Maggie Hassan is the junior Senator from New Hampshire and our former Governor. A great question is how she achieved either office. Hassan is a poorly rated Senator and votes 100% along party lines. According to GOVTRACK.US, there are only four Senators rated lower than Hassan. Hassan knows that she is vulnerable and has been in desperation mode since last fall. One year out from the 2022 mid-terms, you could not watch any channel for more than fifteen minutes without seeing a Re-Elect Hassan campaign spot. Her ads went dormant for some time but have started up again in earnest. They target her followers and those not aware of the facts.

Her latest ad is hugely disingenuous and misleading. She claims she will get us relief from surging gas prices at the pump. She plans to pass a bill, against the will of her party, that would halt the Federal Gas Tax for the remainder of the year. The Federal Gasoline Tax is 18.4 cents a gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel. The average price per gallon of gas in 2020 was $2.19 and is now $4.59. With an increase of $2.40, a 110% increase, how much relief do we realize with a suspension of the Federal Tax? My tank holds 25 gallons. It would cost $115.00 to fill the tank. The tax savings would be $4.60. It would still cost me over $110.00, so, please, Maggie, don’t insult our intelligence.

The other claim in her ad is she will urge President Biden to release more barrels per day than the 1 million barrels he is already withdrawing each day. Biden predicted his action would have an immediate reversal in the rising costs. Instead, we have seen a new record high gas price every day since he started to tap the strategic reserve. By the way, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is supposed to be used in the case of natural disasters or external impacts like war. It is not to be used to repair lousy policy decisions by a failing President who lousy Senators like Hassan support.

We know that politicians will say anything to get into and stay in office. Somebody running for re-election should be able to tout their record. Maggie cannot count on her record to entice people to vote for her. She has to go to the “promise” mode and fabricate vague statements that make it sound like she has been productive. She has not.

Congress has a lower approval rating than even Biden and Harris. Congress does not accomplish very much, and that is unfortunate. When the Legislature does not legislate, they leave the door open for the President to use Executive Orders. EOs are not binding and are not law. We need Congress to step up and negotiate solutions to some of our most dire issues. Crime, Border Security, and Comprehensive Immigration should be priorities, but not in this partisan branch.

Hassan claims she is for an increased effort to curb the rash of Fentanyl deaths, but she does not want to address the need for securing the border and completing the wall. If she is not concerned with the entry point, how serious is her effort?