will increase your property taxes:
This budget cuts the Meals and Room tax distribution to cities and towns by $11.2 million, which will need to be offset by local property tax increases.
This budget expands the use of public taxpayer dollars to fund private and religious schools and could divert more than $100 million per year away from public schools, which will need to be offset by local property taxes.
The NH House Republican budget increases healthcare costs:
This budget will raise the cost of prescription drugs by eliminating a program that identified more than $6 million in savings for prescriptions for Granite Staters in just one year.
This budget eliminates the Family Planning Program, which will increase costs on birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment for lower-income Granite Staters.
This budget endorses Kelly Ayotte’s new healthcare income tax, which forces low-income Granite Staters to pay a 5% tax on their income for healthcare insurance premiums.
This budget cuts $52.5 million in funding for hospitals and healthcare providers, which will force them to increase costs on healthcare services for all Granite Staters.
The House Republican Budget makes housing less affordable:
By eliminating the Housing Appeals Board, this budget creates more red tape, increases the time it takes to settle disputes between towns and developers, and will lead to fewer affordable housing units being built.
This budget eliminates the Housing Champion grant program, which provides $5 million in funding to towns and cities to increase housing, and will result in fewer new housing units and higher housing costs.
The House Republican Budget increases the costs to educate our kids:
This budget cuts funding for early childhood education, which is already severely underfunded.
According to a recent NH Fiscal Policy Institute analysis, the state’s failure to adequately fund early childhood education cost $22,416-$35,004 in lost earnings to Granite State families and reduced revenues of state government, local governments, and small businesses.
This budget cuts $50 million from the University System of NH, eliminates $5.4 million in scholarship funding, and cuts $4 million from the Community College System, which will increase the cost of education for hardworking Granite Staters.
With a 2023 court ruling that NH is underfunding public education by close to $1 billion per year, this budget fails to address this court ruling and leaves local property taxpayers shouldering the cost burden.
Join Our Next Training Next Week!
Next Thursday, April 24th, at 6:30 PM, Amplify NH will be hosting a virtual Digital Storytelling training!
In this training, we will cover how to bring your personal stories and experiences to life online. We’ll be covering which platforms to use, how to best communicate with your online audience, details on joining our digital rapid response team, and more! You can sign up for the training here.
Take Action This Week!
The state budget now moves to the NH Senate, so as they begin their work, contact your Senator and tell them to oppose the House Republican budget that increases your costs, increases taxes, and guts essential services.
Call or email Governor Ayotte and demand she veto the irresponsible GOP budget if it reaches her desk.
For our readers in Manchester: the public hearing on the Mayor’s proposed budget is Tuesday, April 15 (tomorrow) at 6PM at Manchester City Hall. Make your voice heard by expressing your concerns with his budget gutting school funding and still raising property taxes.
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Not signed up for Bluesky yet? Not sure how to best utilize this growing social media platform? Keep an eye out for our next Amplify NH training session on Bluesky early in 2025!
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Thank you,
Ryan Mahoney
Executive Director