After joining Granite Staters in celebrating the World Series Champion Red Sox, Congresswoman Kuster this week continued her efforts to eliminate the VA claims backlog, prevent future shutdowns of the federal government, and support job creation across New Hampshire.
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed with overwhelming bipartisan support legislation introduced by Kuster to help eliminate the backlog of disability compensation claims at the VA. Kuster’s bill, the Veterans Claims Efficiency Through Automation Act, pushes the VA to make greater use of automation in the processing of veterans claims to help boost efficiency and free up resources to provide more timely services for veterans in New Hampshire and across the country. The bill passed the House as part of a comprehensive legislative package designed to help get veterans’ claims settled faster and more efficiently. Currently, there are more than 700,000 disability claims pending nationally, with nearly 410,000 in the backlog.
Kuster also led a coalition of 178 Democrats in calling on Speaker Boehner and Republican leadership to publicly declare that they will not use the threat of another government shutdown or default on our debt as leverage in budget negotiations. Underscoring the economic damage caused by the recent shutdown, Kuster and her colleagues said that Congress must work together to pass a responsible budget agreement and take the crippling twin threats of a shutdown and default off the table for good.
For more on these updates and others, please continue reading below.
“Kuster co-leader of Democratic coalition seeking ‘no shutdown’ promise from GOP House speaker”
U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster is a co-leader of a coalition of 178 Democratic lawmakers calling on Republican House Speaker John Boehner and his leadership to “publicly declare” they will not sue the threat of another government shutdown or default as leverage in the budget talks, her office said Thursday. Those talks, prompted by the agreement that ended the recent government shutdown, began on Wednesday. Kuster has joined with Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., in organizing the coalition. There are a total of 200 Democratic House members and all but 22 have so far signed on. (Union Leader, 10/31/2013)
“Democrats seek promise from John Boehner”
Already seeing the possibility of another fiscal fight, Democrats sent a letter signed by 178 of their House members to Speaker John Boehner on Thursday, asking him to promise not to shut down the government again or run up against the debt ceiling deadline…The deal that ended the government shutdown earlier this month and avoided a debt default established another round of fiscal deadlines. Government funding will again run out in January and the debt ceiling will need to be addressed by February. In conjunction with the extensions earlier this month, Congress also created a budget negotiating panel to try to avoid another round of crisis, but there’s widespread pessimism that the group will be successful. Reps. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) and Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) were the two lead signers of the letter. They were joined by 176 additional Democratic members. (Politico, 10/31/2013)
“Conn, NH Reps. want Boehner to denounce shutdown”
Connecticut Rep. Elizabeth Esty and New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster are leading an effort to urge House Speaker John Boehner (BAY'-nur) and House Republican leaders to declare they will not threaten a federal government shutdown or default as a long-term budget agreement is negotiated. The two Democrats announced Thursday that 178 members of Congress had so far signed on to a letter to Boehner. In the letter, lawmakers said the cost of another government shutdown would be too high. They said the absence of paychecks to hundreds of thousands of federal employees in October caused ‘‘real economic hardship to those employees and their families.’’ (Associated Press, 10/31/2013)
Kuster bill to address VA Claims backlog passes House with strong, bipartisan support
The House of Representatives passed legislation introduced by Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) to help eliminate the backlog of disability compensation claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Kuster’s bill, the Veterans Claims Efficiency Through Automation Act, encourages the VA to make greater use of automation in the processing of veterans claims to help boost efficiency and free up resources to provide more timely services for veterans in New Hampshire and across the country. The bill passed as part of a comprehensive legislative package designed to help get veterans’ claims settled faster and more efficiently. “I am grateful that my legislation to help eliminate the VA claims backlog passed the House with strong, bipartisan support,” Kuster said. “It is simply unacceptable that so many of our heroic veterans are unable to get timely access to the care and services that they’ve earned. I will keep fighting to end the backlog until we finish the job.” (Press Release, 10/28/2013)
“U.S Rep. Kuster backs bill to cut federal tax on beer by half”
With the state and federal tax burden weighing in at more than $16 per barrel, small breweries are struggling to find a foothold in New Hampshire, but Rep. Annie Kuster, D-NH, said a new bill in the U.S. House could help give local beer producers a fighting chance. On Thursday, the District 2 congresswoman toured the Henniker Brewing Co. with owner David Currier to promote the bill that would cut the federal excise tax in half, from $7 to $3.50 per barrel. The Small BREW Act would reduce the federal tax burden on the first 60,000 barrels produced by breweries that make less than 6 million barrels per year…"I'm excited about any bill that helps small business in New Hampshire grow," said Kuster. (Union Leader, 11/1/2013)
“Small brewers seek tax cuts to spur growth”
Henniker Brewing Company is a little more than a year old, and this month, could break-even for the first time. That’s good news for investors, but the 5-man operation is still facing some growing pains. Manager Dave Currier says the beer is good, but the facility needs some improvements. “Well, as an example, we have two new bathrooms for the tap room that we want to finish,” says Currier, a former Republican state lawmaker. “And we’ve kind of run out of money in terms of our overall investment, to complete that.” Currier says $25,000 in new tax cuts could help him do that. 2nd District Congresswomen Annie Kuster is co-sponsoring the Small BREW Act that would cut the per-barrel tax on beer brewed in small facilities from $7.00 to $3.50 on the first 60,000 barrels. She says it will directly benefit the state’s two dozen or so craft brewers. (NHPR, 10/31/2013)
Kuster touts plan to cut taxes on New Hampshire’s small brewers at Henniker Brewing Company
As part of her commitment to helping create jobs and opportunity for middle class families, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) today continued her “Congress at Your Company” series with a visit to the Henniker Brewing Company, where she highlighted legislation she is cosponsoring that would cut taxes for small brewers across the Granite State to help promote growth and job creation. The Small BREW Act would cut the federal excise tax in half, from $7.00 to $3.50 per barrel, on the first 60,000 barrels for small breweries that produce less than 6 million barrels per year. “My top priority in Congress is helping create jobs and opportunity for middle class families,” Kuster said. “That’s what the Small BREW Act is all about. This bill would cut the federal excise tax on our small brewers in half, helping them grow their businesses and ensuring that there are more, middle class jobs on tap in the Granite State.” (Press Release, 10/31/2013)
“Kuster bringing “Congress at Your Company” to Salem Biz”
Kuster’s bill, the Small Business Growth Through Exports Act, would extend and expand the State Trade and Export Promotion program (STEP), which has helped dozens of Granite State companies like Innovative FOTO expand their exports, create jobs, and grow New Hampshire’s economy. Innovative FOTO, which is the largest designer, manufacturer, and operator of photo booths and digital photo kiosks in the United States, was recently awarded $1,100 through the STEP program. Company officials, who operate more than 3,000 photo booths in North America and around the world, used the funds to cover costs related to expansion in the South American market. (Salem Patch, 10/31/2013)
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