The Week Just Passed: Let’s Focus on Jobs and the Economy

Obamacare website security called 'outrageous'

Serious pricing problem with HealthCare.gov?

Water Projects Bill Boosts Economy, Jobs

This Week’s Salutes: Coalition Against Human Trafficking

Remembering “An American Life of Service”

 

The Week Just Passed: Let’s Focus on Jobs and the Economy

“While the media is focused on computer glitches and a completely botched rollout, many people are missing a more important point. 

“The Department of Labor released another national jobs report this week and the results were disappointing once again.  Although overall employment grew during the month of September, the civilian labor force grew only slightly, and labor force participation - actual number of people available for work - remained at its lowest point since the summer of 1978!  Many experts say that our economy is showing no signs of a significant turnaround, further contributing to the weakest recovery since World War II.

“This economy’s not creating the jobs that the American people need.  New part-time jobs are outstripping full-time jobs. Wages are stagnant. 

“The threat of Obamacare continues to hang over our economy like a wet blanket.  I’ve heard it all over our district: New Jersey employers are scared to add new employees.  Some are converting full-time workers to part-time workers.

“Of course, all the focus here lately has been on the Obamacare website. Yes, the website debacle has been frustrating and expensive and the American people deserve answers. 

“But what they really need – individuals, recent college graduates, seniors, families – is pro-growth economic policies that promote the creation of private sector jobs and career opportunities.

“Our economy remains weak. Many New Jersey families are having a hard time paying their bills while others are struggling to find work altogether. They deserve an efficient, effective, and accountable government that is focused on finding bipartisan solutions that will reignite our economy so those who are looking for a job are able to find one.”

          Rodney Frelinghuysen

Recommended Reading: Mark Clayton writes in the Christian Science Monitor that glitches in the Obamacare website are well known, but some cyber experts are also raising red flags about the site's security. Read “Obamacare website security called 'outrageous': How safe is it?” here.

Recommended Reading: Jan Crawford, reports that CBS News has uncovered a serious pricing problem with HealthCare.gov. It stems from the Administration's efforts to improve its healthcare website. A new online feature can dramatically underestimate the cost of insurance.  See “HealthCare.gov pricing feature can be off the mark” here.

Water Projects Bill Boosts Economy, Jobs

Back in 2000, Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), legislation that authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to study and construct various water infrastructure projects.  Included in WRDA 2000 was approval for the Army Corps to begin the Harbor Deepening Project at the Port of New York and New Jersey. 

The Port is the economic engine of northern New Jersey, spurring more than $36 billion in economic activity each year. The Port is responsible for 279,000 jobs, representing $12 billion in annual wages.  At the same time, the port generates more than $5 billion in annual tax revenues to state and local governments.

This year’s Energy and Water Development Act, introduced by Rodney earlier this year and passed by the House this summer, contained one of the final installments of funding for the Harbor Deepening Project.

“Tens of thousands of people are directly employed along the piers, docks, warehouses, truck staging areas and rail yards at the Port, with thousands more working in New Jersey companies which depend on this vital asset,” Rodney said.  “The Harbor Deepening Project is protecting and creating jobs in New Jersey.  Our economy would benefit by similar infrastructure projects around the country.”

This week, the House approved an updated version of that important 2000 legislation: the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013 (WRRDA), one of the most reform-focused measures of its kind in the last two decades. WRRDA cuts federal red tape and bureaucracy, streamlines the project delivery process, promotes fiscal responsibility, and strengthens our water transportation networks to promote competitiveness, prosperity, and economic growth.

A summary of WRRDA 2013:

Fiscally Responsible

• De-authorizes $12 billion of old, inactive projects that were authorized prior to WRDA 2007

• Fully offsets new projects and studies with de-authorizations;

• Puts an expiration date on new authorizations to prevent future project backlogs

Reforms Bureaucracy, Accelerates Project Delivery

• Sets hard deadlines on the time and cost of studies;

• Consolidates or eliminates duplicative or unnecessary studies and requires concurrent reviews;

• Streamlines environmental reviews;

Strengthens Oversight, Transparency, and Accountability

• Establishes a new, transparent process for future bills to review and prioritize water resources development activities with strong Congressional oversight

Improves U.S. Competitiveness, Creates Jobs

• Authorizes needed investments in America’s ports;

• Supports underserved, emerging ports;

• Authorizes priority water resources infrastructure improvements recommended to Congress by the Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers to improve navigation and commerce and address flood risk management, hurricane and storm damage risk reduction, and environmental restoration.  

This Week’s Salutes: Coalition Against Human Trafficking

Thank You to the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking for organizing a rally on Sunday (9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the Morristown Green) to raise awareness about human trafficking – the use of force, fraud and/or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor. The New Jersey Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Task Force has launched a new hotline for people to call to report suspected incidents of human trafficking in the state of New Jersey. The hotline is 1-855-END-NJ-HT (1-855-363-6548).

Recommended Reading: Mark Mazetti, Michael Gordon and Robert Worth, writing in the Thursday New York Times, “Obama’s Uncertain Path Amid Syria’s Bloodshed.”

Recommended Reading: Karen Elliott House, writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, “Behind the U.S. – Saudi Breakup.”

Remembering “An American Life of Service”

Along with the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Marine Corps Commandant GEN James Amos, Rodney delivered one of the eulogies for Rep. C.W.  Bill Young, Chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, at his funeral yesterday in Largo, Florida.  Chairman Young died last week at the age of 82.

Excerpts from his eulogy:

"He was always gracious, well-humored and accommodating to freshman and to old-timers alike. It is well-known that Bill Young chaired the House appropriations committee and twice the defense subcommittee. He also served as ranking member when the majority changed hands. He loved our committee, constantly saluted our members for their dedication and fully expected each one to support the process, to limit debate, to support open rules and with a minimum of partisanship do the nation's business. A copy of the Constitution was ever-present in his pocket — some of you may not know that — to remind us all of Article 1, Section 9, clause 7. If you don't know it, look it up, he'd say.

"On the defense subcommittee, he always spoke of the dedication of members of our armed forces and the sacrifice of their families and our committee's obligation to serve them. He would say at every meeting, our soldiers, our sailors, our marines and airmen and women, are the ones doing the work of freedom, the ones who work every day to make the world safer for Americans and our friends, and more dangerous for those who would do us harm....

"We've all lost a kind, great principled man who lived a life from which we could all learn. … Ladies and gentlemen, the sun is setting on an American life of service. From the back row of the House chamber, Bill Young had a front-row seat to history, a history he helped shape and for that our nation is a stronger and better place."