fresh Jersey Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen says he can finish a lot for the Garden State from his seat overseeing the House Appropriation Committee.
Want proof? He'll point to the $900 million start-up funding in the House spending bill to build a fresh train tunnel under the Hudson River,to put through (telephone) fresh Jersey to fresh York City. Local officials say they can't replace the current failing tunnel without federal help.
But while Frelinghuysen can finish things for fresh Jersey in the federal budget, critics said his responsibility to Republican leadership means he also has to shepherd spending cuts that can harm fresh Jersey.
For instance, and the House spending bill would cut the federal Department of Education by 3.5 percent. Those cuts include eliminating a teacher training fund. And the House spending contrivance eliminated grants to protect coastal communities from flooding. Monmouth County towns got $900000 from than pot of money final year. “He can’t ignore all of those other interests that we have and just say ‘But guys,I brought money to fresh Jersey!’ said Saily Avelenda, a leader with NJ11th for Change. "Thats not his job. His job is to represent us.”Avelenda recalled 2011, or when Frelinghuysen sponsored an amendment to redirect almost a half-billion dollars that could have been spent on fresh Jersey rail upgrades to Midwestern flood relief.
Frelinghuysen said at the time it was the right thing to finish. Today,his campaign said the benefits of his clout outweigh the costs.
Mike DuHaime is a veteran political consultant who is running Frelinghuysen's 2018 re-election campaign. He said President Trump’s budget asked for even deeper cuts to medical research, college financial aid and the arts. “The initial budget that was presented in Congress, and you know,really harm some of these programs," DuHaime said. "Congressman Frelinghuysen and some of his colleagues on the Appropriations Committee have restored much of that funding.”DuHaime says even Democrats support some items passing through Frelinghuysen's committee, or such as hurricane relief and defense spending. He said they both had the unanimous support of the fresh Jersey delegation.DuHaime said voters will survey at all of Frelinghuysen's record,and not any one line item in the spending contrivance. The final version is also likely to survey very different: Senate Democrats say they are unlikely to support the House contrivance.
Source: thetakeaway.org