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NH House Minority Leader hopes to keep ideological battles out of the state budget

New Hampshire House Minority Leader Matt Wilhelm
Zoey Knox
/
NHPR
New Hampshire House Minority Leader Matt Wilhelm speaks with NHPR.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is closely divided along party lines, with Republicans holding a slim majority. Given the tight partisan split, doing much of anything in Concord could be a challenge this year. So how are House leaders approaching the new legislative session?

Democrat Matt Wilhelm is New Hampshire's House Minority Leader. Wilhelm joined NHPR's Morning Edition host Rick Ganley to discuss how he plans to work with House Republicans and Gov. Sununu. Below is a transcript of their conversation.

Transcript

Rick Ganley: You were elected House Democratic leader in November. So the legislative session [is] just beginning. What specific policies are you hoping to move forward in the House this year?

Matt Wilhelm: Sure. I mean, I think kitchen table issues are top of mind for my neighbors. And, you know, as we were campaigning in November, we were hearing that all across the state. [It] doesn't matter if you live in cities, towns, you know, things like energy prices, things like the cost of housing, childcare -- these are the struggles that families are dealing with right now -- knowing that property taxes continue to rise, that public education is not funded at levels in other states. It's really important that we focus in on those issues that folks are talking about around the dinner table and make sure that we can provide relief where we can.

Rick Ganley: Now, after you were elected, you did tell reporters that Democrats would be a blockade to extreme Republican legislation. What specific legislation were you referring to and how are you going to block it?

Matt Wilhelm: Well, when you look at the budget that was passed in 2021, the decision by the governor and Republican leadership was to appeal to the extreme members of their party who wanted things like [the] divisive concepts ban, preventing teachers from teaching the honest truth about sexism and racism in our country. They wanted to include things like an abortion ban, and they decided to put school vouchers in there, even though it wasn't a policy position of the House that had passed through committee in the full chamber. So, I think there's an opportunity to have a more pure budget conversation as it works through the Finance Committee to keep some of those ideological battles out of the state budget.

Rick Ganley: What's the early working relationship been like between you and the Republican House leaders?

Matt Wilhelm: It's been largely positive. I mean, I was meeting with [House] Speaker [Sherman] Packard earlier in the week, sat next to Republican Majority Leader Jason Osborne yesterday at the inaugural address. You know, I think we're keeping open lines of communication. I think that's what's important. We don't agree on everything. You know, we were happy to see some decisions that were made early on that there were some concessions made by Republican leadership. But we're obviously not getting everything that we want. I mean, one of the things we called for was an equal number of Democratic and Republican chairs of committees, and we ended up getting just a handful of vice chairs, which is kind of this perceived notion of power. And so I think we're looking for a real honest working relationship, and we'll stay in close communication over the course of the term.

Rick Ganley: You co-sponsored a cannabis legislation bill with House Majority Leader Jason Osborne. What other issues can we expect to see bipartisan support for?

Matt Wilhelm: Well, one of the things I'm actually excited to talk with the governor about is something that during my first term we worked together on, which was figuring out what are some pathways from national service programs, like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, to an affordable college degree and a meaningful career here in the state. We lose a lot of really incredible leaders who come through here who want to be in service to their country and their community. And I think, especially with the high cost of higher education in the state and the need for workers who are sort of community minded and service driven, I think there's an opportunity to really inspire people to give back over the course of a one year service term, earn money for college, or to get involved in an apprenticeship that leads to a career so that we make sure we've got the workers to power our economy into the future.

Rick Ganley: What about Gov. Sununu? What kinds of communications have you had with him and his team?

Matt Wilhelm: The governor and I are going to meet in a couple of weeks to talk about his legislative priorities and mine. I think there's an opportunity to work together. He's going to need Democrats in order to sign a budget that he feels comfortable with, and I think we're going to keep open lines of communication throughout the term.

Jackie Harris is the Morning Edition Producer at NHPR. She first joined NHPR in 2021 as the Morning Edition Fellow.

For many radio listeners throughout New Hampshire, Rick Ganley is the first voice they hear each weekday morning, bringing them up to speed on news developments overnight and starting their day off with the latest information.
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