Senator Jeanne Shaheen

Vice Chair

The only woman in U.S. history to be elected both a Governor and a United States Senator, Jeanne Shaheen has been committed to serving the citizens of New Hampshire for decades and is known for her common-sense leadership, hard work and dedication to improving the lives of the middle class. She has served in the United States Senate since 2009 and is a member of the Senate Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Energy and Natural Resources, and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

As a former small business owner, Senator Shaheen has worked to keep the U.S. economy competitive in the global marketplace through her efforts on the Small Business Committee and through legislation such as the Small Business Jobs Act and the Small Business Innovation Research program. The first New Hampshire Governor to lead trade missions outside North America, Senator Shaheen has also co-sponsored legislation to help small businesses sell their products overseas. Her annual “Experience New Hampshire” event in Washington, D.C., gives New Hampshire businesses a forum to showcase their products and services.

Senator Shaheen has become a champion for families facing hardship during the recession. She led Senate efforts to pass a critical extension of unemployment benefits to help struggling families. Her state staff has made it a priority to help out-of-work families navigate the federal bureaucracy, including thousands of families facing foreclosure.

To strengthen the economy in the long term, Senator Shaheen is committed to addressing the federal government’s long-term deficits. She has supported efforts to craft a bipartisan debt-reduction plan, and has introduced bills to reform our budget process, and to phase out unnecessary subsidies for U.S. sugar growers and for gold and silver mining. She cosponsored measures to cut government spending on vehicles by 20 percent and to eliminate unneeded tax breaks for major oil companies and ethanol production.

As a long-standing advocate for energy efficiency, Shaheen created programs while Governor that saved New Hampshire families and businesses over $1 billion through energy efficiency. In the Senate, Shaheen serves on the Energy Committee and introduced bipartisan legislation that would create a national energy efficiency strategy to foster job creation, save businesses and consumers money and reduce pollution.

As chair of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, Senator Shaheen was an outspoken proponent of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). She helped to secure its ratification, enabling the U.S. to resume critical inspections of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Shaheen has also continued the work she began as Governor to protect jobs at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Pease International Tradeport and New Hampshire’s defense-related companies. She has worked to ensure that policies supporting our active-duty troops are accessible to our National Guard forces and their families as well.

As New Hampshire’s Governor, Shaheen helped create nearly 67,000 new jobs while keeping New Hampshire’s tax burden the lowest in the country. (Learn more about Jeanne Shaheen’s three terms as Governor.)

Between her time as Governor and election to the U.S. Senate, Shaheen served as the Director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government.

Shaheen was born in Saint Charles, Missouri. Her father worked his way up to a management position in a shoe company and her mother worked as a secretary in their local church. After attending public schools, Shaheen received a bachelor’s degree from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from the University of Mississippi. She and her husband, Bill, live in Madbury and have three daughters, Stefany, Stacey and Molly, and seven grandchildren.

While there is no average day in the Senate, you can get a better idea of what Senator Shaheen does when she is in Washington and New Hampshire by reading “INTERN CORNER,” a special section on Facebook written by the interns in Senator Shaheen’s office.

Committees

FOREIGN RELATIONS

As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Shaheen is committed to helping build strong international alliances to bolster America’s national security and boost our economy. Shaheen Chairs the Subcommittee on European Affairs, which has jurisdiction over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, Russia, Turkey, Kosovo, all NATO operations in Afghanistan, and energy security issues.

ENERGY

As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Shaheen has worked to invest in clean, alternative energy and to end our addiction to foreign oil. She has supported measures to expand investments in alternative energy, conservation and energy efficiency. Shaheen chairs the Subcommittee on Water and Power, which has oversight and legislative responsibilities for such issues as hydroelectric power, groundwater resources and management, and energy related aspects of deepwater ports.

ARMED SERVICES

As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Shaheen has worked for fair treatment of American veterans and an articulate military strategy that keeps the United States and its allies safe from harm. She has supported New Hampshire soldiers, military bases, and defense-related businesses at the federal level.

SMALL BUSINESS

As a former small business owner, Senator Shaheen knows that small businesses are the engine that drives New Hampshire’s economy. As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Shaheen is working to put the needs of small businesses first as we move toward economic recovery.