ENews

Op-Ed

eNews - March 14, 2008

What's Inside

1. Frelinghuysen opposes "largest tax increase in history"
2. FISA languishes
3. Frelinghuysen backs border security effort.
4. Frelinghuysen brings Titanic explorer to New Jersey
5. Spread the eNews!

Frelinghuysen opposes "largest tax increase in history"

"This government does not tax too little. The government spends too much!"

With those words, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen voted "no" on the House Leadership's budget which contains $683 billion in tax increases over the next five years. That would translate into another $1,800 a year in federal taxes for 116 million Americans.

At a time when many Americans are increasingly feeling squeezed by rising prices at the gasoline pump and in the check-out line and skyrocketing mortgage payments, education, and health care costs, the very last thing they need to hear is that Congress is raising their taxes. But that is just what the Majority's budget would do - raise taxes for every taxpayer, in every state in the union:

• Child Tax Credit: Congress doubled the child tax credit to $1,000 per child in 2001. Under the budget Frelinghuysen opposed this week, in 2011 the credit will revert to $500 per child - a tax increase of $500 per child for American families;

• Marriage Tax Penalty: 23 million taxpayers would see their taxes increase in 2011;

• Raising the 10% Tax Rate Bracket to 15%: More than 5 million individuals and families who previously owned no taxes would become subject to the individual income tax in 2011.

This budget includes higher taxes for single filers, for married couples, for families with children, for small businesses and family farmers, for entrepreneurs and job-providers, and for investors, in New Jersey and every other state.

"Stopping the Majority's scheduled tax hikes on middle-class married couples, parents and workers is critical to ensuring the long-term economic prosperity of working families," said Frelinghuysen. "These pro-growth policies will strengthen our workforce, grow our economy, and keep America competitive.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Languishes

Once again this week, the Leadership used parliamentary barriers to prevent consideration in the House of the bipartisan FISA bill overwhelmingly passed by the Senate four weeks ago. As a result, our intelligence community has lost some of the tools it needs to monitor the activities of violent international terrorists.

"This delay is irresponsible," said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen. "Senate Republicans and Democrats voted to modernize and extend the FISA law but the House has dragged its feet, despite warnings from the intelligence community."

* Jay Rockefeller, Democratic Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee: "What people have to understand around here is that the quality of the intelligence we are going to be receiving is going to be degraded. It is going to be degraded." (2-14-08)
* Admiral Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence: "We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress' failure to act." (2-22-08)
* Letter from 25 Attorneys General, both Democrat and Republican, to Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "With S. 2248 still pending in the House, our national security is in jeopardy." (3-4-08)

Frelinghuysen backs border security measure.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen has cosponsored H.R. 4088, the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act (SAVE) seeks to reform our broken immigration system and protect our territorial integrity by securing America's borders, clarifying and enforcing existing laws, and enabling an effective employer verification program.

The SAVE Act calls for an additional 8,000 Border Patrol Agents to protect the southern and northern borders; at least 1,400 new hires to specifically investigate alien smuggling; and makes available more all-terrain vehicles for use by Border Patrol Agents. The measure also augments the Secure Fence Act by providing for additional virtual fence and surveillance activities on the border, including unmanned aerial vehicles.

Finally, H.R. 4088 makes the E-Verify Program (known as the Basic Pilot Program) permanent over four years, which will give employers online access to verify that the people they hire are legally allowed to work in the U.S. In the future, multiple uses of a single Social Security number will be reported to employers and will require each person to contact the Social Security Administration to verify legal status.

Frelinghuysen Bringing "Titanic" explorer to New Jersey

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen is bringing the scientist who led the search for the Titanic to visit with students at two middle schools in our area. On March 31, Dr. Robert Ballard will meet with students at Brooklawn Middle School in Parsippany and West Essex Middle School in North Caldwell.

"Dr. Ballard is a distinguished scientist with the rare ability to bring science to life for everyone," said Frelinghuysen. "I am confident that his presentation will convey to the students the value of math and science education and will probably inspire many of them to make this their life's work.'

Best known for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic, he will discuss his JASON Project, an educational program designed to inspire in students a lifelong passion to pursue learning in science, math and technology through exploration and discovery. Ballard has developed telecommunications technology to create "telepresence" for his JASON Project, which today allows hundreds of thousands of school children to accompany him from afar on undersea explorations around the globe.

Ballard has also led the search for many warships lost during WWII. In 1989 he discovered the German warship Bismark. In 1992 Ballard explored Iron Bottom Sound off Guadalcanal, which holds the largest deep-water collection of sunken warships including the giant Japanese warship Kirishima. In 1993, he explored the R.M.S. Lusitania's wreck site using the Jason as well as other research subs. More recently, in 2002, Ballard went in search of PT-109, commanded by John F. Kennedy in WWII.

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