{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hassan.senate.gov/news/press-releases/following-calls-from-nh-delegation-pay-boosted-for-granite-staters-working-at-the-va-white-mountain-national-forest-and-other-federal-offices-in-nh", "Following Calls from NH Delegation, Pay Boosted for Granite Staters Working at the VA, White Mountain National Forest, and Other Federal Offices in NH", "2023-12-21", "2023", "2023-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "NH", "Margaret Wood Hassan", "H001076", "www.hassan.senate.gov", "hassan", "https://www.hassan.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Following a push from the New Hampshire and Vermont Congressional Delegations, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is increasing pay for federal employees in New Hampshire and Vermont, who support Granite Staters through their work at places like the White River Junction VA Medical Center, White Mountain National Forest, and the Army\u2019s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. It applies to workers in Carroll, Cheshire, Grafton, and Sullivan Counties in New Hampshire, as well as in Vermont, who will now receive the same locality pay as those in most counties in New Hampshire and in the Greater Boston area. The classification changes in New Hampshire and Vermont will mean that more than 1,000 federal employees will now receive more competitive pay rates.\n\nThe announcement comes after the New Hampshire and Vermont Congressional Delegations urged OPM to take this action, and will help increase efforts to hire and retain federal employees for critical efforts, including implementation of the PACT Act, which Senator Hassan and colleagues developed and passed into law last year to help get veterans exposed to toxic substances the VA health care and benefits that they need.\n\n\u201cGranite Staters deserve a fully staffed, well-qualified federal workforce in order to best serve them,\u201d said Senator Maggie Hassan. \u201cThis important pay increase will help recruit and retain the talented public servants who help Granite Staters \u2013 including our veterans \u2013 get the support that they need.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis long-overdue pay raise for the hard-working federal employees in Carroll, Cheshire, Grafton and Sullivan Counties is a great way to end the year,\u201d said Senator Jeanne Shaheen. \u201cI\u2019m proud to have worked with the New Hampshire delegation to get this done so folks are paid what they deserve for the work they do.\u201d\n\n\u201cHardworking New Hampshire families deserve to be fairly compensated for their work,\u201d said Congresswoman Annie Kuster. \u201cI\u2019m pleased to see this change that the New Hampshire Delegation advocated for take effect \u2013 I will always fight for our New Hampshire workforce.\u201d\n\n\u201cEnsuring our federal workers\u2019 pay keeps pace with our changing economy is common sense,\u201d said Congressman Chris Pappas. \u201cThis change will give our dedicated federal workers the raise they deserve and ensure our federal agencies can continue to attract qualified employees.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hassan.senate.gov/news/press-releases/following-calls-from-nh-delegation-pay-boosted-for-granite-staters-working-at-the-va-white-mountain-national-forest-and-other-federal-offices-in-nh"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.547310035675764, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}