ICYMI: Congressman Chris Pappas Talks U.S. Senate Campaign, Efforts to Tackle the Affordability Crisis on WKBK’s Open Mic

KEENE, N.H. — In case you missed it, Congressman Chris Pappas joined host Dan Mitchell on WKBK’s Open Mic for a conversation that covered ongoing negotiations with Iran, access to affordable health care, protecting Social Security, and tackling the affordability crisis in New Hampshire — a defining priority of Pappas’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. 

Earlier this year, Pappas released his Tax Cuts and Lower Costs Blueprint for New Hampshire, a multi-step agenda focused on specific legislative steps to reduce costs for housing, child care, groceries, health care, and energy — and put money back in Granite Staters’ pockets.

Listen to the episode here and read key quotes below:

Recent Draft Memorandum and Tentative Peace in Iran

  • PAPPAS: “I think we’re a long way from seeing this thing finalized, but I’d be concerned about the way the president went about this war. This was a war of choice, and I think you’re seeing in the details that have been released, just the fact that the United States hasn’t really gained anything out of this conflict to protect our national security interests, to make America safer, and to serve the needs of our country.”
  • PAPPAS: “In fact, Americans are paying an incredibly steep price right now in the form of higher energy costs, that’s adding to inflation. Last month, inflation clocked in at over 4%, gas prices over four bucks a gallon, diesel over five bucks a gallon, and that’s going to continue to have a ripple effect across the economy for months and months to come.” 
  • PAPPAS: “We have to be very clear-eyed about any sort of deal with them, but I fail to see how this is preferable to the last deal that Donald Trump tore up, that was working to keep a lid on their nuclear ambitions and ensuring that we’re working with our allies to create the pathway to a longer term peace in the region.” 

Congressional War Powers and Bipartisanship

  • PAPPAS: “This is about making sure that the American people, through their elected representatives, have a say about issues like war and peace, and that is something that our founders created and aid to the legislative branch, it’s something that we have to guard very jealously and work hard to do what’s right for our country. This is about how we protect our national security interests and keep our troops out of harm’s way, and ultimately, how we have a vibrant economy here at home.” 
  • PAPPAS: “I’m glad that this is coming to a close in a way that will take more of our service members out of harm’s way, but we need to be thinking about how we support the needs of American families and communities, particularly at a time of high cost that this war has helped contribute to, and I think that’s got to be the focus of Congress moving forward.”

The Fight for Affordability in the Granite State

  • PAPPAS: “Supporting New Hampshire families, rebuilding the middle class, fighting for lower costs and a fair economy, that is job number one. Right now, people are experiencing the pain of high prices in every aspect of their lives, whether it’s at the gas pump, whether it’s in the grocery aisles, their health insurance premiums, child care prices, energy costs, electricity rates, it’s all far too high, and you pay those bills out of the same pocket.” 
  • PAPPAS: “We’ve got to fight for some reasonable policies, and we’ve got an administration right now — the president who says affordability is a hoax, he said a couple weeks ago he loves inflation, that somehow this is going to turn out to be a good thing for our country. That’s not what people are doing right now. They feel like their elected leaders are ignoring what’s going on in their day-to-day lives.” 
  • PAPPAS: “For far too long, we’ve seen action in Washington to give huge tax breaks to billionaire corporations, to the wealthiest Americans, while gutting things like health care support and the kinds of things that families need. Let’s invest in the future in a way that can grow the economic pie and support the needs of our families and communities and lower costs.”

Standing Up to Health Care Threats

  • PAPPAS: “I was talking to a leader of the Cheshire County Nursing Home recently about this very issue, deeply concerned about what this means to be able to continue to serve people and hire the staff that she needs to run that facility.” 
  • PAPPAS: “So this has a ripple effect across healthcare in New Hampshire, and even if you’re not on Medicaid, you’re going to wind up paying more for your private insurance premiums as a result of these Medicaid cuts. In addition to that, just last year the majority let the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits for the Affordable Care Act funds expire — that impacts about 40,000 families in New Hampshire that have seen, in many cases, their insurance premiums double or triple.” 
  • PAPPAS: “That’s a bad picture for health care in New Hampshire. We should continue to take steps to cover everyone and to make sure that people get the right care at the right time, including primary care. We should be making investments in our health care workforce. We should be continuing to take steps to deploy telemedicine more effectively in a way that creates efficiencies within the health care space. We’ve got to support our community health centers, and make sure that they can modernize their infrastructure and reach more patients.”

Protecting Hard-Earned Social Security Benefits

  • PAPPAS: “Let’s remember Social Security is an earned benefit. I mean, it’s a fundamental part of the American bargain. People pay into it throughout their working years, they need to know that it’s going to be there when they retire. So it’s unacceptable for any senior, any retiree, anyone on Social Security to have their benefits reduced because of political inaction in Washington, D.C. We have a responsibility to address this and to address it head on.”
  • PAPPAS: “This is critical, because in the next six years, in the next senator from New Hampshire, this issue is going to come to a head, and we’ve got a candidate on the other side who has, in the past, proposed drastic plans to privatize Social Security, to gamble it on the stock market in ways that do a disservice to this earned benefit that people should be able to count on.”
  • PAPPAS: “I think this is about priorities, and this program will always be a priority for me. It’s so important to seniors and families in our economy in New Hampshire.”

Standing Up to Trump’s Tariffs and Defending Trade With Canada

  • PAPPAS: “We saw it last summer, when the number of visitors crossing the border from Quebec was down something like 40%. That has an impact on our inns and restaurants and hospitality businesses, and I think Canadians have been clear that once this trade war has subsided. They love America. They love American products. They want to continue to visit our state and our country, but this is the collateral damage of a thoughtless trade war and tariffs on a critical trading partner.” 
  • PAPPAS: “New Hampshire families are paying higher costs. I mentioned $1,700 last year as a result of tariffs and increased costs, that’s everything from building material to energy to groceries, and so we’ve got to be smart. We can’t produce everything we need in the United States. We should be producing more things here in the United States and supporting our manufacturers, but we should absolutely be working with allies and other democracies of the world, especially Canada, where people in New Hampshire have such close relationships.”
  • PAPPAS: “I fundamentally believe that the tariff power rests with Congress, that is clear in the Constitution. And so I continue to propose legislation to exempt our small businesses, to make sure that customers get the refunds that they deserve here. The Supreme Court decision was positive, but he’s still trying to find ways to levy tariffs and punish other countries, and instead Americans are being punished because they’re paying more.”

Expanding Affordable, Sustainable Energy

  • PAPPAS: “We need to be spurring more energy development, we need more power on our grid here in New England and across the country, but [Republicans’] energy strategy has been to put all the eggs in the basket of fossil fuels, and we’ve seen through this war in Iran how disastrous that can be.”
  • PAPPAS: “So we need to pursue true energy independence and develop more homegrown, clean sources of energy. We’re beginning to do that as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, tax credits for businesses to install rooftop solar, tax credits for homes to install heat pumps and be more energy efficient and lower bills, and so that absolutely should be a priority.”
  • PAPPAS: “This administration tried pulling the plug on offshore wind projects that were nearly complete and ready to deliver clean power to hundreds of thousands of homes here on the New England grid. So we have to be thinking about the future. We are losing jobs in the clean energy sector as a result of the cuts that this administration has made. I’m working to restore that.”
  • PAPPAS: “I also support creating a new tax credit for families to be able to afford their energy bills at a tough time like this. I’m working to defend the LIHEAP program, which the administration thought to zero out in their budget. This is the home heating assistance program that so many families in New Hampshire depend on, especially during the winter months, to keep their houses warm and keep the lights on. And so we’ve got to be smart about how we provide directly for New Hampshire homes and families these days.”

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