Kay Hagan

For more than 12 years, Senator Kay R. Hagan has been a champion for North Carolina families, our military and veterans, sound fiscal policy and quality education. She and her husband, Chip Hagan, have lived in Greensboro for more than 30 years, where they raised their three children: Jeanette, Tilden, and Carrie. After 10 years in the North Carolina State Senate, Senator Hagan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008 by North Carolinians seeking an active, effective leader who would bring North Carolina ideas and values to Congress.

Energy
Senator Hagan believes that North Carolina can lead the nation in the new energy economy, and supports a comprehensive approach to meeting the energy challenges of the 21st century. Our current dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels makes our nation less secure and leaves America less competitive in the global marketplace. Senator Hagan is a co-chair of the new Clean Energy Innovation Project sponsored by the Third Way, a think-tank that advocates moderate solutions to our policy challenges. She is working in Congress to support investments in research and development to build a domestic clean energy economy and create good-paying jobs that cannot be outsourced.

Environment
As a state senator, Senator Hagan cosponsored North Carolina's Clean Smokestacks Act - which limits smog and acid rain pollution from coal-fired power plants - and supported efforts to conserve clean water resources throughout the state. She also pushed for expanded investments in North Carolina's public lands, from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the west to Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the coast. Senator Hagan is continuing these efforts in the U.S. Senate. In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway, she introduced bipartisan legislation to preserve 50,000 acres of land surrounding the historic roadway.

Health Care
As a North Carolina State Senator, Senator Hagan helped North Carolina extend health insurance to uninsured children, expand preventive and primary care for uninsured patients in rural North Carolina, and end insurance discrimination against mental health care. In these tough economic times, Americans are fighting to maintain their health care coverage as premiums rise, insurance covers less, drug prices escalate, and health plans discriminate against those with chronic conditions. In the U.S. Senate, Senator Hagan has focused on expanding affordable, quality health care access to North Carolinians and to all Americans. During the Senate debate on health care, Senator Hagan championed efforts to invest in higher quality, more efficient care, as well as preventive care initiatives to keep people healthy. She also worked to streamline the health care system to cut down on waste. These efforts will help ensure that health care is more affordable and accessible for families and businesses. She also included provisions in the bill to fight diabetes, help seniors manage their medications and increase the physician workforce in rural areas.

Education
Senator Hagan, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, believes that a quality education is central to individual economic opportunity and sustained American prosperity. To compete in a global economy, our students must receive an education that will prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead of them. At all levels, she believes in the fundamental partnership between educators, parents, and students to nurture talent and promote achievement. Currently, our elementary and secondary education systems produce too many students who struggle in key subjects such as science and math, and too few who graduate from high school. To combat these worrying trends, Senator Hagan supports comprehensive education reform that will turn around our lowest performing schools, close the achievement gap and drastically reduce the dropout rate.

Economy
Senator Hagan believes that the country's rising debt is unsustainable and threatens America's ability to pursue our priorities and respond to crises. As a former co-chair of the Budget Committee in the N.C. Senate, she supports balancing the budget and upholding the budget principle called "pay-as-you-go," which requires that increased spending be paid for so that we do not burden our children and grandchildren with the bill for our current spending.