eNews 10/3/2014

• NEEDED: Presidential Leadership
• Facts About Ebola
• Obamacare After One Year – Still Not Ready for Prime Time
• New Law Fights Child Trafficking
• Coming to the 11^th Congressional District: A Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Celebrating
• Sports in American Communities
• Salute: National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• Salute: 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools

NEEDED: Presidential Leadership

The lack of presidential leadership from the White House is contributing mightily to the mess the world has become.  Many of my colleagues, from both sides of the aisle, are as appalled as I am by the President’s failure to lead.  Even the Washington Post, which has been one of President Obama’s strongest supporters, has been highly critical on its editorial pages.

Clearly, our allies and adversaries around the world know that they can only count on the President to dither, posture, nuance, and equivocate!  And imagine telegraphing our military strategy about everything we are going to do or we are not going to do on the Middle East!  And the handling of Ebola, which is now confronting us domestically, may become just another example. I wish it were not so.

Behind all the issues people are concerned about, both domestic and foreign, is one thing: a lack of trust in those executing United States policy. The list is long: the IRS, the Justice Department, broken health care promises, the struggling economy, Benghazi, ISIS, Iran, North Korea…

The President has two years left in the White House. It’s time for him to stop reacting to events and start leading. And his National Security Council needs to be run on a 24 hour basis and not shut down atmidnight or on weekends.

Facts About Ebola

With the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States, it’s important that all Americans educate themselves about how this disease is transmitted, its symptoms, and what people can do to protect themselves and their families.

The federal government has a key role to play in containing this disease. The President and his public health team, led by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), are continually monitoring the situation. They must be prepared to take such actions as are necessary to protect the public health and to keep Ebola from spreading.

These two fact sheets – one from the CDC and the other from the New Jersey Department of Health – provide a great deal of helpful information. Please take a look.

Obamacare After One Year – Still Not Ready for Prime Time

It’s been one year since coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) first became available to the American people and things are even worse than they were when the ACA website first went live. We all remember the enormous problems the ACA website had when it finally opened. A year later, things are still a mess.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that changes designed to improve the ACA’s website have been delayed. According to theJournal, “The decision [to delay] raises new questions about whether HealthCare.gov will be ready to offer a better experience to millions of Americans this fall after its troubled debut last year.”

To compound the problem, people are finding that the increase in premiums that will kick-in in just a few months are making ACA unaffordable for many. This New York Times article details how one New York-based union’s workers are coping. According to the Times,“The Freelancers Union, which provides health insurance to 25,000 of its members in New York State, is ending an experiment in providing low-cost insurance to independent workers, saying the new landscape created by the federal Affordable Care Act makes it impossible to do so.”

And if that’s not bad enough, the ACA’s coverage mandates are requiring people to buy insurance they don’t need. For example, people without children are being forced to buy pediatric dental insurance.  This doesn’t make any sense!

Finally, one of the things that makes the United States and New Jersey the leaders in developing new medicines to treat disease is the innovation of our research pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences industries. Yet one of the many unintended consequences of Obamacare is its threat to medical innovation.

Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a physician and a senior fellow at  the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, explains why R&D spending in the United States has dropped dramatically due to Obamacare.

Some Encouraging News: New Law Fights Child Trafficking

One of the most despicable crimes imaginable is the trafficking of children -- the cruel exploitation of children for financial gain. That is why I am pleased that earlier this week President Obama signed H.R. 4980, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act.

This bipartisan bill, which I strongly supported when it came to the House for a vote, is designed to reducechild sex trafficking, increase adoptions, and improve child support collections.  I am committed to using the full force of the federal government to protect children from these ruthless predators.

A summary of the new law can be found here. 

Coming to the 11^th Congressional District: ASmithsonian Traveling Exhibition Celebrating Sports in American Communities

Tomorrow, October 4, at the Morris Museum in Morris Township, the Smithsonian Institution will open its new traveling exhibition:  “Hometown Teams.”  This fascinating exhibit, which is a partnership of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and several state humanities councils, brings a part of the Smithsonian – “The Nation’s Attic” right here to the 11^th Congressional District.

As the Smithsonian states, “People around the country are drawn to compete in these sports and many others. Still more gather on the sidelines to cheer for their favorite athletes and teams. Nowhere do Americans more intimately connect to sports than in their hometowns. The Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street program will celebrate this connection in the new traveling exhibition ‘Hometown Teams: Sports in American Communities.’”

Five copies of the exhibition will travel to a total of 180 small towns in 30 states in the next six years. A video previewing the exhibit can be viewedhere.

Salute: National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Everywhere you go this month you can expect to see a lot of pink. That’s because October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, “Breast cancer is the second most common kind of cancer in women. About 1 in 8 women born today in the United States will get breast cancer at some point.”

This disease is treatable with early detection. I salute all those who are working extra hard this month to raise awareness among women – and men – about  self-exams, mammograms, and the other measures people can take to protect their health. Everyone involved in this effort is helping to save lives, including many police officers and firefighters!

For more information about resources available to promote awareness, click here.

Salute: 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools

This week the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) released its list of the 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools.  Eleven of these outstanding schools are in New Jersey and three of those are in the 11^thCongressional District!

According to the DOE, “The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools where students either achieve very high learning standards or are making notable improvements in closing the achievement gap. The award affirms the hard work of students, educators, families and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content.”

Congratulations to the faculty, staff, students, and parents at the Assumption School in Morristown, the Mendham Township Middle School in Brookside, and the Milton Avenue School in Chatham Borough for earning this national distinction!