Annie Kuster is fighting to lower costs across the board.
Earlier this year, Annie released her Lower Costs and Stronger Economy Agenda, a comprehensive legislative plan to tackle inflation and cut prices at the grocery store, the gas pump, and the pharmacy counter. In this proposal, she outlines steps to strengthen and grow our workforce, reduce trade barriers that increase costs on everyday goods, invest in local farming to eliminate transportation costs and emissions, and streamline our supply chains and domestic manufacturing for generations to come.
A senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Annie is working to cut prices on prescription medications. She introduced legislation to make it easier for lower-cost generic alternatives to get to market to help seniors and hardworking families afford the medications they need. Annie is also focused on lowering the cost of child care and early education to ensure Granite State families have the opportunity to thrive.
She has pushed the Biden administration to take more proactive steps to lower the price of energy in New Hampshire and across the country. She called on the White House to ease home heating costs by releasing inventory from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve (NEHHOR) and Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
Protecting Our Environment
Annie Kuster believes that protecting our climate and strengthening our economy go hand in hand. She helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which delivered the most significant investment in climate change mitigation ever. This game-changing package also created new grants for hardworking families to help them save money as they transition their homes and cars to renewable energy sources.
With a 95% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters, Annie Kuster is a champion for protecting our natural resources and conserved lands. She helped pass legislation to fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has supported over $165 million worth of conservation and recreation projects in New Hampshire communities since its inception.
Annie is also working to expand the use of hydropower. She introduced the Twenty-First Century Dams Act to rehabilitate, retrofit, or remove America’s 90,000 dams, including more than 2,500 in New Hampshire. This legislation would modernize our hydropower infrastructure, expand clean energy production, and preserve our nation’s rivers.
WORKING ACROSS THE AISLE
Too many in Congress are too busy fighting with each other to get anything done — not Annie Kuster.
Ranked one of the most bipartisan members of Congress, Annie has established a strong record of putting party politics aside to deliver real results for the Granite State. Annie co-founded the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force, which has been a driver of congressional action to tackle the opioid epidemic. She has worked to bring people together from across the political spectrum to find common ground and provide communities relief.
She also founded and co-chairs the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence, the bipartisan 21st Century Long-Term Care Caucus, and the bipartisan Ski and Snowboard Caucus.
SUPPORTING OUR MILITARY AND VETERANS
As the daughter of a WWII prisoner of war, Annie Kuster knows firsthand the sacrifices that our service members and their families make.
Annie is focused on ensuring we serve our veterans as well as they served us. That’s why she pushed for legislation to eliminate the disgraceful VA claims backlog so veterans get the care they deserve. She stood up against the Biden administration’s proposal to close rural veteran clinics in Littleton and Conway and successfully fought to keep these services open and operating.
She worked with members of both parties to pass the Honoring Our PACT Act, legislation to finally recognize military toxic exposure and provide quality health care for as many as 3.5 million veterans. This legislation built off of Annie’s bill, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, to expand benefits to 90,000 veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
Annie successfully fought to improve access to health care services for veterans in New Hampshire and was proud to join members of both parties to support the VA Mission Act. This important legislation helps veterans in states like New Hampshire that lack a full-service VA medical facility access the Choice Program. She is working to expand access to care throughout the Second District so veterans can get the services they need and deserve. She is also leading efforts to secure affordable housing units for homeless veterans in Plymouth.
JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
Since taking office, Annie has made strengthening our workforce and creating opportunities for Granite State families a top priority.
She’s fighting to ensure that all Granite Staters have the opportunity to pursue the American Dream. Her Lower Costs & Stronger Economy Agenda outlines a comprehensive roadmap for what needs to be done to help grow New Hampshire’s economy and increase the labor supply.
Annie knows the best way to grow our economy and support small businesses is to invest in education, job training programs, infrastructure, and scientific research. She is working across the aisle to expand apprenticeships and vocational education programs at high schools and community colleges so New Hampshire residents who don’t go to college can learn the skills needed to get a good job.
She routinely visits Granite State businesses to hear from their owners and employees about how Congress can best help them succeed, and on their behalf, she’s supported legislation to boost American manufacturing and address supply chain issues.
ADDRESSING THE ADDICTION CRISIS
New Hampshire has been hit especially hard by the substance use crisis. Annie knows the impact that addiction has had on families, and she is working across the aisle to find solutions and save lives. Annie helped secure billions of dollars in new resources for prevention, treatment, recovery, and law enforcement. But, she knows Congress must do more.
The Granite State has one of the highest rates of addiction, but some of the fewest treatment options. That’s why Annie founded the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force, formerly the Bipartisan Opioid Task Force. The Task Force’s 2021 Legislative Agenda included a slate of bipartisan bills to address the substance misuse crisis, stop the flow of dangerous drugs into our communities, hold illicit distributors accountable, and provide needed support for local communities.
Through her leadership, Annie helped secure significant new funding to combat the substance use crisis and increase awareness of the addiction epidemic. Her legislation, the STOP Fentanyl Act, would expand fentanyl research and education, enhance overdose prevention, and remove barriers and expand access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT).
HEALTH CARE
As a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Annie is focused on reforming our health care system to work for everyone.
Annie is working to cut prices on prescription medications. She introduced legislation to make it easier for lower-cost generic alternatives to get to market to give hardworking families some breathing room in affording the medications they need. She was proud to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act to finally allow Medicare to negotiate prices and save seniors billions of dollars every year, lower out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D recipients, and cap the price of insulin to $35 a month for those on Medicare.
Annie is willing to work with members of both parties to advance commonsense solutions to bring down health care costs. She opposes efforts to undermine Social Security and Medicare and will stand up to anyone who threatens the benefits our seniors have earned and deserve.
LGBTQ+ EQUALITY
Annie Kuster believes that everyone should have the freedom to be who they are and love who they love.
In Congress, Annie is a member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus where she works to end discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. She voted to make marriage equality the law of the land, regardless of if the Supreme Court overturns the precedent of Obergefell v. Hodges.
Annie is an original cosponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and signed the amicus brief to the Supreme Court successfully challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. In addition, Annie has championed legislation to ensure same-sex couples receive the same veterans' benefits, Social Security benefits, and immigration rights as all other Americans.
ADVOCATING FOR WOMEN
As part of the third class of women to ever graduate from Dartmouth, Annie has been breaking ground for women her entire career.
Annie believes in less government interference in people’s private lives — including in their decision of when and how to start a family. As an adoption attorney for 25 years, Annie worked with women of every age and background facing unplanned pregnancies and is a staunch defender of a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. She has been an unwavering leader to protect abortion access and keep the government out of personal reproductive decisions. In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling ending the near-50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade, she helped introduce and pass legislation to enshrine the right to an abortion — as defined in Roe — as well as protect access to contraception and prohibit states from limiting a woman's right to travel to receive abortion care. She also wrote an op-ed in the Union Leader highlighting the consequences of state-controlled abortion access. Annie is a steadfast advocate for women’s rights and autonomy, and she is running for reelection to keep politicians out of doctors’ offices and ensure every Granite Stater can access the reproductive care they need.
Annie supports the MeToo movement and formed the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence after coming out with her own story of sexual assault. Annie is working to pass the MeToo law which will require politicians to use their own money, not taxpayer funds, to settle abuse cases, increase transparency, and make it illegal to impose non-disclosure agreements on survivors who step forward. Annie continues working to address sexual assault in the military and helped lead the successful effort to increase whistleblower protections for those who report these crimes. She also helped introduce the Campus Accountability and Safety Act to combat sexual assaults on college campuses.
Annie is working to pass critical reforms to help level the playing field for Granite State women and their families, including the Paycheck Fairness Act which would ensure women can access equal pay, affordable childcare, and expanded sick and family leave.
STANDING UP FOR SENIORS
Annie believes we must keep our obligation to older generations of Granite Staters who cared for us and built the world we live in today. That is why she will stand against those in any party who would cut the Medicare and Social Security benefits our seniors earned.
She was proud to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act to allow Medicare to negotiate prices to save seniors billions of dollars every year and cap out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D recipients. Annie’s legislation to eliminate out-of-pocket vaccine costs for seniors — including the shingles vaccine which can cost $100s — on Medicare Part D also passed as part of this legislation.
Annie cared for her mother, the late Susan McLane, during her battle with Alzheimer’s, and today, Annie is working to expand investments in Alzheimer’s research and improve support for the families and caregivers of patients with this devastating disease.
PROTECTING OUR DEMOCRACY
Annie Kuster believes that the government should work for the people, not the other way around.
She has fought to make the government more accountable to the American people by working to ban members of Congress from trading stocks, blocking congressional pay raises, getting dark money out of politics, protecting the right to vote, and fighting for comprehensive ethics reforms.
Annie believes that it shouldn’t be too much to ask for the government to do right by the people, and she is fighting for New Hampshire values to ensure that’s what we get.