The Week Just Past: 65 Days Late, the President’s Budget is here!

The Obama Budget in Brief

“Now He's After Your 401(k)”

Eliminating Waste: A Great Place to Start

Benghazi and the Decline of U.S. Military Power

Busy in Committee

Boonton High Student Tops Congressional Arts Competition

Tell your family and friends about FEMA’s Sandy Assistance Deadline

At Long Last – The Medal of Honor

The Week Just Past: 65 Days Late, the President’s Budget Is Here!

“While 65 days late, the President has finally presented his budget to the American people this week.  Unfortunately, the document is once again filled with excessive spending and takes more taxes from New Jersey families and businesses, slowing economic growth and job creation, my highest priorities in Congress.

“In short, the President wants to grow the government, not the economy!

“With that said, I feel it is important that we work to see if we can come together to produce results for the people who sent us here.  In coming weeks, we’ll strive to find common ground.  But even if we can’t agree on everything, our constituents want us to protect our national security and make a down payment on our dangerous debt.

“Because I feel my constituents in New Jersey deserve information about the President’s priorities, this e-News contains a few facts about the President’s budget submission.  For your information, take a look at the attached figures.  This is the President’s latest bid in the upcoming negotiations on the fiscal future our children will face.”

Rodney Frelinghuysen

Recommended Reading: Editorial in the Thursday Wall Street Journal, “The President’s Priorities, Debt in 2014 will hit 78.2% of the economy.”

The Obama Budget in Brief

$8.2 Trillion in New Debt

• Accounting for the cost of eliminating the sequester and removing the budget gimmicks, net deficit reduction is only $119 billion.
• Additional deficit increase in FY2013: $61 billion
• Total U.S. debt in 2023: $25.4 trillion
• Debt increase per household: $60,980
• Interest payments on the debt in 2023: $763 billion
• Deficit in 2023: $439 billion

$1.1 Trillion in New Taxes

• President Obama’s budget increases taxes by $1.1 trillion—on top of $1 trillion in taxes from Obamacare and more than $600 billion from the President’s recent tax hike.

$964 Billion in New Spending above Projected Growth

• Spending increase next year alone: $154 billion
• Total spending over ten years: $46.5 trillion
• Rate of annual increase in mandatory spending: 5.2%

Recommended Reading: Friday editorial in the Wall Street Journal, “Now He's After Your 401(k), The White House pulls a switcheroo on retirement savings accounts.”

Eliminating Waste: A Great Place to Start

The federal government could save tens of billions of dollars each year by trimming duplicative programs.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found 162 examples of government duplication or other inefficiencies while analyzing programs in virtually all major federal departments and agencies over three years, according to a report the agency released this week.

“Tens of thousands of New Jersey families have been getting by with less while the federal government continues to do less with more,” said Rodney, a member of the watchdog House Appropriations Committee.  “The billions in program overlap identified in this report could be used to make truly effective programs better or could be returned to the taxpayer.  This GAO report provides a quick roadmap to greater fiscal responsibility.”

The GAO’s 2013 annual report identifies 31 areas where agencies may be able to achieve greater efficiency or effectiveness. Within these 31 areas, they include 17 areas of fragmentation, overlap, or duplication where multiple programs and activities may be creating inefficiencies. The report also includes 14 areas where opportunities exist to achieve cost savings or enhance revenue collections.

Read more here. 

Recommended Reading: Mark Helprin, writing in the Wednesday Wall Street Journal, “Benghazi’s Portent and the Decline of U.S. Military Strength.”  While this subject has been explored extensively, this perspective is worth a close read.

Busy in Committee

Rodney’s key Appropriations Subcommittees had another busy week.

On Wednesday, his Defense Subcommittee held a hearing with Admiral Sam Locklear, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.  The session focused almost exclusively on the recent provocations of North Korea’s leadership.

Yesterday, Rodney chaired a hearing of his Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, focused on disposal of nuclear waste.  New Jersey has four nuclear reactors, and like similar facilities across the country, there exists no permanent disposal site for used nuclear fuel.  In his opening statement, Rodney told the witnesses, “the longer this nation goes without taking responsibility for spent fuel, the higher the bill is to the federal taxpayer. At this point, liabilities are likely to be nearly $20 billion, in addition to the billions already paid. This liability is directly and entirely caused by the Administration’s Yucca Mountain policy.”

The Obama Administration has been trying to shutter permanently the uncompleted Yucca Mountain Nuclear Depository in Nevada without identifying an alternate site for storing spent nuclear fuel.

Read more about the hearing here.

Also on Thursday, he participated in a hearing of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee where he asked Homeland Security Department Secretary Janet Napolitano about the status of FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Fund (DRF) in light of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy last fall.

Boonton High Student Tops Congressional Arts Competition

A student from Boonton High School earned top honors at the 30th Annual Congressional Arts Competition in New Jersey’s 11^th Congressional District.  First place was awarded to Samantha Kutnik for her pen and ink work entitled, “Breathe.” 

“The annual Congressional Art Competition is an excellent opportunity to recognize the rich talents of our young people,” said Frelinghuysen.  “I commend our local high schools for encouraging their students to showcase their artistic skills in this year’s competition.”

Antonia Chan, a student from Chatham High School, was awarded second place for her work entitled, “The Companion.” 

James Quinn, of Pequannock High School, was awarded third place for his work, “The Whale.”

Honorable Mention awards were given to Austin Dimare for his charcoal work entitled, “The Coming Home,” Amanda Green of Pequannock High School for her oil pastel entitled “Into the Woods,”  John Lu of Hanover Park High School for his acrylic entitled, “Power to the People,”  and to Kayla Stammer of Boonton High School for her mixed media drawing, “Poseidon's Menagerie.” 

Ms. Kutnick’s winning entry will be hung in the U.S. Capitol.

Forty-nine students from 17 area high school participated in this year’s competition.

Over 125 people attended the Congressional Art competition reception at the Morris Museum.

The annual Congressional Art Competition has been promoting America’s young artists for 31 years. 

Tell your family and friends about FEMA’s Sandy Assistance Deadline

Tell your family and friends who have not registered for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that the last day to register is May 1, 2013. Make sure they know the facts about FEMA registration; many Hurricane Sandy survivors are eligible for disaster assistance and just may not know it.

With about two weeks left to register, here are facts about FEMA assistance:

• FEMA assistance does NOT affect benefits from other federal programs, such as Social Security benefits, taxes, food stamps or Medicaid.
• FEMA assistance is available for renters; it is not exclusive to homeowners.
• FEMA provides grants; it does not make loans.  These grants do NOT have to be repaid, and they are NOT considered taxable income.
• You may be eligible for reimbursement for repairs to your home, even if the repairs are already completed.
• You may be eligible for FEMA assistance even if you have flood or homeowner’s insurance.
• Income is NOT a consideration for eligibility for FEMA assistance.
• A grant you may receive does not take away from another survivor’s assistance; FEMA has sufficient funding to assist all eligible survivors with their eligible disaster-related needs.
• There is no paperwork to register with FEMA; the process normally takes between 15 and 20 minutes.

The rule of thumb is that if you’re unsure if you are eligible for assistance, call 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA) or go to DisasterAssistance.gov.  If you have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, call 1-800-462-7585 directly.  If using 711 or Video Relay Service, call 1-800-621-3362.

Although the assistance process may continue after the deadline, May 1 will be the last day to call or go online to register for FEMA.

FEMA grants cover expenses for temporary housing, home repairs, replacement of damaged personal property and other disaster-related needs such as medical, dental or transportation costs not covered by insurance or other programs. The objective is to make damaged dwellings safe, sanitary and functional.

Recommended Reading: At long last, a Roman Catholic Army chaplain receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic action in the Korean War.  Read more here.