Sununu’s Vote Denies Unemployment Extension and $27 Million in Heating Assistance to New Hampshire

For Immediate ReleaseContact: Bill Lofy
February 7, 2008(603)573-5067

(Manchester, NH) – Because of John E. Sununu’s deciding vote against the Senate economic stimulus package yesterday, nearly 2,000 laid off New Hampshire workers will be denied an extension of unemployment benefits and the state will lose $27 million in heating assistance through the LIHEAP program. These provisions were not included in the legislation agreed to by the Senate today.

“Senator Sununu will try to claim credit for supporting rebates to seniors and disabled veterans, but you won’t hear him talking about the estimated 1,848 New Hampshire workers who will be denied an unemployment extension, or the $27.2 million in heating assistance that the state will lose because of his vote yesterday,” said Bill Lofy, director of the Stop Sununu campaign of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

“The bill that came out of the Senate Finance committee was better for New Hampshire than the bill that passed today. If John E. Sununu believes that blocking unemployment benefits and heating assistance is good for New Hampshire families, he’s been in Washington too long,” Lofy concluded.

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