Capital Games

Menendez: Transit & climate linked

As the Senate began considering a cap-and-trade climate bill in committee today, Sen. Bob Menendez complained at a different hearing that mass transit needs to be part of the solution.

Menendez pointed to the development that has grown up around the light rail system in Hudson County as an example of the coordination of transit and land use policy that Congress should be encouraging nationwide.

The reason, he said, is that one-third of the carbon emissions in the United States come from transportation.

"There is a perception swirling around Washington, DC that we have already done what we can on transportation," Menendez said, citing efforts underway to increase fuel efficiency standards and fund research and incentives for plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles and advanced biofuels.

But Menendez said that doesn't solve the problem.

“Pursuing strategies to increase fuel efficiency and cleaning our fuel mix alone will result in failure," he said. “Why? Because the carbon and petroleum savings from these strategies are projected to be completely wiped out by increases in vehicle miles travelled."

While he praised the climate bill the House passed last month, he said the opening hearing on the bill taking place today in the Senate Energy and Environment Committee should have included testimony from transportation officials as well.

Menendez, who chairs the Senate subcommittee with responsibility for mass transit, said he would push to include a transit and land use component in the Senate bill.

Cap and trade fallout

The political heat is bearing down on the three New Jersey Republicans – Reps. Leonard Lance of Clinton Township, Frank LoBiondo of Millville and Chris Smith of Robbinsville -- who voted for the House bill to combat climate change by imposing a cap and trade system on carbon emissions. [See editorial in Today's Record]

A press secretary for one of the three showed up to work last Sunday, two days after the vote, and noticed the fax machine blinking. After paper was added, the machine spit out two reams of angry faxes in an hour.

High school art contest winners

Another year’s worth of winners of the 28th Annual Congressional Art Compeition for high school students is lining a wall of the tunnel that runs under Independence Avenue from the Cannon House Office Building to the Capitol.

The three winners from congressional districts covering Bergen and Passaic counties were:

“Boars Head,” a charcoal rendering by Megan Dreisbach of Andover, who attended Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Andover. Her work was chosen by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, from the recommendation of a panel of local judges from 32 submissions.

---

 

“Self Portrait,” a pencil drawing by Ysmel Guzman from Passaic High School. His work was chosen by Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson.

---

 

“Tupelo Honey,” a photo collage by Daniel Curtain of Saddle Brook High School. Seen from one side, the flower the bee comes to rest on is white when viewed from one side, and yellow when viewed from the other side. Curtain’s work was selected by Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, from 56 entries.

Torricelli & Menendez together tonight

Today's paper carries my story on a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fund-raiser tonight in Englewood where one of the hosts is former Sen. Bob Torricelli and the special guest is DSCC chairman Bob Menendez, who -- like many others -- once feuded with Torricelli.

Here's the invitation.

Dems win with NJ help

Cevasco, left, coached the pitchers; Pascrell gave batting tips and coached first base (Photos courtesy of Rothman's office)

Democrats beat Republicans for the first time in nearly a decade last night in the annual Congressional Baseball Game, and two New Jerseyans were part of the coaching corps.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, who played semi-pro ball back in the day, coached first base and provided hitting advice.

The pitching and bullpen coach was  Mark Cevasco, a Rutherford native who is legislative director for Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn.

The game was played in the Washington Nationals stadium, since they were in New York playing the Yankees. The final score was 15-10.

Rothman maps the stimulus

Residents of Rep. Steve Rothman’s district who wonder where stimulus money is going can find out with a clickable Google map that is linked from the House home page of the Fair Lawn Democrat, rothman.house.gov.

Among the features on the map:

• amounts that went to numerous school districts, who got federal aid to prevent layoffs or tax increases that would make the recession worse;

• grants for municipal energy improvements, water system projects, and upgrades at housing authorities;

• some rather cryptic descriptions of Army Corps of Engineers projects in the district (unless you’re one of those waiting for the corps to tap the FUSRAP for Stepan Burial Pit #10)

• and the location of transportation projects, which includes my favorite, an icon for the new rail tunnel placed where it should be, in the middle of the Hudson River.

 

House voices sympathy to Italian quake victims

The House expressed its sympathy today to the victims of a deadly earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region of Italy on April 6.

The quake killed 250 people, destroyed up to 15,000 buildings and left tens of thousands of people homeless.

A resolution sponsored by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, praised the work of Italian rescue workers who saved 100 survivors from the wreckage and urged Americans to contribute to international relief agencies.

“After traveling to Italy earlier this year, I can attest to the resilience and strength of the Italian people,” Pascrell said on the House floor. He said many American organizations, including the National Italian-American Foundation, were trying to aid in the rebuilding.

“The Italian-American community’s support and solidarity with the nation of Italy has only increased in the aftermath of this natural disaster,” Pascrell said.

A few hours after the resolution was approved on a unanimous voice vote, Pascrell was to join House leaders in a meeting in the Capitol with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Obama budget cuts panned by delegation

My story looking at some of the budget cuts President Obama recommended and how members of Congress reacted when questioned about them is being posted on northjersey.com.

For details on the proposed cuts, and excerpts from interviews with several members of Congress representing North Jersey, click below.

Your comments and questions are also welcome.

Intern alert

At some point this week, chiefs of staff to New Jersey members of Congress probably sent a memo around to their interns telling them not to drop the boss’ name in line at the bakery.

The new “Spotted: DC Summer Interns” blog launched June 1 invites Capitol Hill habitues and others in Washington to send in reports about the antics of the swarm of interns who invade the city every summer.

Along with overheard conversations about getting ----faced at open-bar receptions was a post on Wednesday about an intern wearing Congressional ID tags getting impatient at the bakery. The blog, which promises to keep actors anonymous, says that after asking a customer five spots ahead of him on line to speed it up, the intern then shouts:

“You don’t believe I work on the Hill!!! See!! I work for Representative[NJ]! Let me jump the line!!”

After that doesn’t work, the intern again becomes incensed when he learns that while he can get a bagel and cream cheese, he cannot get lox.

“He proceeds to yell at the women behind the counter that the only proper way to have a bagel in the morning is with lox, and that everybody from New Jersey knows this,” the blog post notes.

The intern buys the bagel anyway, then rejects it because, “NOBODY in DC knows how to make a proper bagel.”

He is generally right on that point, many bagels in DC are like puffy Kaiser rolls with holes in the middle, the kind you get in New Jersey at Dunkin Donuts. But being a jerk about it doesn't change it.

And there are a few places to get real bagels. It’s just that it takes longer than your average internship to learn where they are.

Poll: Corzine down, other Dems up

This morning's Quinnipiac University poll shows one thing: It's good to be in Washington if you're a Democrat.

While Governor Corzine's low numbers continue, the survey of 2,500 registered voters found voters approve of the job being done by the state's two Senators, and they really approve of the job being done by President Obama.

  

Lisa Jackson on Daily Show

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, the former New Jersey environmental commissioner and aide to Governor Corzine, was on Jon Stewart's Show last night.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Lisa P. Jackson
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Rothman explains support for war bill

Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, voted today for funding to continue the war in Iraq, along with a large majority of House colleagues, and issued this explanation why.

“In the past, I voted against the Iraq war supplemental funding bills because we should not have funded ongoing operations in Iraq without an end in sight for the withdrawal of United States forces.

“I am voting ‘yes’ today because this bill funds the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and begins the end of that war. As President Obama promised during his campaign, and as I and my Democratic colleagues in Congress have been advocating for years, we are working to withdraw from Iraq and refocus on Al Qaeda and Taliban activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan that threaten the United States.

“President Obama has pledged that this is the final war supplemental. His commitment is that all funding for ongoing military operations will be included in the budgets the President sends to Congress and the bills we develop in the Appropriations Committee. I am hopeful that our heightened focus on Al Qaeda and the Taliban will hasten the day we can safely remove our troops from Afghanistan as well.”

The bill provides $96.7 billion for the war and other needs Obama idenitifed as emergencies, including restocking the nation’s supplies of antiviral medicine to combat swine flu.

The vote in the House was 368-60. The entire New Jersey delegation voted for the bill except Rep. Donald Payne, D-Newark.

Menendez effort against power lines defeated

Sen. Bob Menendez was voted down in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday as he tried to strip an eminent domain provision from legislation to make it easier for power companies to build new transmission lines.

Menendez, D-N.J., said New Jersey property owners and protected lands could be forced to accommodate power lines that would carry coal-produced energy from the Midwest to New York and the Northeast.

“New Jersey has been eyed as prime territory for new transmission lines,” Menendez said. “Under this legislation, a New Jersey family could be helpless to fight new high-powered transmission lines that are proposed for placement in their backyards.”

Garrett forms Sovereignty Caucus

Rep. Scott Garrett gives an interview on the Human Events web site [Headquarters of the Conservative Underground] about the "sovereignty caucus" he and two House colleages have created to battle any efforts to give a way United States control.

President Obama's nomination of Harold H. Koh, the outgoing dean of Yale Law School, to be a legal adviser to the State Department helped precipitate the group's founding a few weeks ago. Garrett says in an interview he objects to the appointment because of past positions Koh has taken about the power of the United Nations. [See conservative objections on American Spectator]

The Sovereignty Caucus also opposes an international criminal court and giving more money to the International Monetary Fund.

Booker on HuffPo

Newark Mayor Cory Booker writes on Huffington Post today about education.

"I have no loyalty to charter schools, traditional public schools, magnet schools, small school models, publicly funded scholarships (vouchers) or private schools. I have loyalty to results."

Holt in Jordan with Pelosi

Rep. Rush Holt, D-Hopewell Township, is traveling in the Middle East with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Pelosi's office said in a news release they were greeted upon arrival by King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan yesterday and were headed to Qatar today.

Club for Growth likes Garrett, few others

Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, got 98 points out of 100 for his House actions last year from the Club for Growth, a group committed to lower taxes, deregulation, personal retirement accounts for Social Security and limits on tort lawsuits.

The next-highest score in the New Jersey delegation was the 58 garnered by then-Rep. Jim Saxton, R-Mount Holly, who did not run for re-election. Scores for North Jersey House members were: Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, 55; Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, 10; Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, 4; Albio Sires, D-West New York, 0.

Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., also got scores of 0.

Andrews: Tell me your troubles

Rep. Rob Andrews does not believe banks are doing enough to lend out the government money they got to loosen up credit markets from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program that Congress and then-President Bush approved last year.

Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, said he’s heard from several people with strong credit histories, including a car dealer and a real estate investor, who said banks would no longer lend them money.

So he has set up a form on his web page to find out how many businesses are in the same boat, and plans to use the information when the Treasury Department reports next month what the banks have been doing with their TARP money.

“If your business is in jeopardy and you are one of the millions of disillusioned Americans who have been denied the ability to borrow TARP funds, Congressman Andrews wants to hear from you,” the introduction to the form says.

NJ near bottom of gun ownership/death rate list

New Jersey ranked near the bottom of a ranking of violent deaths from guns in a report released this week by a group committed to tougher gun control.

The Violence Policy Center concluded that states with high gun ownership and weak gun laws have the highest rates of gun deaths.

New Jersey, which at 11 percent of households has the nation’s third-lowest gun ownership rate, ranked 45th in the rate of gun deaths. There were 5.68 gun deaths per 100,000 people in New Jersey in 2006, the center said.

Louisiana, where 46 percent of households have guns, had the highest gun death rate of  19.58. Following it were Alabama (57 percent ownership, 16.99 deaths) and Alaska (61 percent ownership, 16.38 deaths).

Hawaii ranked lowest, with guns in 10 percent of households and a death rate of 2.58 per 100,000 people, followed by Massachusetts (13 percent ownership, 3.28 deaths) and Rhode Island (13 percent ownership, 4.43 deaths).

Death rates came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Control and Prevention. The gun ownership rates came from a 2005 report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which relied on a 2002 survey by the CDC of 240,735 adults nationwide.

House unanimously passes Garrett Israel resolution

The House unanimously approved Rep. Scott Garrett's resolution recognizing the 61st anniversary of the founding of Israel.

“Israel has become one of our strongest allies, and our two countries have so very much in common,” Garrett said on the House floor before the vote. “Israel and America have both faced so many wars. But we have also endeavored throughout it al to preserve the peace. And we continue now to promote freedom despite the ongoing resistance.”

Though the vote was unanimous, 39 members of the House did not vote, including Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. Pascrell was attending a family funeral.

Rothman joins volunteer effort

Jennifer Rothman joined 150 other spouses of members of Congress this week in filling weekend food packages for children in danger of going hungry. The spouses answered an invitation from First Lady Michelle Obama, who participated with Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president.

“Each of us … have an opportunity to shine a bright light on service and the possibility of what service can do,” Obama told the spouses. “One of the things that we can illustrate to the rest of the world is that it doesn't take a lot to do something major. We're going to spend a couple of hours of our time packing up food, and it's going to feed a thousand children over the weekend here in Washington.

The wife of Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, Jennifer Rothman is an experienced hunger fighter. She works as communications director at the Center for Food Action in Englewood, which runs a pantry that last year provided more than 42,000 emergency food packages to families in Bergen County.

On Wednesday in Washington, Rothman joined other spouses as a “feeder” in an assembly line at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington. Her job was to take packages of microwavable soup from a table and putting them in bags carried by “walkers” circling the table.

One of the walkers was Obama. Though Rothman said she had met the president before, her brief chat during the bag-filling was her first meeting with the first lady, and it was “fabulous.”

“Her sense of self is so powerful and so inspiring that I am even more motivated to end hunger in New Jersey,” Rothman said. “It can be done.”

While there are government programs that serve breakfast and lunch to needy children at schools, there’s not universal program for weekends and with the “snack packs” the Washington food bank is providing something children can take home with them.

“They were foods a child can easily do themselves, like microwavable mac and cheese, soups, a lot of granola bars, apple sauce, juices,” she said.

“I would love to take this project back to Bergen County. … It’s really important. These are kids who are not getting enough nutrition and this is serious. If a child does not get enough nutrition, their brains do not develop, and if their brains don’t develop, they’re not doing well in school.”

Rutgers lobbies and thanks The Hill

Rutgers University students made their annual lobbying pilgrimage to the Capitol on Tuesday, with a slightly different message from previous years: “Thank you.”

In the past, the students organized by Rutgers’ Washington office came down by train and fanned out to the offices of the state congressional delegation to argue against proposed cuts in aid.

But that message would not work after Congress and President Obama through the federal stimulus law provided to add $200 million for work-study programs and nearly $15.6 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant by $500, to $5,350.

The Rutgers crew still wanted more – what lobbyist doesn’t – but they also included a message of thanks before they said increasing the maximum grant to $5,500 next year would be even better.

Student lobbyist Michael Convente of Midland Park was able to rattle off the details of President Obama’s higher education proposal, which would eliminate federal subsidies for banks to offer student loans backed by the government and just have the government issue them. The savings would go to providing permanent annual increases in Pell Grants tied to inflation.

 “It’s $94 billion over 10 years,” Convente said at a reception at the end of the day, where students mingled with Washington-area alumni, university officials, congressional aides and even a few congressmen.

Crystal Navarro, a sophomore from Passaic who goes to Rutgers-Newark, said she tried to stress the flesh-and-blood benefits of student aid. With her and her brother both in college while her mother is the family’s sole supporter, she’s getting help from the federal Educational Opportunity Fund and Pell Grants.

“Without financial aid, I would not be at school,” she said.

Rutgers President Richard McCormick told the crowd that “Rutgers is not a rich kids school” and that federal aid was vital.

In an interview, he said that the Washington has been good to New Jersey higher education this year, but the more urgent problem is Governor Corzine’s proposed budget.

“If the [state] budget for next year is adopted, we’ll be back to the level of state appropriations we had in 1997-98,” McCormick said. “So our challenges have come at the level of state funding.”

Saga of battlefield bill continues

The saga of Rep. Rush Holt’s battlefield bill continues.

When we last left our legislation, it was, in the words of Holt, “in a heap by the roadside.”

The six-page bill to make battlefields and significant sites related to the American Revolution and War of 1812 eligible for existing federal preservation funds passed the House easily on March 3.

Garrett named 'taxpayer hero' again

Rep. Scott Garrett continued his streak of being named a “Taxpayer Friend” by the National Taxpayers Union, and once again he’s the only one from New Jersey.

The NTU says it is a non-partisan citizen group whose guiding principle is, “This is your money and the government should return it to you.”

Along with opposing tax increases, the group generally believes that expansion of government regulation or increased spending is bad for taxpayers.

House fund-raising

My column on Sunday will highlight some of the more interesting [to me, at least] aspects of the latest campaign finance reports filed by the NJ House delegation, but here's a rundown of how much fund-raising members of Congress have been doing since the won their last election. 

Needless to say, most of them have been busy. 

DEMOCRATS	Net receipts 11/5/08 thru 3/31/09*	Cash on hand 3/31/09
ADLER	484,835	426,587
ANDREWS	54,734	124,168
HOLT	50,976	439,971
PALLONE	270,912	3,557,088
PASCRELL	237,540	1,281,650
PAYNE	392,684	1,127,885
ROTHMAN	123,053	1,825,437
SIRES	16,350	141,258
Totals	1,631,083	8,924,044
REPUBLICANS
FRELINGHUYSEN	56,401	401,965
GARRETT	138,008	74,535
LANCE	217,949	121,038
LO BIONDO	113,885	1,164,324
SMITH	83,894	103,399
Totals	610,137	1,865,262
Source: Federal Election Commission reports
*Receipts link provides detailed receipts from report for first quarter of 2009; receipts from Election Day to end of 2008 contained in other reports

Earmark requests cover spectrum

How would you spend $2.5 billion?

That's the total value of the earmarks requested by five North Jersey congressmen for earmarks in next year's budget. For the first time, Congress is requiring members to disclose the funding they are requesting that the appropriations committees include in the 2010 spending bills. Here's a tally compiled by The Record:

Sponsor	Earmark value	#Earmarks
Frelinghuysen	$120,300,000	41
Garrett	$11,080,000	7
Pascrell	$457,098,437	79
Rothman	$868,881,217	206
Sires	$1,055,244,687	143
Grand Total	$2,512,604,341	476

I've also thrown them all together into one PDF file. Download Earmarks

We'll find out later this year which requests are granted by congressional leaders and budget committees.

Who's friendly to middle class?

A group that says it scores the votes of Congress based on how they help the middle class gave Rep. Steve Rothman an A-plus, Rep. Bill Pascrell an A, and Rep. Scott Garrett an F for their votes last year.

Sens. Bob Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, both D-N.J.,  also got grades of A, as did all the other House Democrats who were in Congress last year.

The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, which chose the votes and gave the grades, says it is a nonpartisan “progressive” group devoted to studying ways to protect “our increasingly fragile middle class.”

It looked at 25 votes in developing its 2008 rankings, from the auto industry bailout to unemployment extensions.

Among New Jersey Republicans, Reps. Chris Smith of Robbinsville got an A; Frank LoBiondo of Millville got a B; and Rodney Frelinghuysen of Harding got a D.

The chief difference between the A-plus given to Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, and the A given to Pascrell, D-Paterson, was Pascrell voted for the final financial sector bailout bill to come before the House last fall while Rothman voted against it, which was the position the group took as well.

Garrett, R-Wantage, also opposed the bailout, and that was one of only five instances where he got a “thumbs up” for voting the way the group wanted Congress to vote. The other instances were his support for the: Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, Save Energy through Public Transportation Act, Plain Language in Government Communications Act and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

Lautenberg against bigger trucks

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., is siding with the Teamsters Union, independent truckers and motorists worried about accidents in a looming battle with big trucking companies over increasing the legal size and weight of trucks on the road.

Earlier this week, Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, introduced a bill that would lift the 80,000-pound maximum weight limit for interstate highways to 100,000 pounds, which is the state limit in Maine. The bill was supported by the American Trucking Associations.

On Wednesday, Lautenberg joined the mother of a man killed when a truck hit his car to tout his own bill to apply the 80,000-pound limit to more highways. They were joined by officials from the Teamsters Union, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, and Environment Now.

“Not only are these trucks unsafe, they’re just a general menace to our whole infrastructure,” Lautenberg said. “Heavy trucks cause damage to transportation networks. They place enormous strain on our bridges, increasing the likelihood of a collapse.”

Jane Mathis of St. Augustine, Fla., whose 23-year-old son and new bride were killed on their way home from their honeymoon, now works with the Truck Safety Coalition and argued bigger trucks would cause more deaths and injuries.

Advocates for the change say bigger trucks would mean less trucks on the road, thus reducing the potential for accidents. Opponents argue history has shown every time Congress increased truck size limits, the amount of truck traffic increased.

Pascrell resolution on brain injuries OK'd

The House approved Rep. Bill Pascrell's resolution today creating National Brain Injury Awareness Month. The resolution also urged President Obama to raise public awareness about what Pascrell called a "deadly but silent epidemic" that afflicts many veterans of the war in Iraq.

Pascrell, D-Paterson, is a co-founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, which this week is holding an "awareness day" in the Capitol where congressional staff members, the public and the media can get information.

The theme for Wednesday's event is “Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries: From the Football Field to the Battlefield,”  and features a panel discussion led by Col. Michael Jaffe, a doctor who is director of the national Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.

Also on the panel is Dr. Andrew Tucker, president of the NFL Team Physicians Society; former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski; and Sarah Wade, the wife of Ted Wade, a member of the Wounded Warrior Project.

Graduate-level civics

Today's paper carries my story about the tortured process Congress is using to pass a bill that would create a massive expansion of protected national wilderness areas. One of the many provisions would also make Paterson's Great Falls a national park.