New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has been speaking out about the importance of the Northern Border Regional Commission.
That program also funds rural development in Vermont. But, under President Trump's proposed 2018 budget, that funding would be eliminated.
The Northern Border Regional Commission provides funding for rural development in New Hampshire, New York, Maine and Vermont. In Vermont, much of that money goes to the towns in the Northeast Kingdom, where many communities supported President Trump in the 2016 election.
Shaheen and others in Congress are expected to vote against the proposed budget cuts.
On a Thursday afternoon tour of the River Valley Community College in Lebanon, New Hampshire, a facility funded by the Northern Border Regional Commission, Shaheen said that “people don’t always vote in their own self-interests."
Shaheen went on to stress that this funding is essential, “because of the jobs that are created, because of the investment in infrastructure in some places, because of the investment in education. What is important is to continue those investments in a way that are going to make a difference in our rural communities.”
Last year, Vermont received over $1.8 million from the Northern Border Regional Commission. That money was spread across the northeastern region of Vermont from funding a new chair-lift at Burke Mountain, to assisting dairy farms in organic production and training programs at the Community College of Vermont.
