HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to Visit City

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will meet with Portsmouth voters on Friday to discuss how President Obama will continue to help small businesses succeed if re-elected in November.

According to Obama for America-NH campaign officials, Sebelius is scheduled to attend grassroots events in Durham, Portsmouth, Keene, Concord, Laconia, Nashua and Derry on Friday.

Sebelius is expected to "speak to Granite Staters about the clear choice in this election between moving forward with President Obama’s vision to create an economy that’s built to last, or going back to the same failed top-down economic policies that crashed our economy and punished the middle class," reads a press release issued by the Obama for America campaign.

Sebelius' grassroots events are part of a new push by the Obama for America campaign to promote its “Small Business for Obama,” an effort focused on talking with Granite State voters about the President’s vision to grow our economy from the middle out, focusing on the President’s belief that small businesses are the backbone of our economy.

On Saturday, Congressman Paul Tonko, D-NY, and Congressman Steven Rothman, D-NJ, will hold an event at the Obama for America-NH office on Brewery Lane to discuss President Obama's policies for small business and economic development. for the Portsmouth Democratic Committee's annual banquet at Portsmouth Harbor Events and Conference Center.

"President Obama signed 18 tax cuts for small businesses into law, helped small businesses access credit and proposed the American Jobs Act which would create jobs by making it easier for small businesses to hire and grow," said Holly Shulman, Obama campaign communications director in New Hampshire.

As Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney cut taxes for the wealthy and raised more than 1,000 taxes or fees on the middle class and small businesses – and the results speak for themselves, according to Obama for America campaign officials. 

"When Romney took office, more entrepreneurs were starting small businesses than shutting them down. When he left, the opposite was true; the number of small businesses shrank during his term in office," reads a press release from the Obama for America campaign.