New Hampshire House Freedom Caucus Comments on State Budget Vote Thursday
For Immediate Release – June 21, 2017
Contact: Representative JR Hoell (603) 315-9002
Concord, 6/21/2017 – The New Hampshire House Freedom Caucus (NHHFC) announced that, despite substantial concerns about the growth in state spending, a majority of NHHFC members voted to support the state budget committee of conference report this Thursday. The caucus held a vote at a meeting Monday night that included a presentation on the budget by Senate President Chuck Morse.
The members of the Freedom Caucus had this to say about the ’18-’19 Budget:
“While the caucus as a whole, finds the level of spending objectionable, we were able, with the cooperation of the Senate, to craft a bill that will have some positive outcomes for New Hampshire tax payers, and businesses. Many of these points were clear objectives for the NHHFC when we went to House leadership in the early stages of the budget process. It is unfortunate that some of House leadership chose to exclude us from the process.” Rep. Anne Copp (Danbury, Merrimack 1)
“While we believe the proposal still spends too many taxpayer dollars, the Committee of Conference budget is moderately better than the reckless spending included in the House Finance budget, which failed spectacularly due to a lack of leadership and communication. Moreover, unlike the House proposed budget, this budget actually puts more money back in the pockets of taxpayers by cutting taxes, an prospect that was robbed from the House when tax relief was ruled non-germane. Accordingly, this new budget actually works to grow our economy and provide better opportunities and quality of life for New Hampshire residents,” stated Rep. Lino Avellani. (Wakefield, Carroll 5)
“The Freedom Caucus cannot thank the Governor and Senate Leadership enough for the work they have done to deliver a budget that is more fiscally responsible, often having to fight House leadership to lower spending and reduce taxes. There can be no doubt that it is a bizarre situation when the Senate President and Senate Finance Chair have to work to bring the House Republican caucus together, but that is precisely what happened, and this budget undoubtedly would have collapsed without their efforts,” added Rep. John Burt (Goffstown, Hillsborough 6).
“While a majority of the Freedom Caucus voted to support this budget, there are many things the Legislature must continue to do to make New Hampshire more fiscally responsible. One example would be the 1156 unfilled, but funded, positions across state government. This budget should have eliminated many of these, especially those that have been vacant for more than three months. Our work to continue to limit the size of government and improve the value that the state offers taxpayers will not end with this budget. In fact, the formation of the Freedom Caucus was just the beginning of our efforts to reduce the impact of state government on the hard-working taxpayers of New Hampshire,” concluded Rep. Dan Hynes (Merrimack, Hillsborough 21).
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The New Hampshire House Freedom Caucus is a grassroots organization consisting of legislators and private citizens, who believe in personal liberty and the traditional conservative “Yankee” values that made New Hampshire a great place to live.