e-News 3/18/16 

• Economic Growth: It’s not the “luck of the Irish”
• Opportunity Scholarships: School Choice
• Obama Administration Finally Declaring “Genocide”
• My Work in Committee: Central Command and the War on Terrorism
• “Vladimir Putin rides out of Syria as a victor”
• “How a monstrous Putin beat the U.S. in Syria"
• Salute:  Best Wishes to General Lori Robinson
• Salute: Congratulations to the Kelly Brothers, Scott and Mark

Economic Growth: It’s not the “luck of the Irish”

Even as we took time this week to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I know many New Jersey families and businessmen and women worry about their economic future.   They are concerned about their children’s inability to find jobs and start their careers, preserving their personal investments, dealing with stagnant wages and the stability of their own jobs.  Of course, the antidote is a strong and growing economy.  

My colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee make an interesting point: just like the United States, Ireland experienced a serious financial crisis in 2008 that rippled through every sector of its economy.

Since then, slow growth and stagnant wages have been the hallmarks of America’s weak "recovery."  But at the same time, Ireland, is bouncing back strong. The country's economy continues to grow at the fastest rate in Europe: 9.2 percent in the final three months of 2015. During that same time period, the U.S. economy grew by an unimpressive 1.9 percent.

It just so happens that Ireland is home to the lowest corporate tax rate among OECD countries (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development).  The U.S has the highest corporate tax rate among those same countries.

So perhaps there’s more to growth in Ireland than simply “the Luck of the Irish.” Our broken tax code continues to force American job creators to move abroad, and it is weakening our economy.

America needs a new, modernized tax code that is built for growth– the growth of families’ paychecks, the growth of local businesses, and the growth of our economy.  In short, Americans need a tax system that is simpler, fairer and flatter.

Opportunity Scholarships

Over the years, I have been a proud leader in the fight for school choice. I am committed to working to provide parents with a choice in their child’s education in New Jersey. 

A decade ago, I helped create a successful, but endangered, private school scholarship program in the District of Columbia. The reality is that high quality schools have always been available to those who can afford them. The scholarship program in Washington opened the door for parents to rescue' their children from failing schools and gave them an opportunity to place them in an environment where every child is encouraged to achieve success.

This week, editors at the Washington Post weighed in: “For D.C., reauthorizing school choice is the right choice.”  Read it here.

While this program affects families in our nation's capital, it is also very important to children in every state. I believe that with these scholarships, DC was showing that there was an effective way to provide educational opportunity for disadvantaged children in poverty and empower their parents with choices.

Obama Administration Finally Declaring “Genocide”

After intense pressure from Congress to condemn the atrocities committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State (ISIS), Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday finally declared that ISIS is indeed committing genocide against Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities. 

The House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly passed resolutions accusing the Islamic State of genocide and Syrian President Bashar Assad of war crimes, votes that raised pressure on the President.

The Obama Administration has been internally debating such a genocide declaration since ISIS burst onto the scene 18 months ago.  Frankly, it is a disgrace that it took Secretary Kerry this long to admit what the whole world has known for quite a long time.  ISIS has been bragging about murdering and enslaving religious and ethnic minorities everywhere they gain power.  We know what they are doing: ISIS is committing genocide.

The Syrian conflict is now five years old.  It has killed more than 250,000 people and fueled the Islamic State's rise.

But now that our government is recognizing this crisis, it needs to do more to stop it. I hope the President will seize this opportunity to present a very clear strategy to defeat this enemy, something he has failed to do, even though he was required by a law he signed last December. 
 

My Work in Committee: Central Command and the War on Terrorism

My Defense Appropriations Committee this week conducted a closed oversight hearing on the posture and activities with U.S. Central Command, the combatant command with an area of responsibility covering the "central" area of the globe and consists of 20 countries -- Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.  In many respects, it is “central” to our ongoing global war on terrorism. 

The region is in turmoil.   We have seen:

• a resurgence of Al Qaeda throughout the region,
• the advancement and influence of ISIS throughout the Middle East and northern Africa,
• continuing Russian military operations in Syria;
• undeterred Taliban factions in Afghanistan and Pakistan with large portions of Afghanistan under Taliban control;
• an aggressive Iran asserting itself in Iraq, Yemen and Syria;
• terrorism being exported from the region throughout the world – enhanced by foreign fighters, and an ongoing refugee crisis that has spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe. 

For more information on Central Command and General Austin, visithere.

“Vladimir Putin rides out of Syria as a victor”

From the editors of the Washington Post:

“VLADIMIR PUTIN once again appears to have surprised the Obama administration, this time with an abrupt announcement of a military withdrawal from Syria. As in several previous instances — his seizure of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine, for example — the White House was caught flat-footed because it deluded itself about Mr. Putin’s goals and his chances of success. President Obama derided the Russianleap into the war in September as the prelude to a “quagmire,” just as he proclaimed that the annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Donetsk region would be self-defeating. Yet in Syria, Mr. Putin has accomplished quite a lot, and his gains have come at the expense of U.S. interests and of Mr. Obama’s stated goals in the region…”

Read the entire editorial here.

Also, Max Boot’s column in the L.A. Times, “How a monstrous Putin beat the U.S. in Syria” is worth a read.  Find it here.

Salute:  Best wishes to General Lori Robinson of the Air Force, named earlier today by President Obama as the first woman to head a U.S. combatant command.  If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the next head of Northern Command.  As such, she will be one of the most senior leaders in the U.S. military and the top general overseeing activities in North America.

Salute: Congratulations to the Kelly Brothers, Scott and Mark.  The West Orange Board of Education voted this week to rename Pleasantdale Elementary School after the pair, both recently retired NASA astronauts.  The twins, 52, were born in Orange and grew up in West Orange and attended the school.  "It is not often that a community is able to recognize and honor native sons who both fit the definitions of 'Hero and Pioneer' in perpetuity so that generations to come will know where such accomplished individuals had their beginnings,” said Board of Education President Laura Lab.