e-News 12/30/14

• New Year’s Resolutions for 2015
• America’s Economy? More Work to Do in 2015!
• American Legion’s Family Support Center
• Repeating Iraq Mistakes?
• Salute:  Semper Fi Fund and Greentree Development Group

 

New Year’s Resolutions for 2015

With 2014 quickly fading into the history books, I respectfully recommend that Americans everywhere resolve to show continuing support for two irreplaceable groups of individuals: 1) members of our Armed Forces and the their families; and 2) members of the law enforcement community and all first responders.

These selfless people work every day to preserve our security, often at their own peril.  They protect our safety and preserve the peace with courage and character and they deserve our gratitude every day of 2015!

America’s Economy? More Work to Do in 2015!

The American people are resilient! 

The ongoing recovery, such as it is, from the worst recession in recent memory can be attributed to the hard work and persistence of the individuals at their jobs and small business men and women who have doggedly run or started new enterprises.  Government "support" had very little to do with our economic revival.  

Of course, in 2015, we have much more work to do.  For 137 years, the United States has dominated the global economy — and as recently as 2000, we produced nearly three times as much as China. But in the last few years, our production rate and global output has not maintained the growth of our competitors.  Today, China has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest economy! So not only are Americans struggling with costs at home, but our country is falling globally as well.  

Yes, I realize that the Feds just reported that our economy grew impressively during the third quarter of 2014. However, we only have to look back to the first quarter of this year, when our economy actually contracted, to see that we need the government to "get off the backs and out of the way" of American businesses.  Notably Obamacare and other unnecessary regulations have thrown a "wet blanket" over economic progress.

It is time for economic reform across-the-board. Success abroad is dependent on success at home — more jobs and better pay will translate to greater productivity and a robust national economy.

As the new Congress convenes next week, many reforms are at the top of our list.  Our mission as the House Majority is to change that, to move America in the right direction:  Creating jobs in a growing economy is our top priority.

Of course, the House and the Senate must work together. We have a number of bills that we can quickly move to the President’s desk.  We are encouraging him to work with us to put America first.

After all, we all know that the United States does not belong in second place.

American Legion’s Family Support Center

When a servicemember deploys, like the 200 members of the New Jersey National Guard who recently landed in Bahrain, or returns home from a deployment, it is often his or her family that feels the most strain.

The American Legion has gathered all of the various resources and services that it offers these servicemen and women and their families into its Troop and Family Support Center- a comprehensive, online hub that provides links to apply for the Legion's Family Support Network (FSN), Operation Comfort Warriors (OCW), Temporary Financial Assistance (TFA) and scholarship opportunities.

Learn more here. 

Repeating Iraq Mistakes?

President Obama’s Sunday announcement that “our combat mission in Afghanistan is ending” is a somber occurrence. Of course, no one wants to see our military men and women in harm’s way, but as we’ve seen in Iraq with the rise of ISIL, arbitrary, political deadlines on war are rarely observed or honored by our terrorist enemies. 

Senator John McCain, incoming Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, believes that we are on the verge of repeating the mistakes we made in withdrawing from Iraq.  I agree.  This was a recurring theme I heard personally from leaders across the Persian Gulf and Middle East. 

Read John Bennett’s story in Defense News here.

Our goal must be to preserve the hard-won gains of our troops and meet our national security objectives.

Salute:  Thank you to the Semper Fi Fund and Greentree Development Group for donating a condominium in Wanaque to a local Wounded Warrior, retired Marine Matt Todd, who suffered injuries to his leg and toes in his first deployment to Iraq and then was injured again after redeploying in 2007.  I was honored to attend the ceremony during which Matt received the keys to his new home. Read Holly Stewart’s story on NJ.com here.