FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 5th, 2022
Media Contacts:
Andrew Prout
Barbara Comtois,
David Binford,
Freedom Caucus Tri-Chairs
House Freedom Caucus Opposes massive data collection and spending measure
CONCORD, N.H.—Last week, the House Freedom Caucus members exposed a new massive annual $60 million Medicaid expansion program. The New Hampshire House voted to create a new taxpayer subsidized benefit program and the growing number of House Freedom Caucus members were the only ones to oppose this legislation. They plan to take the fight to the Senate.
With little press coverage, the House finance committee held a non-germane amendment hearing back on March 8th adding a new mandatory, unconstitutional, school funding program that shares personal financial data with state and federal agencies.
On March 23, during an executive session, a non-germane amendment was added to a Department of Education request for new personnel. This amendment funded a new, auto-enrolled, ‘free and reduced lunch’ program with no thought to what is in the best interest of the children. The program also was intended to collect and share information of the households with the federal and state governments in clear violation of the 2018 Constitutional Amendment protecting the right of privacy.
Knowing the best way to derail this new data collecting and financial boondoggle, 70+ House members spent over 45 minutes attempting to attach a number of other conservative House measures to the bill in an attempt to slow down passage so that the public would be informed of the actions of the ‘Concord Swamp’.
“Forcing parents into a new ‘pilot program’ where their personal financial data is shared with additional state and federal government agencies is yet another example of the Concord swamp thinking they know best,” said Rep. Dawn Johnson (R-Laconia).
“Parents should have a choice of the programs their children are enrolled into, and this ill-conceived financial boondoggle should never have been proposed, let alone adopted by the House,” followed Rep. Melissa Blasek (R-Merrimack).
During the fight to stop this ill-conceived program Rep. Mark Warden (R-Manchester) summarized the disaster in the making when speaking against the bill, he said. “No thank you!… We should all be very concerned about the very real possibility for privacy violations if enacted”.
###
The New Hampshire House Freedom Caucus is a grassroots organization consisting of legislators and private citizens, who believe in personal liberty and the traditional conservative “Yankee” values that made New Hampshire a great place to live.