The Week Just Past: Federal Budget “Groundhog Day”

In the Wake of Sandy: Help is on the Way

Valentines for Veterans from Morris, Passaic, Essex and Sussex Students

Troops and Veterans in College: “Getting Them Through”

The Week Just Past: Federal Budget “Groundhog Day”

“We all watched with amused interest last Saturday as Essex Ed, the groundhog, emerged from his den at West Orange’s Turtle Back Zoo to predict that Spring will come early in 2013.  It is an amusing ritual that has become part of America’s folklore.

“However, a much more serious event, with all the earmarks of ‘Groundhog Day,’ occurred Monday, when the President missed the deadline for submitting his budget request to Congress for the third time in four years. Moreover, the Administration now flatly refuses to say when it will release the President’s 2014 spending plan.

“Unfortunately, every month is beginning to feel the same: unacceptable unemployment, rising gasoline and grocery prices, and more debt for our children and our grandchildren.  

“Solving America’s problem starts with what every family does every month: they budget.  But the President’s budget is late again. Harry Reid and his majority in the Senate have not done a budget in four years. And none of them have a plan to replace the ‘sequester’ – the ‘across-the-board’ budget cuts that will do so much damage to our national security and our economy, in general, if allowed to take effect. 

“The federal government spends $1 trillion more than it takes in each and every year. We’re borrowing that $1 trillion and handing the tab to future generations.  We cannot keep that up.  In the past two years, the House has offered solutions to the country’s fiscal challenges. Now the President and the Senate must do the same.”

Rodney Frelinghuysen

Recommended Reading: an important read by Gerald Seib, writing in the Thursday Wall Street Journal, “The Hidden Secrets of Spending.”

Recommended Reading: Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal editorial, “A Fiscal Fantasy.  Weren’t Tax Hikes on the Rich Supposed to Solve the Budget Mess?”  Read it here.

In the Wake of Sandy: Help is on the Way

One week after President Obama signed Rodney’s Hurricane Sandy Disaster Assistance legislation into law, the first installment of aid is about to be delivered.  If federal officials approve a recovery plan developed by the Christie Administration, New Jersey will receive $1.82 billion in disaster aid by the end of the month.

Governor Christie has indicated that he wants to use the money to help rebuild primary residences, to get shuttered businesses opened, and for a marketing program that would encourage people to return to the Jersey shore. The Governor hopes to start getting "Community Development Block Grant" funding to people on the ground in the "Sandy Zone" by March. This particular type of disaster money is designed to fill gaps not covered by private insurance or other types of disaster aid.

Recommended Reading: Thursday editorial in the Investor’s Business Daily, “Like Your (Health) Plan, Lose Your Plan Under ObamaCare.”

Valentines for Veterans from Morris, Passaic, Essex and Sussex Students

On Thursday, Rodney visited area schools to collect “Valentines for Veterans” made by local students.  Each year, he invites elementary students to create hand-made Valentines Day cards for hospitalized veterans.

He was joined once again this year by Air Force Master SGT Jim Vigilante of Parsippany. 

“These thousands of messages from students lift the spirits of veterans confined to a hospital on Valentine’s Day,” said Frelinghuysen, a veteran of the Vietnam War.  “It is also an important way for young people to learn more about the sacrifices made by Americans in uniform.  Veterans made our nation great, and we must never forget all they have done to ensure our freedom.”

Rodney and MSTR SGT Vigilante visited students at the Littleton Elementary School in Morris Plains along with Mayor James Barberio, the Hilltop Country Day School in Sparta with Mayor Gilbert Gibbs, St. Cloud Elementary School in West Orange with Mayor Robert Parisi and the John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Wayne.   

Valentines from the students at the two schools will be delivered to veterans at the Lyons and East Orange VA Medical Centers.   

Read more about the program here.

Recommended Reading: James Dao, writing in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, reports that troops and veterans receive more than $10 billion each year to continue their education.  The challenge is helping them graduate.  Read “Getting Them Through” here.

Recommended Reading: Ramzy Mardini, writing in the Sunday New York Times, “After Assad, Chaos?”