|
My
Work in Congress
On January 4th, the 110th Congress convened with Democrats
controlling both the House and the Senate for the first time since 1994.
Below are some of the issues that I have been working on both in Washington
and New Jersey to help move America in a new direction.
Health Care
Environment
Crime
Defense
Economy
Education
Energy & Gas Prices
Fisheries
Foreign Affairs
Homeland Security
Housing
Immigration
Iraq War
Judiciary
Labor
New Jersey Specific Issues
Seniors' Issues
Taxes
Veterans
Health
Care
- Authored, with three colleagues, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act, which would provide health care coverage to 10 million children; four million more than currently covered through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Revised versions of this bill were sent to the President's desk twice, but he vetoed the legislation both times.
- Supported an emergency funding bill in 2007 that included $650 million for New Jersey's CHIP program, known as FamilyCare, so the program did not face shortfalls later in the year.
- Spearheaded an effort to ensure adequate funding for Community Health Centers and successfully secured $2 billion in Fiscal Year 2008. With this money, 1,200 new and expanded health centers were built, providing an additional 6 million people with access to health care. This effort is ongoing with the goal of securing an additional $248 million in Fiscal Year 2009, allowing for the further expansion of these vital health care centers.
- Authored legislation that was signed into law by the President that improves drug safety by improving FDA's ability to monitor the safety of drugs after they are on the market. The new law also increases the penalties for drug companies that violate safety standards and imposes stricter conflict-of-interest provisions.
- Successfully moved through subcommittee the Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which provides the FDA with the authority to appropriately regulate tobacco products and restrict tobacco product marketing.
- Conducted the first hearing ever in the Health Subcommittee on 9/11 health care issues to discuss medical monitoring and treatment of 9/11 health effects. Nearly one in five responders to the attacks on the World Trade Center experiences respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses as a result of their exposure to toxins.
- Supported the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which promotes life-saving embryonic stem cell research by increasing the number of stem cell lines that are eligible to be used in federally-funded research.
- Introduced legislation to temporarily increase Medicaid assistance to states so that cash-strapped states, like New Jersey, can continue to provide health care assistance to its low-income residents. This bipartisan legislation comes at a time when state leaders are concerned their tax revenues will decline as a result of the economic slump.
- Introduced legislation reauthorizing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act so that Indian health clinics are properly staffed, structures are repaired and equipment is updated. This legislation passed through the subcommittee in 2007.
- Introduced legislation extending the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 through the end of 2008. The Congressman championed this bill with U.S. Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN). The legislation would require health care plans to treat mental health benefits and medical and surgical benefits equally. The House approved this bill in February 2008.
 Back to Top
Environment
- Introduced the COAST Anti-Drilling Act in January 2007, which places a permanent ban on offshore drilling off the Jersey Shore and all North and Mid-Atlantic states from Maine to Virginia.
- Introduced the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act to undo EPA regulations weakening toxic reporting requirements that have been in place for nearly two decades so that communities once again know what, if any, toxic chemicals are being dumped in their neighborhoods.
- Introduced the Beach Protection Act that requires tough new beach water quality testing and public notification standards so beachgoers are better informed about the safety of their beaches. This legislation passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in October 2007.
- Introduced legislation that will ensure solid waste facilities next to rail lines fall under the same regulations as every other waste facility. This would allow New Jersey to regulate approximately 15 railroad transfer facilities that have been proposed or are now in operation. Also passed through the House an amendment that provides states the authority to regulate solid waste facilities.
- Supported legislation that provides a recommitment to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, by authorizing $14 billion over the next four years. This legislation helps local communities have clean lakes and streams, as well as safe drinking water.
- Worked with U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez in 2007 to request that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cease all excavation activities at the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund Site until the appropriate testing is completed to ensure the health and safety of the residents. Later that year, the New Jersey lawmakers questioned the EPA regarding the problems surrounding the cleanup of the Ringwood Superfund Site and the possible role environmental racism may have played.
Back to Top
Crime
 Introduced the Fighting Gangs and Empowering Youth Act of 2007. The bill focuses on prevention and economic empowerment to give young people constructive alternatives to joining gangs, community planning and gang policing resources to help communities fight local gangs and increased criminal penalties to crack down on those who commit violent crimes as part of gangs.
- Supported legislation that will better protect our communities by restoring the popular COPS program and providing funds to hire 50,000 new police officers nationwide over the next six years.
- Supported the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which gives state and local law enforcement the tools and resources they need to prevent and prosecute hate crimes as well as extending hate crimes to include sexual orientation and disability.
- Supported the PROTECT Our Children Act, which trains a strong nationwide network of highly trained law enforcement experts to track down child predators on the Internet.
- Supported doubling funding for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The center has handled more than 137,600 missing child cases.
Back to Top
Defense
- Supported a defense authorization bill in 2007 that helps our troops better provide for their families by providing them a 3.5 percent pay raise, .5 percent higher than the president's request. The bill will also assist our troops on the battlefield by providing $4.1 billion for special vehicles that better protect them against improvised explosive devises.
- Supported the Wounded Warrior Act, which responds to the Walter Reed scandal by improving the care of injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The scandal resulted from a series of allegations of unsatisfactory conditions and management at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The legislation will improve the management of medical care, personnel actions and quality of life issues for members of the Armed Forces who are receiving medical care in an outpatient status.
- Supported the Veteran's Guaranteed Bonus Act, which provides essential financial security to our wounded servicemen and women by guaranteeing full payment bonuses earned and owed to them. This legislation fully addresses the military bonus problems in which members of the Armed Services who are wounded while on active duty are not receiving their full bonuses because their service was prematurely cut short.
Back to Top
Economy
- Supported the bipartisan economic stimulus package, which will put hundreds of dollars into the
 hands of more than 130 million American families and will help create 500,000 jobs by the end of 2008. Click here for further information about the economic stimulus package and how it affects you.
- Supported the Innovation Agenda, which doubles funding for National Science Foundation basic research; invests in 10,000 new science, math and technology teachers in the first year and up to 25,000 over five years; increases support for long-term scientific research; and provides support for cutting-edge research to drive information technology into the future.
- Supported expanding and improving the Trade Adjustment Assistance, which provides job training and other assistance to workers laid off due to trade, including extending it to service workers and to more manufacturing workers.
- Opposed the U.S.-Peru Trade Agreement because it did not provide sufficient enforceable core labor standards and environmental protections. Additionally, trade agreements such as the Peru agreement export quality American jobs overseas at a time when our country should be working to create more jobs here in the U.S.
- Supported several pieces of legislation to support small businesses. The bills would provide small businesses with the tools to encourage entrepreneurial innovation; expand small business investment; and strengthen small businesses by ensuring an increased share of federal contracts go to small businesses.
Back to Top
Education
- Supported
H.R. 5, The College Student Relief Act, which makes college more accessible
 and
affordable by cutting the interest rates on subsidized student loans
in half from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent.
- Introduced legislation to expand the Summer Simplified Food Program nationwide. Currently, the program, which provides up to two meals a day to children age 18 and under during the summer, is only available in 26 states. New Jersey is not included. Children in New Jersey and other states should have easy access to the nutritious food their bodies need to keep them learning and engaged throughout the summer. This legislation passed the House as part of the FY 2008 Agriculture Appropriations bill.
- Supported the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which contains the single largest investment in college financial assistance since the 1944 GI Bill. The legislation, which was signed into law in September 2007, cuts interest rates in half on need-based college loans, provides tuition assistance for undergraduate students who agree to teach in public schools and provides loan repayment for those who enter public service careers.
Back to Top
Energy & Gas Prices
- Supported legislation in both 2007 and 2008 that will move us closer to energy independence by rolling back $14 billion in taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil companies,
who are already enjoying record profits, and then reinvesting that money here at home in clean, alternative fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
- Supported legislation to crack down on price gouging by Big Oil companies by providing immediate relief to consumers. The bill gives the Federal Trade Commission the authority to investigate and punish companies that artificially inflate the price of energy.
- Introduced bipartisan legislation in February 2007 that establishes a Renewable Energy Standard (RES) requiring electric utilities to acquire 20 percent of their electricity from wind, solar and other renewable energy sources by 2020.
- Supported raising CAFÉ standards for the first time in 32 years, providing new energy efficiency standards and making an historic commitment to the American-grown biofuels. All of these provisions were included in the Energy and Security Act, which was signed into law in December 2007.
Back to Top
Fisheries
- Introduced legislation that will bring much-needed flexibility to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2007. Under this Act, fishery rebuilding plans must meet a rigid 10-year deadline to rebuild fishing stocks to unprecedented levels. This timetable has led to consistent cuts to some fisheries, including summer flounder, that hurts fishing communities economically. The flexibility called for in this legislation is needed so that unrealistic quotas are not implemented to the detriment of our fisherman.
- Introduced legislation that would prohibit the commercial harvesting of Atlantic Striped Bass and black fish in the coastal waters and the exclusive economic zone of the U.S. in order to enable coastal populations to return to historical abundances.
- Introduced resolution, which the House passed in November 2007, to protect Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. The resolution will urge the U.S. to take a strong stance in seeking compliance from countries that are in violation of conservation and management recommendations made by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
- Introduced legislation prohibiting the commercial harvesting of Blackfish, also known as tautog, in the coastal waters and the exclusive economic zone of the U.S. in order to enable coastal populations to return to historical abundances.
Back to Top
Foreign Affairs
- Introduced legislation calling on the President and the U.S. Government to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide. The U.S. owes it to the Armenian-American community, to the 1.5 million that were massacred in the Genocide and to its own history, to reaffirm what is fact.
- Introduced bipartisan legislation that would allow U.S. citizens who own property in the Turkish occupied portion of the Republic of Cyprus to seek financial remedies with either the inhabitants of their land or the Turkish government.
- Introduced resolution expressing serious concerns regarding the worsening human rights situation in Sri Lanka. It calls upon the LTTE, a designated terrorist organization, to revoke violence, urges an immediate resumption of peace talks and recommends that President Bush further U.S. involvement to help secure a lasting peace. Thousands of innocent civilians have already been killed and more continue to die in Sri Lanka as a result of the ethnic conflict between the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka.
Back to Top
 Homeland Security
- Supported legislation that implements the unfulfilled recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, including improvements in border security, port security, aviation security, and infrastructure security.
- Supported the Homeland Security appropriations bill that funds 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents, provides first responders with the equipment and training they need, and provides tougher aviation and port security.
- Supported updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to give the intelligence community the strong tools it needs to track terrorists and prevent another terrorist attack but also protects the constitutional rights of Americans whose communications may be intercepted in the process of the surveillance. This legislation does not award retroactive immunity for telecommunications carriers.
- Supported the Rail and Mass Transit Security Act, which requires the Department of Homeland Security to develop plans to protect rail and mass transit and authorizes $6 billion over four years in grants to protect these systems.
Back to Top
Housing
- Supported the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act, which responds to the subprime mortgage crisis by instituting much-needed reform to prevent these bad loans from being made in the first place. The legislation would ensure that consumers get mortgages they can repay, strengthen consumer protections against reckless and abusive lending practices and give consumers the ability to seek redress.
- Supported the Expanding American Homeownership Act, which revitalizes the Federal Housing Administration, thereby enabling it to serve more subprime borrowers at affordable rates and terms. This legislation would attract borrowers that have turned to predatory loans in recent years and offer refinancing to homeowners struggling to meet their mortgage payments in the midst of the current turbulent mortgage markets.
- Supported the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund which establishes a new trust fund to build or preserve 1.5 million affordable homes and apartments over the next 10 years.
- Supported reforming and expanding Section 8 Housing Vouchers to make their allocation targeted more on need, and to increase the number of families receiving vouchers.
Back to Top
Immigration
- Introduced the Spousal Reunification Act, which would allow non-immigrant visitors, who are married to or children of permanent resident aliens residing or working in this country, to visit the United States. Permanent resident aliens are individuals who have come into this country legally and are gainfully employed.
Back to Top
Iraq War
- Supported House Resolution expressing opposition to President Bush's troop escalation plan, which calls for sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.
- Supported an emergency war supplemental that set a troop withdrawal deadline, saying American troops will be out of Iraq no later than August 31, 2008. It also stipulated that if the Iraq government does not meet certain benchmarks in the coming months, our troops will be home by the end of 2007. President Bush vetoed this legislation.
- Opposed a final emergency war supplemental in 2007 that did not include a deadline for withdrawal and allowed the status quo to continue in Iraq.
- Supported the War Profiteering Prevention Act, which cracks down on those U.S. contractors who have taken advantage of the war by attempting to defraud the U.S. government by overcharging for goods and services.
Back to Top
Judiciary
- Introduced legislation that would require the U.S. Department of Justice to meet a set of guidelines before entering into a deferred prosecution agreements and would require critical independent oversight that is currently nonexistent. Deferred prosecution agreements are increasingly being used by the Bush Administration's Justice Department and its U.S. Attorneys to address corporate wrongdoing and corruption. These agreements replace the normal route of federal prosecution and require a potential defendant to meet certain conditions over a set period of time in order to prevent criminal charges.
Back to Top
Labor
- Supported increasing the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour over two years. President Bush signed the wage increase into law in May, giving 6.6 million Americans their first pay raise in ten years.
- Supported the Employee Free Choice Act which establishes fairness in the workplace by providing America's workers with a free choice to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
- Supported the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which rectifies the recent Supreme Court decision of Ledbetter v. Goodyear that made it much more difficult for workers to pursue pay discrimination claims. Ledbetter v. Goodyear granted employers protection from lawsuits over race or gender pay discrimination if the claims are based on decisions made by the employer 180 days ago or more.
- Supported the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which makes it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or otherwise discriminate against employees simply based on their sexual orientation.
Back to Top
New Jersey Specific Issues
- Introduced legislation that was signed into law by President Bush in February 2007 that gives the Edison Memorial Tower Corporation an additional six months of eligibility to receive federal matching funds to renovate the Edison Memorial Tower in Edison.
- Introduced legislation that was passed by the full House in 2007 honoring the Rutgers University Women's Basketball Team for their record-breaking season and their outstanding achievements off the basketball court.
- Requested the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Interior to conduct an investigation into the three-year-old lease agreement between the National Park Service and Sandy Hook Partners involving the redevelopment of Fort Hancock. Later that month, the Inspector General agreed to investigate the Fort Hancock lease agreement.
- Worked with U.S. Sen. Lautenberg to secure a commitment from the U.S. Coast Guard to keep the Shark River Coast Guard Station in Avon-by-the-Sea open year-round. The Coast Guard had previously proposed closing the station from October until the week before Memorial Day, which would have left boaters and fishermen at risk during this period.
- Introduced legislation in 2007, along with other members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation, requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission's ill-advised decision to close Fort Monmouth. In January 2008, the Congressman and other New Jersey lawmakers called on the Justice Department to investigate whether officials within the Department of Defense and the Department of the Army deliberately withheld or attempted to skew data relating to Forth Monmouth during the 2005 BRAC process.
Back to Top
Seniors' Issues
- Supported the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate with drug companies for lower prescription drug prices.
- Introduced the Safety of Seniors Act of 2007, which passed through the Energy and Commerce Committee this year, to reduce the number and severity of falls among the elderly through a nationwide program of public education initiatives, research and demonstration projects.
Back to Top
Taxes
- Supported legislation protecting 23 million middle-class families from being hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax in 2007. The AMT was created to prevent high income households from using special tax benefits to pay little or no tax. Because the AMT is not indexed to inflation, an increasing number of middle-income taxpayers have been finding themselves subject to this tax.
Back to Top
Veterans
- Supported a 2008 budget that includes the largest increase in veterans' health care funding in 77 years and fully meets our obligations to our veterans. The budget provides $6.6 billion more than in 2007, which allows us to properly address the VA's increasing patient load by hiring new personnel and improving health care facilities.
- Introduced legislation designating November 10th as Veterans Educate Today's Students (VETS) Day and encourages schools and civic leaders to schedule events that facilitate a dialogue between students and veterans. The House approved this legislation in November 2007.
- Supported the Veteran's Suicide Prevention Act, which requires the Veteran's Administration to provide training and education in suicide prevention to its staff and authorizes a family mental illness outreach program for veterans.
Back to Top
110th CONGRESS:
Bills
Sponsored by Rep. Pallone
Floor
Statements by Rep. Pallone
This Week in
Congress
Current House
Floor Proceedings
C-SPAN
Home Page
The Legislative
Process
Educational Resources
THOMAS: Legislative Information (Search)
Back to Top |
