I continue to hear from Central New Jersey business owners who struggle to access the capital they need to maintain and grow their businesses.  On Tuesday, January 19, I will be hosting a workshop in Manalapan to connect small businesses with officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration and New Jersey Economic Development Authority. This is a great opportunity to learn more about how to access capital through government finance programs.

The workshop will be held Tuesday from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters, which is located at 125 Symmes Road in Manalapan. If you want to attend, please RSVP to Matthew Hall in my New Jersey office at (609) 750-9365 or Matthew.Hall@mail.house.gov  I look forward to hearing from you.

Connecting the Dots

Since the 9/11 Commission issued its report, there have been some real improvements in America's counterterrorism capabilities, but as the failed attack on Northwest Flight 253 demonstrated, intelligence and law enforcement personnel do not seem to be able to tell real threats from imagined ones and to share the relevant information. We need to determine how someone on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) watchlist who buys a last minute ticket with cash and checks no bags can get on a flight without the most careful scrutiny. Writing in the New York Times on Wednesday, Tom Kean and John Farmer Jr., co-chair and senior counsel of the 9/11 Commission, asked the vital question: “are lapses in information gathering and sharing like those that occurred here endemic, or fixable?” As the chair of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel and a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I am pursuing those questions and continuing my work to improve our intelligence capabilities that are central to keeping us safe.

Great News Over the Holidays

Like all Americans, I am thankful and relieved that David and Sean Goldman finally have been reunited.  David's perseverance and enduring love for his son have inspired millions, and I am delighted that he and Sean are together as father and son.  

Although this case has been successfully resolved, as Mr. Goldman has noted thousands of American families who have been victimized by international parental child abduction are not so fortunate.  Those families also need our government's help. I have urged House leaders to take up legislation designed to help those parents.  The problem of international parental child abduction did not start with this case, and our efforts to end it must continue even as David and Sean Goldman resume their life together.

Sincerely,

RUSH HOLT
Member of Congress

P.S. Just a reminder: I always want to hear from you, but please don’t reply to this e-mail.  Instead, please email me through my website at www.holt.house.gov, or call me at 1-87-RUSH-HOLT (1-877-874-4658) to let me know what's on your mind.  Please also note that you may unsubscribe from this list by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of this email.