Biography
In the new 110th Congress, Congressman Jim Saxton is a 13-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives for New Jersey's Third Congressional District, having first been sworn in to serve in the 96th Congress (1982-1984) in a special election to fill the seat of U.S. Rep. Edwin B. Forsythe, who died in office.
Rising Seniority in House Committees
Mr. Saxton, 64, has risen in seniority. In January 2007 House GOP Leader John Boehner reappointed him to the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of the House and U.S. Senate (He was also Chairman 1997-1998, 2001-2002 and 2004-2006). He sits on the House Armed Services Committee's (HASC) Air and Land Forces Subcommittee as the designated ranking Republican. He also is a senior member of the Terrorism and Unconventional Threats Subcommittee (He founded the subcommittee in 2002 and chaired the HASC Military Construction Subcommittee 2001-2006). He is also a senior Member of the House Resources Committee's Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee, (and was Chairman 1994-2000, Vice Chairman 2000-2006).
He is the highest-ranking Republican House member on the JEC; the second-ranking Republican on the Resources Committee among approximately 60 members; and, the second-ranking Republican of about 60 who sit on HASC. He also sits on the Merchant Marine Panel.
Tapped to Head House Anti-Terrorism Role
Because of his 15-year campaign to bring terrorism issues to the attention of Congress, he was selected by the Speaker of the House to be the Chairman of the House Special Oversight Panel on Terrorism in 2000, which addressed threats to the United States and its allies from weapons of mass destruction, such as bio-terrorism and cyber-terrorism. That post was a springboard for Mr. Saxton to convince House leaders to create the new House terrorism subcommittee in the wake of 9/11, in early 2002. Mr. Saxton was selected by House leaders to chair the subcommittee (from 2002-2006), which oversees a budget of over $30 billion annually to fund U.S. Special Forces, including Green Berets, Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and the Defense Advance Research Projects Association and other high-tech research initiatives.
NJ-03... From the Shore to the Delaware
Congressman Saxton has fashioned a legislative agenda as diverse as the Third District, which reaches from the banks of the Delaware River to the shores of Long Beach Island. The district includes nearly half of the federally protected, 1.1 million-acre Pinelands National Reserve, vast farmlands, over 35 miles of shoreline, barrier islands, three bays and estuaries. His record in striving for clean water, clean air, coastal protection, wildlife protection and open space has established the congressman as a leading conservationist in the Congress.
Mr. Saxton has a reputation as a tireless legislator who responds promptly and conclusively to his constituency regarding issues of importance to the district.
Mr. Saxton's Biggest Victories
MEDICARE FUNDING - In one of the most significant accomplishments of his career, in 2003-2004 Mr. Saxton initiated a campaign to bring up to $42 million in ANNUAL Medicare reimbursements to South Jersey hospitals. Every hospital in Ocean, Burlington, Mercer and Camden counties benefited, as did the majority of hospitals across New Jersey. Congressman Saxton, joined by Congressman LoBiondo of Vineland, rectified an unfair reimbursement formula that weighed against small, often rural or suburban hospitals.
HELPED SAVE FT. DIX, MCGUIRE AFB & NAVY LAKEHURST, ADD THOUSANDS OF NEW JOBS - He is also widely recognized in the Garden State for taking on the Pentagon in a trio of battles to save Fort Dix (1988, 1991) and McGuire Air Force Base (1993), as well as neighboring Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station (1995) during Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) hearings. In all three cases, the Pentagon was reversed, and today Fort Dix and McGuire added thousands of jobs and are busier than they have ever been in peacetime. In BRAC 2005, with bases closing all over the country, Saxton convinced the Pentagon to combine McGuire, Fort Dix and Lakehurst into a single joint base, dubbed “mega base” by local newspapers. The BRAC recommendations became public law, and by 2011 some 2,000-3,000 new jobs will come to the new military installation, titled “Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst” as the nation’s only Army-Air Force-Navy installation that also has significant Marine and Coast Guard presence.
BRINGING HOME THE ‘BIG J’ - Also notable was winning the federal competition to bring home the WWII era Battleship USS New Jersey to the Delaware River in South Jersey in 2000. The victory paved the way for a major naval museum that opened in 2001 and has drawn thousands of visitors annually. Saxton worked on an extensive plan over several years to convince the Secretary of the Navy to place the Big J in the Delaware River.
STRENGTHENING & GROWING McGUIRE, DIX AND LAKEHURST - In 2001, an eight-year plan to bring ultramodern Boeing C-17 Globemasters to McGuire AFB came to fruition when the Air Force announced it intended to send a squadron of the cargo planes to McGuire, helping to ensure McGuire's role in the 21st century. In September 2004, the Congressman helped welcome the first of McGuire’s C-17s, which are still arriving straight from the California factory through mid-2005. The base has seen more than $150 million of new construction in the 2000-2003 federal budgets, the most in base history. The base has seen over a half-billion dollars in new construction over the past 10 years. In the 2005 defense budget, Mr. Saxton helped steer over $50 million to Fort Dix, McGuire AFB and Navy Lakehurst. In 2006, he helped put $48 million in the budget. In 2007, he is fighting to pass more than $17 million for Dix and $85 million McGuire.
CONGRESS’ AIR MOBILITY ADVOCATE - Ever a watchdog of overspending, Mr. Saxton helped Congress purchase 60 more C-17s in 2002 for 25 percent less than previously estimated costs. The plane is widely viewed as the best cargo transport aircraft ever built in the history of aviation. In 2005, he is seeking authorization for the Air Force to negotiate to buy another 42 C-17s. Working with other senior members of the House Armed Services Committee, he added authorization language to the FY2006 defense authorization bill. In 2006, he was a leader in the fight to acquire appropriations for 10 more C-17s, and asserts the strong case that the other 32 are needed at a minimum because of the rate C-17s have been used in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Additionally, Cong. Saxton is an advocate of modernizing the nation’s critical tanker fleet. McGuire AFB in his district operates nearly 50 tankers, one of the largest tanker fleets of any U.S. base. McGuire is responsible for providing the “air bridge” over the Atlantic to Europe, the Middle East Africa.
YEARS OF MILITARY BASE MODERNIZATION BEAR FRUIT - As chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee between 2001-02, he brought millions of dollars to every one of New Jersey's main military installations, a total of over $200 million in new construction in the state. These projects are critical in that they were all funded and constructed prior to the May 2005 BRAC list.
Congressman Saxton designed a 10-12 year plan to modernize Fort Dix, McGuire AFB and Navy Lakehurst. He worked closely with base commanders to support important projects in defense budgets that enhanced existing missions and attracted new missions. Working with DoD officials from the Army, Navy and Air Force, he has spent the past 10 years highlighting and promoting multi-service projects that improved “jointness” between the bases. On May 13, 2005, that strategy seemed to pay off when the Pentagon specifically recommended that the three adjoining bases be combined and dubbed “Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst,” along with 11 other bases. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst remains the only Army-Navy-Air Force base in the country.
Fighting for Ocean Legislation, Winning Beach Repair Funds
As a senior member of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee, a part of the House Natural Resources Committee, he has actively fought for sensible fisheries management as well as for fishermen's rights and the Jersey Shore economy. He has sponsored legislation banning sludge dumping off the Atlantic Coast, as well as bills that protect dolphins, sea turtles, sharks and other marine mammals, domestic coral reefs and marine sanctuaries. He led the fight to aid New Jersey fishermen by expanding the summer founder quota for 2007, and laying out a plan to expand the quota over the next five years.
In 2005, Mr. Saxton obtained $5 million of construction funds (enough to start construction) in the House budget for the long-awaited Long Beach Island (LBI) project to fix beach damage from storms in 1991 and 1992. The Army Corps of Engineers has spent 10 years and $3.3 million designing the project. Mr. Saxton also acquired $1.75 million in construction funds between 2003-2004. The funds were used to complete a Surf City, N.J. section of the larger LBI project in 2007. In the 2007 budget, he increased the President’s funding for the LBI project from $2.5 million to $6 million, which, if passed in the Senate, is enough to award a bid and start a second phase of construction. The State of N.J. must still approve local beach access. A project could be awarded in 2006. Due to Mr. Saxton’s successful efforts to authorize the LBI project in 2000, it will be one of the last projects in the country funded 65 percent by the federal government.
Working for a Healthy Economy
Mr. Saxton is credited with promoting South Jersey high-tech industry and job growth, particularly for the shore-based tourism industry and the defense industry that employs thousands of South Jersey residents. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was able to obtain research funds for missile defense R&D in South Jersey.
His decade-long work on the JEC led him to have regular dialogue with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, with whom Mr. Saxton has forged a strong relationship supporting the Chairman's anti-inflation policies that have led to unprecedented economic growth. In 2006, he welcomed and forged a new relationship with new Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The Congressman is a fiscal conservative and solid supporter of tax code reform and controlled spending, including income tax reductions and incentives for higher savings, as well as higher IRA contributions and penalty-free withdrawals from 401K and IRA plans for senior citizens. His plan to promote middle-class investments in mutual funds with tax reforms has garnered national acclaim.
Personal History
The Congressman is a native of Nicholson, Pa., and graduated from East Stroudsburg University. He also attended Temple University.
Mr. Saxton is a former public elementary school teacher and small business owner. He resides in Burlington County, N.J. He served six years in the N.J. Assembly and three years in the N.J. Senate. He has two children, and three grandchildren.