New Hampshire House Republican Leader Gene Chandler from Bartlett and House Finance Committee Ranking Republican Neal Kurk from Weare issued a statement Friday following the news that enrollment in the State’s traditional Medicaid program has spiked, in part due to Obamacare mandates, and that, as a result, the Department of Health and Human Services is facing a thirty seven million dollar budget shortfall. Said Leader Chandler, “For months prior to Obamacare mandates taking effect, we were warned that an enrollment surge was a likely possibility. Now we’re faced with another potential state budget breaker largely as a result of this unpopular federal law. ” End Quote.
Kurk
Kurk, known as something as a state budget guru, said quote “It’s safe to say that the D H H S estimates for increased enrollment in traditional Medicaid were too low. While it’s never easy to make predictions with 100% certainty, this surge was not unexpected. Health care experts had been warning that, with all of the attention being given to ObamaCare, individuals eligible for traditional Medicaid would ‘come out of the woodwork’ in droves. The experts were right. This is not a temporary problem. New Hampshire taxpayers will have to continue to fund the state’s share of the cost to provide care for many of these new enrollees into the foreseeable future. We can only hope that enrollment estimates for the new, three-year, expanded Medicaid program don’t follow suit. That would be very expensive for taxpayers…” end quote.
Brown: He’s in the money
The campaign of former Republican Bay State Senator Scott Brown announced Friday that it raised two point three four million dollars during the second quarter and entered July with approximately one point five million dollars in cash on hand. The campaign said that amount raised is all the more impressive given that Brown was not a formally declared candidate for the entire reporting period. “The strong support that Scott Brown has received indicates that our message is resonating and our momentum is growing,” said campaign manager Colin Reed. “In the fall, our campaign will have the resources we need and a united Republican Party behind us to defeat Jeanne Shaheen and ensure she is a one-term senator.”
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Rubens: Sheheen a climate change hypocrite for cash
G O P U.S. Senate candidate Jim Rubens called out incumbent Senator Jeanne Shaheen for what he called her “career record collecting campaign cash for doing political favors for big energy interests,” and said her latest infusion is coming from hedge fund billionaire and climate hypocrite Tom Steyer. Steyer, founder and partner of Farallon Capital Management, is highlighted in a July fourth New York Times article for having simultaneously pledged to spend a whopping one hundred million dollars to defeat candidates opposed to action on climate change while personally profiting from investments in coal mines and coal-fired power plants in South Asia and Australia. About this Rubens said the following quote: “Jeanne Shaheen’s lifetime political career is built on corporate cronyism with big energy interests. She has used her powers in elected office to enrich and protect the reputations of her corporate benefactors…Now, Jeanne Shaheen has cozied up to hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer in a calculated act of mutual greenwashing. Steyer gets cover for his coal profits. Shaheen gets Super PAC support from coal money. They are both using climate change as a partisan wedge issue to benefit Democrats and have frozen potential political progress on the issue.” End quote.
Rubens: Obama, Shaheen, NSA gut 4th Amendment
Rubens also issued a statement regarding a recent story in the Washington Post which states quote “ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the N S A from U. S. digital networks.” Said Rubens quote: “The material reviewed by the Post spans President Obama’s first term, from 2 0 0 9 to 2 0 1 2, a period of exponential growth in N S A’s domestic spying operation.” End quote. Rubens called statements made by incumbent Senator Jeanne Shaheen last August quote “baseless assurances that have proven flagrantly misleading.” End quote. Shaheen told the Valley News that quote: ‘the [NSA] oversight that is involved … will be helpful in providing some reassurance … about how the program is operated.’ on August eighth. (Valley News 8/8/13) “With Jeanne Shaheen acquiescence, the President and N S A have trampled on our 4th Amendment protections. We cannot trust that our private emails and phone conversations are not being abused, given that N S A grants access by tens of thousands of government employees and poorly supervised private contractors.” End quote.
Talk to the hand
Last Friday night at seven P M, Girard at Large received the following from the Manchester School District’s P R person Andrea Alley. Quote “Members of the community are invited to a second public hearing to share their concerns and comments about the newly assembled Manchester Academic Standards. The Board of School Committee’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee will be hosting the hearing at Manchester High School West on Thursday, July 17 starting at 6:00 pm. A committee comprised of teachers, administrators, learning standards experts, curriculum specialists, and higher education professors worked over the previous school year to assemble the standards document as an alternative to implementing the Common Core State Standards. The Manchester Academic Standards committee presented its framework for pre-k through twelfth grade curriculum at the June 9 Board of School Committee, and the presentation is available on the school district’s web site.” Brilliant. At least we know they’re paying attention.
Merrimack Farmers Market relcated
The Merrimack Farmers’ Market is moving to the Vault Motor Storage parking lot at 5 2 6 D W Highway. That’s the former Zyla’s lot. The first market at the new location is this Wednesday, July 16th. The market will run every Wednesday from 3:00–6:00 through October 15th. Local produce, eggs, meats, cheese, breads, preserves and a variety of other agricultural products will be available. For more information e-mail merrimack farmers market @ gmail dot com.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead.
