Pallone on Trump’s Infrastructure Proposal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2018


Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today issued the following statement on President Trump’s infrastructure proposal:

“President Trump’s infrastructure proposal is woefully inadequate for addressing the urgent needs of modernizing our nation’s infrastructure. The proposal does not include any new funding, and it forces the majority of costs onto cash-strapped state and local governments. President Trump spared no expense and required no offsets for his tax scam benefiting corporations and the wealthiest few, but he refuses to provide any new funding to repair our crumbling infrastructure.

“The President also wants people to believe that environmental protections are preventing infrastructure projects from moving forward when in reality the obstacle is a serious lack of funding. The harmful environmental rollbacks included in the President’s proposal will endanger human health and the environment and threaten our communities. Congress has already passed bipartisan legislation to speed up permitting, but the President has not implemented it. We do not need to sacrifice a safe environment in order to modernize our infrastructure and expand our economy.

“Last week, House Democrats unveiled A Better Deal to Rebuild America, which invests $1 trillion in federal funds and creates more than 16 million jobs. This comprehensive proposal includes real and significant investments to fix and modernize our infrastructure. It puts real dollars where they are needed, creating jobs, revitalizing communities and addressing serious threats to human health and the environment.”

Bye-Bye Gerry: Murphy Fires Scharfenberger

Earlier today PoliticsDW.com posted an article that stated Governor Murphy fired fellow Middletowner and former Township mayor, Gerry Scharfenberger from his $95,000 a year job as Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy (OPA) for the State of NJ.

The reason being given for Scharfenberger's termination " ...was a result of his refusal to endorse Murphy's plan" and his refusal to show at Friday's press conference in Marlboro, where Murphy announced his plan to that would allow residents to pay a portion of their property taxes, that exceeds $10,000, as charitable contributions to their towns, as a way to off set and get around the limits that the Trump Tax plan has placed on the federal property tax deduction.


Rumor had it that Scharfenberger wished to stay on as the head of the OPA, going as far as asking Murphy if he could retain his position within the administration. From published accounts, Murphy was considering it even though many of his advisers were pushing him to get rid of him. I'm sure that Murphy's decision to Dump Scharfy, was made much easier after Scharfenberger, a Republican, was appointed as a Monmouth County Freeholder last week  to succeed Serena Dimaso, who was elected to the NJ State Assembly this past November.

The website PolticsDW is operated by the infamous David Wildman, the Chris Christie crony partially responsible for the George Washington Bridge closing debacle know as Bridgegate that dogged Governor Christie for the last two years of his governorship.