e-News 2/5/16

• The President’s Budget: More of the Same?
• Cuba: “Mr. Obama’s opening is not leading to positive change”
• Consulting with our Special Forces
• Obamacare Veto Override Falls Short
• Highlands Conservation Act Advances
• What You Need to Know about the Zika Virus
• Valentines for Vets
• Salute:  To Special Olympics New Jersey

 

The President’s Budget: More of the Same?

President Obama is expected to submit the final budget proposal of his Presidency to Congress next Tuesday.  Because the budget he submitted in 2015 received a grand total of one vote in the Senate, expectations are not high in these parts.

As I reported last week in this space, the nation’s pathetic 0.7 percent GDP growth from last quarter shows that his tax-and-spend economic “recovery” ideas are not working.  But yet, we expect more of the same in next week’s budget:

• Budget that Never Balances. While the House has consistently passed budgets that balance, the president has never proposed a budget that actually balances. Ever. Will the president make it eight in a row?
• A Budget that Threatens Medicare and Social Security. We need to strengthen Medicare and Social Security to ensure they’re sustainable for many years to come. But the president refuses to acknowledge that they are on a fast track to bankruptcy. Will the President’s denial continue?
• A Budget that Raises Taxes. In order to pay for all the new spending, the administration will once against propose higher taxes on millions of hardworking families and businesses. The timing could not be worse. Wages are stagnant, 46 million Americans are living in poverty, and just this week, for the first time ever, we surpassed $19 trillion in debt. The last thing we need right now is more taxes.

If the last seven years have taught us anything, it’s that what’s past is prologue: more spending, more debt, and more taxes that will dampen economic growth and burden future generations.

Cuba: “Mr. Obama’s opening is not leading to positive change”

Read the Washington Post editorial about the President’s “friends” in Cuba here.

Consulting with our Special Forces

I recently returned from a short visit to the headquarters of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) in Tampa and Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field in northern Florida, home of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and training for the Navy’s new F-35 attack jet. 

USSOCOM is nearly 70,000 strong and the command has people in approximately 85 countries around the world. As with all members of our Armed Forces, we owe these “quiet professionals,” and their families, a special debt of gratitude for the unsung work they do every day to keep America safe.

For more about my visit to SOCOM, click here.

Obamacare Veto Override Falls Short

The evidence is pretty clear that the President’s Obamacare program is failing – higher premiums, sky-high deductibles, less choice, a damper on job creation and expansion. Unfortunately, the House failed to override President Obama’s veto of legislation passed by Congress last month which would repeal the so-called Affordable Care Act. 

But the fight is not over and we will continue to work to replace Obamacare with reforms that lower costs and put patients back in charge of their own health care decisions.

Highlands Conservation Act Advances

In a significant step forward for my legislation, the House Natural Resources Committee this week approved H.R. 894, to extend the authorization of the Highlands Conservation Act (HCA).  This action moves my bill into position to be considered by the House of Representatives.

I introduced this bill recognizing what we in New Jersey already know: the Highlands region is a critical watershed which provides drinking water for millions of people in New Jersey and the New York.  It must be protected because once lost, it can never be recovered.

I originally drafted the HCA in 2004 and since then the HCA has provided money each year for land conservation partnership projects and open space purchases from willing sellers.  Additionally, the law authorized one million dollars annually for the Forest Service to provide continued technical assistance and research in the four-state Highlands region: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut. 

In December, the FY16 Omnibus Appropriations bill provided $10 million for the HCA.  To date, over $27 million has been appropriated for the HCA, which has protected over 5,500 acres in the 4-state Highlands Region.  H.R. 894 would extend the HCA through 2021.

My reauthorization bill, H.R. 894, is cosponsored by Representatives Scott Garrett (NJ-5), Leonard Lance (NJ-7), and Bill Pascrell (NJ-9).

What You Need to Know about the Zika Virus

We have helpful links on my website here.

From the Washington Post

Valentines for Vets

Marine Corps Reservist and Chatham resident SGT Emily Monks, an Iraq War veteran, and I, a Vietnam veteran, visited Mrs. Kelly Jo Bledsoe's 5th grade class at Rockaway Meadow Elementary School in Parsippany earlier today to gather handmade Valentines which we will later deliver to veterans at the Lyons VA Medical Center and the East Orange VA Medical Center. 

These messages from students lift the spirits of veterans confined to a hospital on Valentine’s Day.  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.

Thank you, students! Thank you veterans!

Salute: To Special Olympics New Jersey (SONJ) as the organization wrapped up its Winter Games in Sussex County this week.  SONJ provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in 24 Olympic-type sports for more than 25,000 children and adults with disabilities.