e-News 5/8/15

• Small Business Owners: Key to a Healthy and Growing Economy
• ER Visits on the Rise under Obamacare
• Holding the Obama Administration Accountable for Iran Nuclear Deal
• OP ED: “On Cuba, Obama again comes up short at negotiating table”
• Attention All VETERANS!
• Military Academy Career Night Coming Soon!
• Salute: The Men and Women of Picatinny Arsenal
• Salute: Farewell to John Spinnenger
• “Ghostly Voices from Edison Dolls”

Small Business Owners: Key to a Healthy and Growing Economy

This week is Small Business Week, and with good reason. Consider these facts:

There are an estimated 28 million small businesses in the United States and they employ half of America’s workforce! Generally a small business is defined as any enterprise with fewer than 500 workers. And there are many of these companies as nearly 98 percent of all U.S. employers fall into this category. 

Small business is absolutely critical to a growing and healthy economy as they create nearly seven out of ten new jobs. In this regard, it’s very important that we allow them to grow by reducing needless regulation and keeping their tax burden as low as possible.

In this regard, the Administration does not appear to be doing too well.  Last year, the U.S. ranked 46th in ease of starting a business according to a World Bank report.  In 2007, it ranked 3rd.  In fact, since 2008, more small businesses have closed than have opened. This is the first time business casualties have exceeded business births since data has been recorded on the issue.

The last thing a small business needs is uncertainty from their government, changes in the tax code, or excessive regulation.  In this new Congress, we have passed several key bills to boost small businesses in the first 100 days alone.

• We passed the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act (H.R. 527) to scale back the regulatory red tape that burdens Main Street so that small businesses are free to grow.
• We passed the Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act (H.R. 37), which cuts excess regulation so that small businesses have access to the capital they need to grow and create good-paying jobs.
• We passed the Small Business Tax Relief Act (H.R. 636) that helps to reduce uncertainty from government so that small businesses can invest in their future and grow.
• We passed the Save the American Workers Act (H.R. 30), which restores the 40-hour work week that Obamacare’s employer mandate destroyed so that small businesses can hire more workers at the hours that work for them. 
• We passed the Hire More Heroes Act (H.R. 22) to exempt veterans from Obamacare’s employer mandate threshold if they already have health care through TRICARE or the VA so that no employers are penalized for hiring a veteran and that no veteran is left jobless because of the mandate.
• We repealed the unfair death tax (H.R. 1105) to reform our tax system so that small businesses can be kept in the family, even when a loved one dies.

Now, if we can get the Senate to pass these bills and have the President sign them, we’ll be boosting small businesses, a key to a growing and healthy economy.

Find more information using SBA’s State-By-State statistics.

ER Visits on the Rise under Obamacare

Of course, one of the most significant recent drags on job creation among small and large businesses has been the complicated implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

The President says his law is working "better than expected," even as premiums and deductibles rise, the website remains a mess, and workers across America have had their hours and wages slashed.

This week, a new report indicates that patient visits to the emergency room have surged since Obamacare took effect — just the opposite of what many Americans had been told would happen.

A poll released Monday by the American College of Emergency Physicians shows that 28% of 2,099 doctors surveyed nationally saw large increases in volume, while 47% saw slight increases. By contrast, fewer than half of doctors reported any increases last year in the early days of the Affordable Care Act.

Read more in USA Today here.

Holding the Obama Administration Accountable for Iran Nuclear Deal

Next week, the House is expected to vote on legislation allowing Congress to review a nuclear arms deal with Iran.  The Senate approved the bipartisan bill yesterday by a vote of 98-1.

The measure would require a competed deal with Iran to be submitted to Congress, which could then vote to approve or disapprove the nuclear deal within 30 days. Sanctions on Iran could not be lifted during this consideration.

While I am pleased that the House will have the opportunity to hold the Obama Administration accountable for the contents of any Iran deal it negotiates, I regret that this bill is not stronger.  After all, a Congressional vote to disapprove a nuclear deal with Iran would not kill it. President Obama could veto such a measure, and the House and Senate would then need two-thirds majorities to override his veto.

The Morris County Daily Record recently published my Op Ed piece, “Iran has Good Reason to Celebrate.”  Read it here.

OP ED: “On Cuba, Obama again comes up short at negotiating table”

This afternoon, the Star-Ledger posted another one of my Op-Eds, “On Cuba, Obama again comes up short at negotiating table.” Read it here.

Attention All VETERANS!

The Veterans Administration Health Care Administration will be hosting a Town Hall Meeting as an informational fact finding forum to investigate the need of a Community-Based Outreach Clinic to service the needs of the veterans of Sussex and Warren Counties.

Place: Sussex County Community College

Performing Art Center

When: Friday May 22, 2015

Time: 10:00am

This Meeting is open to the public, so mark your calendars!

Military Academy Career Night Coming Soon!

I will be holding my annual military Academy Night on Monday, May 11, 2015. It is the fifteenth consecutive year that I have brought interested high school students, parents, and guidance counselors together with representatives and cadets from the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

The details: 7:00 PM, West Essex Regional High School, 65 West Greenbrook Road, North Caldwell, NJ, 07006.

For further information on the requirements and the process for consideration to attend one of the academies, please visithttp://frelinghuysen.house.gov/academy-nominations / or contact my Morristown office at 973-984-0711.

Salute: The Men and Women of Picatinny Arsenal

“For the first time in more than a decade, Picatinny Arsenal opened its gates to the public Monday, showcasing all they do on the base.

"I think it is important the local community understands what we do here," Brig. Gen. Patrick Burden said. "Many people pass the gates and wonder what's inside. Every now and then we get someone that will come up and ask, or someone accidentally turns in off of Route 15 and we have to turn them away. This is an opportunity to let folks see our mission."

Read the rest of the Michael Izzo’s story in the Daily Record here.

Watch Meg Baker’s CBS2 New York video report here.

Salute: Jon Spinnanger

We say farewell to the late Jon Spinnanger, an old friend from my days in the State Legislature while he served a major employer in the region – New Jersey Bell and Verizon.  We thank him for his service as mayor of the Borough of Pompton Lakes. 

ICYMI:  A fascinating article in the New York Times about the work of one of our district’s most famous residents, Thomas Alva Edison.  Read Ron Cowen’s “Ghostly Voices from Edison Dolls” here.

You can visit the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange. Learn more here.