US Rep Shea-Porter Sponsors Congressional Art Competition

High-school students from New Hampshire encouraged to submit artwork

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Today, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter is pleased to announce her sponsorship of the 2013 Congressional Art Competition. Each spring, members of Congress sponsor a nationwide high school visual art competition where students from across the country submit their artwork to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building. 

“I have enjoyed meeting our young and gifted artists each year that I sponsored the Congressional Art Competition, and I’m looking forward to seeing some great art again this year," Shea-Porter said.

The Congressional Art Competition is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the artistic talent in each congressional district. The competition began in 1982 and since then, over 650,000 high school students have been involved with the nationwide competition. Students from New Hampshire’s First Congressional District are encouraged to submit their artwork. The district’s over-all winner will have their artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year. They will also receive two round-trip airline tickets to Washington, D.C. for the national reception, and will be eligible for scholarships.

Art entered in the contest may be up to 28 inches by 28 inches (including the frame) and up to 4 inches in depth. The work may be:

·         Paintings: including oil, acrylics, and watercolor

·         Drawings: including pastels, colored pencil, pencil, charcoal, ink, and markers

·         Collage

·         Prints: including lithographs, silkscreen, and block prints

·         Mixed Media

·         Computer Generated Art

·         Photography

All entries must be original in concept, design and execution. Student artwork entries are due by Tuesday, April 16, 2013 to Shea-Porter’s Manchester District Office located at 33 Lowell Street.  Additional information is available online at shea-porter.house.gov/services/art-competition.

US Rep Shea-Porter to TSA: Protect Passengers and Keep Knives off Planes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter cosponsored legislation that would reverse a recent decision by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow small knives in the cabins of airplanes.

“Common sense tells us that knives should not be allowed on airplanes,” Shea-Porter said. “They’re an unnecessary risk, and if the TSA won’t reconsider this policy, Congress should take action.”

Preventing knives on commercial planes keeps flight attendants, pilots and passengers out of harm’s way and gives travelers peace of mind. Additionally, reversing the TSA decision will keep security lines moving as TSA agents will not have to inspect each knife that passes through a checkpoint.

In a letter to the TSA dated March 11, U.S. Airways CEO Doug Parker wrote, "The announcement this past week to begin allowing certain knives back into the cabins of commercial aircraft is of concern to us and we ask you to reconsider this decision.”

The Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations – groups made up of flight attendants, pilots and law enforcement officers – all oppose the TSA’s policy change and do not believe that policies that promote standards of safety and security should be relaxed.

Bill Cosponsored by US Rep Shea-Porter Garners Bipartisan Support, Passes House

Builds on Shea-Porter’s promise to stand-up for middle class Granite Staters and updates banking laws to eliminate a costly, duplicative requirement

WASHINGTON, D.C. –This evening, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 749, the Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act. This bill was cosponsored by Congresswoman Shea-Porter and will cut red tape for local banks and credit unions while eliminating duplicative mailings to consumers.

“To create a strong economy and a growing middle class, we need a regulatory system that works for both businesses and consumers,” Shea-Porter said. “This bill supports that principle, and I hope it’s an indication that Congress will work together to cut red tape for businesses, ease burdens on middle class families and keep our economy moving in the right direction.”

Under current law, all financial institutions are required to give annual privacy notices to all of their customers that explain information sharing practices.  Financial institutions are required to give these notices each year even if privacy policies have not changed from the previous year. This at best creates unnecessary and redundant waste for financial institutions and customers, and at worst causes consumers to ignore notices that may contain information about important changes.

Under the bill passed today, institutions must send notification only when they change privacy-related policies or practices. As a result, businesses will save millions of dollars each year on duplicative mailings and each mailing is more likely to contain information relevant to the consumer.

H.R. 749 was endorsed by the Credit Union National Association, the American Bankers Association, the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Consumer Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable.

US Rep Shea-Porter Statement on the House Republican Budget

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Once again, House Republicans released a budget that protects the wealthiest, hurts the middle class and puts our economic recovery at risk. Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter released the following statement today about the Republican budget:

“I’m disappointed that instead of taking this opportunity to work towards a balanced plan to reduce the deficit and create jobs, House Republicans chose more of the same: tax cuts for a wealthy few while asking for more sacrifice from the middle class.

“The Republican budget would turn Medicare into a voucher program – ending guaranteed coverage for future retirees. It would repeal Obamacare, an effort that amounts to little more than political grandstanding. And it would give Americans at the top a new round of tax cuts while asking students, seniors and the middle class to foot the bill. These ideas were debated over the course of the fall election, and they were rejected by Granite State voters.

“If the Republican House majority truly wants to compromise, they need to put forward a compromise budget.”

WEEK IN REVIEW: US Rep Shea-Porter Works to Stop Sequestration

WASHINGTON, D.C – One week after sequestration began creating reckless and irresponsible cuts to our economy, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter worked to protect New Hampshire’s middle class from its most harmful effects. From meeting with Granite State veterans to cosponsoring legislation that would replace sequestration with a balanced approach, Congresswoman Shea-Porter is committed to working towards saving the hundreds of thousands of jobs and vital services set to be lost due to this reckless policy.

“Instead of imposing indiscriminate cuts on the Department of Defense and other programs vital to middle class security, we should replace sequestration with a balanced approach that increases revenue, decreases spending, and creates jobs,” said Shea-Porter. “I am hopeful that we can compromise to avert these self-inflicted wounds from Washington, but I refuse to accept any plan that fails the test of balance by leaving corporate tax loopholes open and closing the pathway to the middle class.”  

See below for details from the week.

·         Cosponsorship of H.R. 699, the Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act

Congresswoman Shea-Porter cosponsored the Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act, which eliminates sequestration for calendar year 2013 entirely while reducing the deficit by more than the amount of the scheduled across-the-board spending cuts. It makes specific policy choices that reduce the deficit in a balanced way, with a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases. The bill also calls for a balanced solution to stop the full multi-year sequester.

·         Statement to the House Budget Committee about the impact of sequestration on New Hampshire

Congresswoman Shea-Porter issued a statement to the House Budget Committee about the effects of sequestration on New Hampshire, specifically highlighting the importance of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to the region’s economy and the country’s national defense. She encouraged the committee to replace sequestration’s arbitrary cuts with a balanced plan that responsibly cuts spending and removes unnecessary tax breaks for special interests, saying, “In order to keep our national defense strong, I ask you to restore the budget of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to the funding level that existed prior to implementation of the defense sequester.”

·         Voting Against the Continuing Resolution that, according to the National Journal, “embraced sequestration”

Congresswoman Shea-Porter voted against a Continuing Resolution that reinforces the mindless cuts that will hurt hiring and incomes, slow the recovery, and keep deficits larger than otherwise.

·         Meeting with the New Hampshire Veterans

Congresswoman Shea-Porter met with New Hampshire veterans to talk about the sequester’s impact on our national security. Although the Department of Veterans Affairs is exempt from sequestration, the Department of Labor’s Veterans Transition Assistance Program, which serves over 150,000 veterans a year, would have to reduce operations – leaving thousands of transitioning veterans unserved as they move from active duty to civilian life.  

·         Meeting with Major General William N. Reddel III, The Adjutant General, New Hampshire

Congresswoman Shea-Porter spoke with General Reddel about her commitment to averting sequestration.

·         Cosponsorship of H.R. 900, the Cancel the Sequester Act of 2013

The set of across-the-board cuts passed into law by the previous Congress - of which Shea-Porter was not a member - was purposely designed to be a bad idea and was never intended to become law.  It was supposed to be so unthinkable as to force a compromise – but it failed.  With Congress unable to craft a bipartisan agreement that takes the sequester off the table, Washington has a duty to avert these catastrophic cuts by any means necessary. That is why Congresswoman Shea-Porter cosponsored the “Cancel the Sequester Act,” a one-sentence bill that would repeal the section of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that created the sequester. 

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy created 246,000 private sector jobs in February and unemployment dropped to 7.7%. This is welcome news and continues to build on 36 consecutive months of private sector job growth. But in order to continue this momentum and avoid the 750,000 American jobs set to be lost this year due to sequestration, Congress must do their job and replace these haphazard cuts with a balanced approach that reduces spending and increases revenue.