e-News 5/6/16

• Focus on Small Business: America’s Job Creators
• American Economy Depends on STEM
• Picatinny “Researchers looking to extend howitzer's range to 40 miles”
• Listening Tour Continues
• ‘Mirror Imaging’ and America’s Dangerous Middle East Illusions”
• Salute:  It’s Teacher Appreciation Week!

Focus on Small Business: America’s Job Creators

This is Small Business Week - no better time to take a hard look at how public policies can help workers employed by these businesses grow and thrive.

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. They make up 99.7 percent of American employers, and they create over 60 percent of new, private-sector jobs.  In New Jersey, we have more than 809,000 small businesses which employ over 1.7 million workers.

Like their fellow Americans across the country, too many people in our state are still struggling to get by. But we don’t need to accept this as the “new normal.”

I have been working with my colleagues on an agenda to address these challenges. The first of these is promoting economic growth, and the key to promoting economic growth is tax reform.

We have a tax code that puts America in a seriously uncompetitive position. The United States has the third highest corporate tax rate in the world. That is driving some U.S. firms to consider merging with overseas companies in order to lower tax rates from 35 percent to the low double-digits.

But it’s not just big companies that are at a disadvantage.

It’s our small businesses too. The vast majority of New Jersey businesses file their taxes as individuals. And the top effective marginal tax rate in America today for these small businesses is now 44.6 percent. Meanwhile, our competitors overseas tax their businesses at much lower rate.  When you add state and local fees, the cost of over-regulation and taxes, it becomes apparent that many small businesses are paying over half of every dollar they earn in taxes.

If we tax our job creators and our businesses at much higher tax rates than our foreign competitors, they win and we lose. We’ve got to make America more competitive. That is why I am working to put out a tax reform plan to show how our businesses can stay in America. We are in a global economy, whether we like it or not. New Jersey businesses, large and small, want to compete. Right now, the deck is stacked against our workers and small businesses.

Tax reform will lower rates, “level the playing field,” and allow our small businesses to thrive.

Learn more about efforts in the House to develop tax reform proposals that will promote economic growth.

American Economy Depends on STEM

Our American economy has developed as a global leader, in large part, through the genius and hard work of its innovators - scientists, engineers, and technicians – men and women who work in high tech companies and organizations in northern New Jersey. In a world that’s becoming increasingly complex, it’s more important than ever for men, women, boys and girls to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to gather and evaluate evidence and make sense of vast amounts of information. These are the types of skills that students learn by studying science, technology, engineering, and math — subjects collectively known as STEM.

But, right now, not enough American students have access to quality STEM learning opportunities and too few students see these disciplines as springboards for their careers.  In addition, we have an inadequate pipeline of teachers skilled in those subjects.

As part of the effort to encourage STEM education and careers, I annually organize visits from N.A.S.A. astronauts and pilots of “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft to local schools to meet with students of all ages to discuss important and exciting career options.

Early last week, I brought a veteran National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “Hurricane Hunter” to visit with students at Cedar Grove Memorial Middle School, the Academy of St. Francis in Totowa, Schuyler Colfax Middle School and the Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Wayne.

Lieutenant Commander Christian Sloan, an officer with the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, is currently the Acting Deputy Chief, within NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey Remote Sensing Division.  He has real-life, first-hand flying experience in some of the worst hurricanes our nation has faced.  His presentation educated all of us on hurricane science.  There is no doubt that his is an exciting career, which has, at its foundation, math and science.

Earlier today, I was honored to escort Navy Commander Victor J. Glover, a NASA astronaut, to Anthony Wayne Middle School and the Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne, Liberty Middle School in West Orange and Bloomfield Middle School, to speak with students about his experiences in the space program and the contributions of space exploration to the advancement of math, science and STEM education. 

Hopefully, the visits of these two accomplished individuals will inspire many students – boys and girls - to pursue their life’s work in these fields.

Frankly, the key to continuing America’s competitiveness is making sure that our young people receive the best education possible, particularly in mathematics, science, and engineering.

Visit my Facebook page to learn more about these visits.

Picatinny “Researchers looking to extend howitzer's range to 40 miles”

Speaking of scientists and engineers, the men and women at Picatinny Arsenal are hard at work extending the range of American artillery systems:

“While the U.S. military was fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some potential adversaries were beefing up their weapons systems.

“Perhaps the most glaring shortfall in the current American arsenal is the range of its artillery, military officials said.

“The U.S. military’s top artillery weapon — the M777 155 mm howitzer — while accurate, can only shoot projectiles up to 18 miles. And while America was busy taking on the Taliban and ousting Saddam Hussein, China, Russia and others have improved and built new artillery systems that can fire nearly 40 miles — which would put U.S. troops in harm’s way in any potential future land battle.

“But engineers at the U.S. Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey say they are in the process of putting the United States back on top, developing a modified M777A2 howitzer that has the potential to increase the weapon’s range to 43 miles, with precision-guided munitions…”  Read the entire story in Stars and Stripes here.

Listening Tour Continues

In addition to my school visits in Wayne, West Orange and Bloomfield today, last Monday I met with over 50 families of high school students interested in attending a military academy at West Essex High School in North Caldwell and addressed the Denville service clubs last night.

Worth a Read: “‘Mirror Imaging’ and America’s Dangerous Middle East Illusions” Tehran and Riyadh don’t operate under Western assumptions: Religion is their political ideology.

“Intelligence officers are taught to avoid “mirror imaging.” That is, assuming your adversary shares your analytic reference points and thinks the way you do. Americans tend to ascribe to other countries the best of our own values: tolerance, equal opportunity, rule of law, freedoms of speech and religion, and separation of church and state. But many countries do not share these values. Two of them are among our most problematic foreign relationships: Saudi Arabia and Iran…”

Read the entire column in the Wednesday Wall Street Journal here.

Salute:  It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! Our future is written in schools across our country every day and it is teachers who are doing the writing! All Americans should do what they can to recognize the hard work and dedication of our Nation's teachers this week and every week!