Newsletter: "203"

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

At the President’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday, I was joined by Mark Wetherbee – a two-tour Vietnam veteran, a Ewing community leader, and one of the multitude of New Jerseyans struggling with unemployment.

Mark, who volunteers for the Ewing Township Green Team, the Kiwanis, and HomeFront in his free time, was laid off in October from his job as a property and facilities manager.  Since then, he has sent out 203 resumes.  He has had one interview.

The fact that someone as qualified and hardworking as Mark can’t find work speaks volumes about the need to extend long-term unemployment insurance, a program that Republicans canceled at the end of last year.

I invited Mark to attend the State of the Union this week, not because he is unique, but because he isn’t.  When the unemployment insurance extension expired in December, 90,000 New Jerseyans were immediately kicked off the program.  To put that in perspective, that’s enough people to fill every seat at this weekend’s Super Bowl – with another 7,500 people attending a job fair on the football field.  Another 90,000 New Jerseyans will lose their unemployment insurance prematurely in the months ahead.  Mark Wetherbee could, unfortunately, be one of them.

As the President said in his address, “They need our help, but more important, this country needs them in the game.”

Upcoming Town Halls in East Windsor and Milltown

On Saturday, February 15, I’ll be hosting town hall meetings in East Windsor and Milltown.  I hope you’ll attend to share your views and hear updates on issues affecting the community.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

10:00 a.m.
East Windsor Senior Center
40 Lanning Boulevard
East Windsor, New Jersey
1:00 p.m.
Milltown Borough Hall
39 Washington Avenue
Milltown, New Jersey

The C.I.A. Should Be an Intelligence Agency

This week the New York Times reported the concern of intelligence agencies that, as the Afghanistan war winds down, they will lose the bases from which to launch drone rocket strikes.

The Central Intelligence Agency should not be launching deadly military strikes. We would be better off if the C.I.A. returned to being an agency that collected and analyzed intelligence and stopped being a secretive paramilitary organization.

With rare exceptions, if America cannot justify military action publicly, we should not be taking military action.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress