Sen. Shaheen: Women's health shouldn't be political

>> senator gene shaheen if you will hang on for a minute. and if i can, senator, let me get your reaction to the bayer aspirin comment we displayed.

>> it was not only a joke that was in bad taste, but it showed just how out of touch he is with the challenges that women and families are facing. it wasn't just the joke, but it was his dismissing the cost of contraceptives and how costly that can be to so many women and their families, about $600 a month. he dismissed the fact that this was an important issue for women . and i was very disappointed in that.

>> and --

>> and this happened on the other side of the aisle, but there was a hearing yesterday on contraception with an all-male panel. the first panel talking about female reproductive rights . there you see it, all men. nancy pelosi and a lot of other democrats were upset. it's interesting, though, both sides think contraception debate is a winning issue in this campaign. who's it good for? republicans or democrats?

>> listen, i think that's the wrong question. this should not be about politics, this should be about what's in the best interest of women and for women and their families. women need to be heard in this debate and that was what was so disappointing about yesterday's panel. that not only did the people testifying not understand that, but the members of congress who were holding the hearing didn't seem to understand it.

>> it may not be the best question, but it is a reality, and i'm wondering how big of a deal you think this is going to be come november when people go to the polls. or maybe in a more relevant way to who ends up running against barack obama when people go to vote and democrats and independents can vote, for example, in michigan in the primary, how impactful do you think these kinds of things will be?

>> i think women are paying attention, this is an orchestrated attack on women 's health, starting with the effort to defund title 10, to defund planned parenthood . when i was governor in new hampshire in 1999 we passed legislation to cover contraceptives, passed overwhelmingly with a bipartisan and republican house, with bipartisan support. we didn't hear anything from anyone that it was violating anybody's religious concern. and it's been working there for over ten years. now suddenly because of this debate at the national level, it's become a political issue. this is all about politics, it's not about what's good policy. i think women are watching. what's 't ignore happening today, a vote on the cut deal. hoyer right now. enate democratic colleagues have said they'll vote no. how are you going to vote?

>> i plan to vote for it. i share some of the concerns, importanteve thing is that we've got to keep this economy growing. that we can help middle class families put more money in their pockets so they can pay their bills and be able to help generate a growing economy, that's what's most important. now, we've got to deal with this debt and the deficits, there's no doubt about that. but job number one is to get this economy moving.

>> senator, thank you so much.