First lady to bring COVID-19 relief victory lap to NH – The Union Leader

CONCORD The White House victory lap campaign to celebrate the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package comes to New Hampshire on Wednesday when first lady Jill Biden is scheduled to make a taxpayer-paid trip to Concord, according to administration officials.

The dates and states the first lady will visit were released Friday with more details to follow, officials said.

In the wake of President Joe Bidens nationwide address last Thursday, the administration is loosening restrictions on domestic travel because of the risk of COIVID-19.

Biden on Tuesday will travel to Delaware County, a suburb of Philadelphia that played a huge role in his upset win over former President Donald Trump in that state.

Vice President Kamala Harris will make her first trip Monday to Nevada, another of the states Trump won in 2016 but narrowly lost four years later.

A day later, Harris will be in Colorado, where Democrats also won and flipped a U.S. Senate seat critical to them taking over the upper chamber last November.

On Nov. 3, Biden beat Trump, 53% to 46% in New Hampshire. In 2016, Trump lost here by 1% to Hillary Clinton.

White House officials said plans are for a group of 400 mayors and governors, both Democrats and Republicans, to help lead the cheering section for the COVID-19 relief plan in the coming weeks.

But not Sununu

Gov. Chris Sununu, a three-term Republican, is not on that list. He was critical of the latest package, saying it contained too much spending unrelated to COVID-19.

Sununu also had urged the states two Democratic senators to oppose the bill because it rewarded states like California, New York and New Jersey with higher federal grant amounts because those states had higher unemployment rates than the national average.

New Hampshire, at 3.6%, is back among the 10 states in the nation with the lowest jobless rates.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan joined all other Senate Democrats to pass the COVID-19 relief package without a single GOP vote in Congress.

Sununu said last Thursday his staff was still digging in on how much would go to New Hampshire from this bill.

There are a number of pots of money. It looks like $966 million is coming to the state as state revenue replacement, Sununu said.

Cities and towns along with counties will share another $450 million, a first in federal relief for communities.

Every community is going to get a very big check, Sununu said.

The previous CARES Act last March gave money to communities, but only those with at least 500,000 residents, which left out all of New Hampshire and northern New England.

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First lady to bring COVID-19 relief victory lap to NH - The Union Leader