Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, Senator Hassan has worked across the aisle to get results for Granite Staters. She is the second woman in American history to be elected both Governor and United States Senator, along with fellow New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
Senator Hassan is working to build a more inclusive economic future where all people who work hard to get ahead can stay ahead. She helped author and negotiate the bipartisan infrastructure package that is now law. It will repair New Hampshire roads and bridges, get affordable high-speed internet to communities, and get clean water into people’s homes. The Senator has led additional efforts to create jobs and support innovative businesses, including by expanding COVID-19 relief to more small businesses in New Hampshire. Senator Hassan has also led efforts to combat climate change, which threatens our environment and our economy.
The heroin, fentanyl, and opioid crisis is the most pressing public health and safety challenge facing New Hampshire, taking a massive toll on our communities, our workforce, and our economy.
During her time as Governor, Senator Hassan worked to implement a comprehensive strategy to support those on the front lines and help save lives. Working across party lines, she secured funding to strengthen treatment, prevention, recovery, and law enforcement efforts. Under her leadership, New Hampshire increased penalties for fentanyl distribution, began investigating overdose deaths as homicides, reformed the state’s prescribing rules, and expanded the state’s prescription drug monitoring system.
Under then-Governor Hassan’s leadership, New Hampshire successfully passed and reauthorized a bipartisan Medicaid expansion plan, one of the state’s most powerful tools in fighting the epidemic because it covers mental health and substance use disorder services.
Senator Hassan is building on those efforts in the Senate, fighting to secure additional resources for New Hampshire and standing up against attempts to repeal Medicaid expansion. She is also focused on stopping dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl from being shipped through our borders, helping law enforcement crack down on synthetic substances and better prosecute drug traffickers, and establishing a permanent funding stream to provide and expand access to substance use disorder treatment. And she is working across party lines to help ensure that health care providers and patients understand the addiction risks of so-called “abuse-deterrent” opioids.
The Senator has also spoken out on the need to end the stigma of addiction that prevents too many in New Hampshire and across America from reaching out to get help.
Senator Hassan is willing to work with anyone to help those struggling with addiction get the treatment that they need and to support all of the dedicated professionals on the front lines battling this crisis.