Who Made a Difference to You?

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

This is Teacher Appreciation Week. I suspect you know a teacher who would welcome your appreciation.

Recently, I took the time to track down my ninth-grade math teacher. He was a very creative teacher who showed us students some of the many facets that make up that rich subject.

It turns out that my one-time teacher has retired to California. He remembered me as a student, but had no idea what I’ve been up to since my teenage years. He told me my call meant a lot to him. I know it meant a lot to me to express to him my memories of his course and the difference he made.

One of New Jersey’s Most Valuable Natural Resources

Over the last few years, wind has become a major source of energy – not just a curiosity, but a fast-growing part of our energy supply. Nationally, wind delivers more than 4 percent of our power, and over the last five years it has provided nearly a third of new generating capacity.

New Jersey has more wind potential than nearly any other Atlantic U.S. Coastal state. Planned federal lease sales off of New Jersey’s coast could result in up to 3,000 MW of offshore wind power, enough to power 1 million homes.

Earlier this week the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded a $6.7 million grant to help us harvest that potential. The money will support the next phase of review and development of the Fishermen’s Energy Atlantic City Wind Farm, a five-turbine, 25 MW demonstration project slated for construction just off the New Jersey coast. Following a review of progress on the project, DOE expects to provide an additional $40 million.

To make this project a reality, we will need support from Governor Christie and the Board of Public Utilities, who have so far stalled progress at every step. I hope that this week’s funding leads the Christie Administration to reconsider its obstruction. The federal government is very literally offering us free money to begin to harvest our winds to create energy and create jobs. We can’t afford to say no.

What’s Your Story About the Minimum Wage?

Last year New Jerseyans voted by a large margin to raise our state’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour. But we can do more.

Together with nearly 200 other members of Congress, I have cosponsored the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and would increase minimum wages for tipped workers, such as restaurant servers.

My Democratic colleagues on the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce are seeking stories from individuals, organizations, and businesses about how increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would affect working families and local communities.

To share your story, please e-mail me through my website.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

Watson Goes to Medical School

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:



The last time I crossed paths with IBM’s Watson, we faced off in a round of Jeopardy!. Since then, Watson has grown up and gone to medical school: The computer system is now working with doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, learning how to suggest treatment options for lung cancer.

IBM scientists stopped by my office this week to demonstrate Watson’s new skills. They hope that, within just a few years, Watson will be deployed to doctors’ offices around the country.

What sets Watson apart from most computer systems is that it doesn’t simply look up facts in a massive database. Rather, it learns. Much as Watson once learned Jeopardy!-style trivia by analyzing millions of books and websites, it is now learning medicine by reading thousands of journal articles, monitoring patients, and listening to the input of patients and doctors.

These are the kind of breakthrough technological developments that are hard to predict in advance but which almost inevitably result from private and public investments in R&D. Such discoveries will help drive economic growth and job creation for years to come.


Big Oil Doesn’t Need Our Bailouts

If you or I were to walk into a neighbor's yard and douse their grass with motor oil, a court would hold us personally liable for the full cleanup costs. But that’s not the way America’s legal system works for Big Oil. Under current law, Big Oil’s liability for offshore oil spills is capped at just $75 million.

This figure is absurdly low. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill is estimated to have caused at least $42 billion in damages – more than 500 times the current liability cap! In New Jersey, our fishing and tourism industries, which could be devastated by an offshore spill, are responsible for $12 billion in economic output and more than 200,000 jobs. And let’s be clear: Big Oil doesn’t need taxpayer bailouts to support their drilling. In the first quarter of this year alone, the five largest oil companies reported more than $30 billion in profits.

Together with Sen. Bob Menendez, I recently reintroduced the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act, which would abolish the offshore oil spill liability cap once and for all. Big Oil should play by the same rules as everyone else.

Teacher Appreciation Week

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to recognize all of the educators in New Jersey’s schools, from our kindergarten classrooms to our college campuses.

As a former educator, I know a teacher’s work isn’t easy – especially at a time when Gov. Christie and some Tea Party lawmakers in Washington keep cutting support for education. But the job of educating the next generation is vital, and teachers’ efforts are deeply appreciated.

I hope you’ll take a moment this week to thank a teacher who made a difference in your life. If you are a teacher yourself, you may be considering ways to continue your professional development in the summer months. I encourage you to consider the New Jersey Council for the Humanities’ Teacher Institute, which is available tuition-free. Offerings include a seminar on the connections between environmental sustainability, literature and history, and another on civic engagement for youth. The application deadline is May 22.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

Rush Holt: 57 Days...

The following is from the E-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt:


Think of the great moments of American public policy: the creation of land grant colleges, the G.I. Bill, providing student loans – all directed toward increasing access to higher education.

In Congress, one of my top priorities has been to continue the work of making college more affordable and accessible. In 2007, I helped write the law that lowered interest rates on federal subsidized Stafford loans to 3.4 percent, saving today’s typical student borrower a couple thousand dollars.

Yet if Congress fails to act now, interest rates will double to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012. This would apply to any student taking out a new loan after July 1, whether to start college or to stay in school.

We have 57 days left to prevent this – 57 days to prevent students from facing higher costs when they start classes next year, 57 days to prevent 143,892 New Jersey students from paying an additional $115 million in borrowing costs over the next year alone.

Next week, the U.S. Senate will be voting on the Stop the Rate Hike Act of 2012, of which I am a cosponsor in the House. The bill would keep loan rates at 3.4 percent, and it would pay for the cost by reining in just a fraction of the taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil.

Among recent college graduates who have taken out student loans, the average borrower owes $25,000 in education debt. Meanwhile, the five biggest oil companies reported $33.5 billion in profits in the last three months alone. Who needs our support more: the student, or Big Oil?

2012 Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7th to 11th is Teacher Appreciation Week, a chance to recognize the contributions of educators who teach at levels from kindergarten through college and beyond.

Twelve years ago, I served on the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, known as the John Glenn Commission. In a report titled "Before It's Too Late," we made clear that our nation must increase the number of teachers in those fields significantly and provide more opportunities for teachers to enhance their math and science teaching skills. Training better teachers was, we found, the single most powerful way to improve math and science education – more powerful even than improving the curriculum. Although the Commission’s purview was limited to math and science, I am convinced that high-quality teachers play an equally vital role in other subject areas.

It is long past time to implement the Glenn Commission recommendations and make professional development of teachers one of our top concerns.

2012 Congressional Art Competition

Each year, I host a Congressional Art Competition to celebrate and recognize works of art created by high school students. This year, more than 100 high school artists shared works in categories including painting, drawing, print, and mixed media. Their work demonstrated great creativity, talent, and originality, and I was honored to showcase their efforts.

The overall winner of this year’s competition was Loretta Liu from West Windsor Plainsboro High School South, and for the next year, her work “Rush Hour” will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. I look forward to seeing her future work in the years to come.

Sincerely,


Rush Holt
Member of Congress