e-News 4/22/16

• Keeping the U.S. Dollar out of Iran’s Terrorist Pockets
• My Work in Committee: Intelligence Community Budget Oversight
• “South China Sea: White House vs. PACOM:” Worth a Read!
• In the Aftermath of Tax Day
• Military Academy Night Scheduled
• Salute: Rutgers University’s 250 Anniversary!
• Salute: Happy Birthday ROTC!

Keeping the U.S. Dollar out of Iran’s Terrorist Pockets

I cosponsored legislation this week that would prevent the Obama Administration from allowing Iran access to transactions involving the U.S. dollar as long as the Iranian regime continues to engage in illegal and destabilizing behavior, including the development of ballistic missiles and support for terrorism. 

Instead of helping the Iranian regime get richer, our government should be holding it accountable for its continued illegal ballistic missile tests, egregious human rights violations and global support for terrorism.  Therefore, we cannot grant Iran access to the U.S. dollar in any form. Iran should not be granted favors simply because we agreed to a flawed nuclear deal.

Introduced by the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ed Royce (CA), the U.S. Financial System Protection Act (H.R. 4992), would place into law existing regulations that prohibit the administration from allowing the U.S. dollar to be used to facilitate trade transactions with Iran.  These and other prohibitions, which were first levied against Iran nearly a decade ago in response to its support for terrorism, human rights abuses, money laundering and ballistic missiles program, would remain in place until the president certifies Iran is no longer engaging in these dangerous acts. 

Congress’ primary job is to provide for the national defense and that includes protecting Americans from terrorist attacks.  If President Obama won’t rule out new concessions to the Iranian regime, Congress should. Allowing a belligerent Iran access to the U. S. dollar poses real dangers to our country and our economy. 

As Chairman Royce said so well, “Iran’s supreme leader must not be allowed to seek ‘death to America’ with U.S. dollars in his pocket.”

Read the text of H.R. 4992 here.

And in case you missed it, the U.S. Supreme Court this week ruled that U.S. victims of Iranian terrorism, including two Essex County families, are able to collect on judgments they have been awarded against frozen Iranian assets. 

This is a long overdue victory for 1,000 victims of the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism:  The Islamic Republic of Iran.

My Work in Committee: Intelligence Community Budget Oversight

This week my Defense Appropriations Committee convened to hear from the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, on the Intelligence Community Budget request for the next fiscal year.   While the testimony was classified, it gave us the opportunity to commend the tireless work of the men and women of the intelligence community all across the globe.  They are truly unsung, but an irreplaceable element of our everyday fight to protect America from terrorism.

“South China Sea: White House Vs. PACOM” Worth a Read!

From Real Clear Defense on Tuesday: “According to a recent Navy Times article, at a National Security Council meeting on 18 March, National Security Advisor Susan Rice 'imposed a gag order on military leaders over the disputed South China Sea.' Its alleged aim was to "give Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping 'maximum political maneuvering space'...during the Global Nuclear Summit," held earlier this month. Yet, the White House's broader reason for muzzling its top brass — which Navy Times sources claim has happened before — was apparently to 'tamp down on rhetoric from [Admiral Harry] Harris and other military leaders,' which the administration believes has at times 'crossed the line into baiting the Chinese into hard-line positions.'

“Whether an actual gag order was issued is a moot point. Still, the incident is symptomatic of divergent policy preferences on the South China Sea that have been brewing between the White House and US Pacific Command since early 2015…

Read the entire article here.

In the Aftermath of Tax Day

Earlier this week, New Jersey families were working hard to complete their tax returns for filing in time for last Monday’s deadline.  Once again, the reality was driven home that the federal tax code and accompanying regulations represent a real nightmare, spanning over 70,000 pages. The instructions for completing the 1040 form alone run at 105 pages. Individuals and businesses spend more than 6 billion hours per year to do their taxes at a cost of more than $31 billion in tax preparation services.

And on top of all that, IRS employees seem to play by different rules than the rest of us, leading to scandals that only exacerbate the people’s distrust of their government.

So during this week after Tax Day, Congress zeroed in on the IRS.   The House of Representatives passed four bills, with my support, that will help improve customer service, prevent fraud, and ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent appropriately at the IRS.

The bills:  

• H.R. 3724, the Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act, which stops the IRS from rehiring former employees who had been fired for cause.
• H.R. 4890, the IRS Bonuses Tied to Measurable Metrics Act, which requires the IRS to complete a customer service strategy before paying out any more bonuses.
• H.R. 4885, the IRS Oversight While Eliminating Spending Act, which forces  the IRS to receive Congressional approval before spending user fees collected from taxpayers. 
• H.R. 1206, the No Hires for the Delinquent IRS Act, which ensures IRS employees who have serious tax delinquencies are held accountable. 

Currently pending before the Senate, these four measures take appropriate actions to rein in the IRS bureaucracy.

Military Academy Night Scheduled

I will be hosting my sixteenth annual Military Academy Night onMonday, May 2, 2016 at 7 pm at West Essex Regional High School, 65 West Greenbrook Road, North Caldwell, NJ, 07006.  The event gives interested students, parents, and guidance counselors the opportunity to meet with representatives from the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD), the U.S. Military Academy (West Point, NY), the U.S. Air Force Academy (Colorado), the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT), and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY). 

All high school students interested in a military career are welcome!

Salute: Congratulations to Rutgers University as it celebrates its 250th Anniversary!  I was pleased to participate in a Capitol Hill ceremony this week marking this milestone for the eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of only nine colonial colleges established before the American Revolution! Today, Rutgers is home to 67,000 students: future leaders of New Jersey, and the world!

Salute: Happy Birthday to the U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. ROTC marks its 100^th anniversary this year.  There are three ROTC host universities in the state of New Jersey, headquartered at Rutgers University, Seton Hall University, and Princeton University/The College of New Jersey/ Rowan University.   ROTC commissions quality leaders of character and intellect every year!