Pallone Announces $50 Million to Boost Economic Growth in Low-Income New Jersey Communities

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) announced a $50 million award for tax credits from the U.S. Treasury Department to New Jersey Community Capital, which is located in New Brunswick. The funds, which will be used by New Jersey Community Capital to award tax credits to investors in projects, are aimed at stimulating economic growth in low-income urban neighborhoods and rural communities. A significant priority and target for the tax credits will be areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

“Economic growth and increased job opportunities in low-income communities are some of the most important challenges we face and among my top priorities in Congress,” said Congressman Pallone. “I am glad to announce that New Jersey Community Capital in New Brunswick will receive this $50 million to spur investment and provide a tremendous boost to New Jersey communities that are in need of greater economic development.”

The grant comes as part of the New Markets Tax Credit Program from the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. The program permits tax credits for investments in Community Development Entities, which in turn provide loans, investments, or financial counseling in low-income urban and rural communities. New Jersey Community Capital, which is located in Pallone’s district, is one of 76 organizations that received a grant with this round of the program, and the only awardee focusing solely on New Jersey. The Community Loan Fund of New Jersey, which is a part of New Jersey Community Capital, will award the tax credits.

President Obama's Weekly Address 8/16/14 : Everyone Should Be Able to Afford Higher Education

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, with schools getting ready to open their doors again over the next few weeks, the President talked directly to students and parents about the importance of preparing for an education beyond high school. In today’s economy, some higher education continues to be the surest ticket to the middle class, but for too many families across the country, paying for higher education is a constant struggle. The President and First Lady know this first hand – they only finished paying off their student loans ten years ago – and that’s why they have made it a priority to help make college more affordable for families. They have taken action to reform student loans, expand grants and college tax credits, help make loan payments more manageable, and have proposed plans to make sure colleges also do their part to bring down costs. And just this week, as part of the President’s Year of Action, the administration announced a new series of commitments to support students who need a little extra academic help getting through college.

Truth Team: Let's talk about tax credits

On October 1st -- in just 18 days! -- more than 30 million uninsured Americans will be able to sign up for affordable health insurance in the marketplace, many for the very first time.

One of the lesser-known facts about Obamacare is that under the law, millions of Americans will be eligible for financial assistance, or tax credits. Unfortunately, this is also one of the newest targets for our opponents in Congress who are trying to derail the law -- and they have plenty of myths to spread here.

We Truth Teamers have an opportunity to make sure our friends and family know the truth about what Obamacare financial assistance is and what it means. Check out this cool calculator from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation that shows how the tax credits work -- and then share it on Facebook or Twitter.

This is just one way Obamacare is helping provide security to the middle class.

Our opponents are out there blowing hot air about the impact of Obamacare -- some are even trying to stop the law entirely. Just this week, we saw two separate attempts in Congress to block crucial parts of how Obamacare provides better benefits and lower costs to millions.

But we've got the facts on our side -- and we've got to spread the word.

Here's how the financial assistance works:

-- Individuals earning up to $45,000 per year -- or families of four earning up to $94,000 per year -- will be eligible to receive it.

-- Nearly half of all people who currently buy their own health insurance will be eligible for financial assistance next year -- and, on average, are expected to save about $2,700 a year.
This is huge -- for the country, for the middle class, and for folks out there who have been looking forward to the day that they can finally get affordable health care.

We need to be the ones out there telling folks that day is coming soon -- and the tax credits will probably help someone you know.

Check out the subsidies calculator:

http://my.barackobama.com/Kaiser-Subsidy-Calculator

And share it with your family and friends on Facebook:

http://my.barackobama.com/Kaiser-Subsidy-Calculator-FB

Or tweet it out:

http://my.barackobama.com/Kaiser-Subsidy-Calculator-TW

Buono Unveils Economic Plan to Strengthen New Jersey’s Working and Middle Class

New Brunswick, NJ – Democratic gubernatorial candidate and State Senator Barbara Buono today released her plan to revitalize New Jersey’s economy. The Buono Economic Plan focuses on lifting up all New Jerseyans by giving them the training, resources and infrastructure they need to thrive in a 21st century economy.

“My plan was developed with the understanding that a strong economy begins with a strong middle class. In order to have sustainable, long-term growth we must invest in our workforce, schools, small businesses and infrastructure,” said Buono. “As Governor, I will marshal New Jersey’s resources to create jobs and make our state competitive in the global economy.”



You can find the entire Buono Economic Plan here.

The five-part plan calls for making strategic investments in New Jersey workers, ensuring working families can make ends meet and creating partnerships between institutions of higher learning and businesses in emerging industries so that New Jersey is at the forefront of the global economy.

New Jersey was once one of America’s leaders in developing complex technologies and lifesaving medicines. This history can be the foundation for the next generation of businesses that will move the Garden State forward. To make sure that New Jersey’s workers have the necessary skills, the Buono Economic Plan will:

• Restore New Jersey as a leader in research and innovation by emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum in our schools and providing higher education with the resources to expand this workforce.
• Create affordable options in our community colleges and vocational schools to train and retrain our workforce with the skills needed for developing industries.

The second part of the Buono Economic Plan will help working families that have been hurting under Governor Christie earn a living wage. This includes:

• Restoring the Earned Income Tax Credit to 25 percent and marketing it to all eligible families.
• Increasing New Jersey’s minimum wage and tying it to cost of living increases.
• Expanding tax relief for child care expenses that cost the average New Jersey family 9 percent of its monthly income.
• Giving parents the tools to save for their children’s higher education through the NJ BEST program.

As Governor, Barbara Buono will commit to fostering cooperative partnerships between emerging markets and institutions of higher learning, which will define New Jersey as a leader in innovation and help attract high quality businesses. To do this, she will:

• Connect start-up and emerging market businesses with institutions of higher learning.
• Increase investments in research and development to attract new businesses to New Jersey.

Tax credits and incentives work best when targeted at the communities and businesses that need it most. Approximately 95% of all New Jersey companies are small businesses. To help grow this sector of the economy, the Buono Economic Plan will:

• Target assistance to small businesses, many of which are women-and minority-owned.
• Start a Community Solutions program to help small businesses open and grow.
• Target tax credits for small businesses in biotechnology, life sciences, and other advanced fields.
• Restore and strengthen oversight of the Urban Enterprise Zone program

Finally, many people in New Jersey are facing obstacles that can only be removed by the government action. To promote growth, the Buono Economic Plan will:

• Tackle the foreclosure crisis and keep families in their homes.
• Fix crumbling infrastructure by leveraging private capital and federal funds to pay for new projects.
• Renew our commitment to a clean energy economy by investing in renewable energy sources and promoting energy efficiency.

President Obama's Weekly Address 5/12/12: Congress Must Act on "To-Do List"

In this week’s address, President Obama called on Democrats and Republicans to come together and act on his Congressional “to-do list,” which will create jobs and help restore middle class security. In this make-or-break moment for the middle class, these five initiatives have bipartisan support and will help create an economy that is built to last. While some believe we should return to the same policies that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression, the President believes we must take action to speed up the recovery and ensure that our economy once again rewards hard work and responsibility as we keep our country moving forward.

President Obama's Weekly Address 11/12/11: Honoring our Veterans for their Service and Sacrifice

WASHINGTON—In this week’s address, President Obama spoke from the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego during Veterans Day, and he called on all Americans to rededicate themselves to serving our brave men and women in uniform as well as they have served us. Today, there are more than 850,000 veterans unemployed, which is why the President issued a challenge to private companies to hire or train more than 100,000 post-9/11 veterans or their spouses by 2013, and he was pleased to see the Senate pass proposals in his American Jobs Act on Thursday to give businesses tax credits for hiring veterans. President Obama told veterans that just as they have fought for us, he will continue to fight for jobs and opportunities for them, and that the United States will always honor their service and sacrifice.

Senator Robert Menendez: Honoring our Veterans This Veterans Day

Dear Friend,

This Veterans Day, it is time to recommit ourselves to helping every military family across the Garden State.

We need to help businesses help veterans and their spouses build careers, make sure that our schools are doing all they can to help military kids, and all of us need to do what we can to help military families in our local communities.

But truly honoring our veterans means providing jobs. It means job training, and giving every job opportunity possible to unemployed veterans.

In New Jersey we have 453,498 veterans -- 12 percent of them are unemployed. That’s why I am proud to be a co-sponsor of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act that gives businesses a tax credit for hiring returning veterans, and more of a tax credit if they hire a wounded veteran.

As our troops begin coming home from Iraq, our duty to them is not just remembering their service, not just saying thank you on Veterans Day, it’s delivering on the promise of a grateful nation every day.

New Jersey’s hero-sons-and-daughters did not wait to sign up to serve this country, and they should not have to wait to get the benefits they have earned defending it. And they should not have to come home only to stand on the unemployment line after putting themselves on the line serving this nation.

That’s why the Veterans jobs bill encourages employers to hire veterans, ensures that disabled veterans who have exhausted their unemployment benefits get the training and rehabilitation they need, the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment benefits they need and job assistance tailored to today’s job market.

The bill provides a competitive grant program for nonprofits that provide mentoring and training programs for vets. It allows employers to be paid for providing on-the-job training to veterans and it would provide Work Opportunity Tax Credits for businesses that hire veterans -- and more for businesses that hire disabled vets.

We made a promise to veterans, and it’s a promise we must keep.

Happy Veterans Day to all.

May God bless our troops. And may God bless America.

President Obama's Weekly Address 9/17/11: Passing the American Jobs Act

WASHINGTON—In this week’s address, President Obama urged Congress to pass the American Jobs Act without delay so that businesses will be able to hire more workers and every American who wants a job will be able to find one. The President’s jobs bill keeps cops on the streets and teachers in the classrooms, cuts taxes for small businesses, and puts construction workers back to work without adding to the deficit. All Americans who agree with the President’s plan should call their elected officials and tell them that it’s time to pass the jobs bill, which will ensure that everyone pays their fair share and that we live within our means as we help the economy continue to grow.

President Obama's Weekly Address 10/30/10: Working Together on the Economy

Ahead of the elections, the President says no matter what happens both parties must work together to boost the economy, and expresses concern about statements to the contrary from Republican Leaders.

NJPP Monday Minute 9/6/10: Having your cake and financing it too State awards cake baker for Christie inauguration a BEIP grant

Earlier this year, Gov. Christie suspended New Jersey's film tax credit for the fiscal year 2011 - a reasonable move given the staggering budget situation that the state faced. The movie and TV industries protested. Actors, producers, lobbyists and small business owners testified against eliminating the credit.1 When lawmakers passed a budget without the credit, NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit moved its production back to New York.2

But the governor's elimination of the film tax credit did not stop the state from favoring another television production with a $45,000 grant from New Jersey's flagship business subsidy, the Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP). The recipient of the state's largesse: Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, the subject of TLC's reality show "Cake Boss, " and the bakery that supplied the cake for Governor Christie's January inauguration. The Star-Ledger reported that the inauguration cake was donated and would retail for about $15,000. The cake was a twin-bed sized diorama of New Jersey sights including an edible version of the Goldman Sachs tower in Jersey City - ironic since the real version of this tower has benefitted from multiple BEIP grants.

In April, in a decision that received no press coverage, the state Economic Development Authority (EDA) approved the BEIP grant to Carlo's Bakery Inc., the owners of which operate Carlo's City Hall Bakery. The Cake Boss wanted the state's help in opening an additional cake and dessert manufacturing facility to accommodate increasing customer and restaurant demand. It plans to hire 30 new workers who would be paid an average annual salary of $35,000.

When the application was approved, no location had been selected. The bakery owners said the new facility does not need to be near its original Hoboken bakery. If the Cake Boss were to locate his additional facility in one of the state's municipalities where economic development is most encouraged, such as Jersey City, Newark, Paterson or New Brunswick, the grant could increase from the estimated $45,000 to $144,000.

The funding for the BEIP subsidy comes from the state income taxes paid by the new employees. Instead of the state using these tax collections entirely for property tax relief as the income tax was intended to be used, the state returns a portion to the employer. That amount is based on a number of factors, including location, and can be as much as 80 percent of income tax withheld. Since its inception in 1996, the BEIP subsidy has paid out $856.4 million in grants to businesses, according to the EDA.

__________________________________________________

1. Siriwardane, Venuri. "TV industry joins fight to keep N.J. tax credit." Star-Ledger. June 15, 2010. www.nj.com.
2. Arrue, Karina. "Jersey loses when Law&Order: SVU leaves North Bergen, Hudson pols blame Gov. Christie's suspension of $10 million film tax credit." July 30, 2010. www.nj.com

NJPP Monday Minute 6/28/10: WHY THE BUDGET FALLS SHORT FOR VULNERABLE FAMILIES

There has been much fanfare regarding the restoration of a few programs that serve vulnerable people in the FY 2011 budget. But make no mistake; the budget expected to pass the Legislature today requires the greatest sacrifice from vulnerable working families hit hardest by the recession.

Let's put the restorations in perspective. They amount to about $68 million, not including PAAD which was restored in an earlier separate agreement, in a budget which would spend just over $28 billion. As the governor's chief of staff pointed out, these restorations amount to only about two-tenths of a percent (.02%) of the total state budget. He thought that was a good thing.

The Anti-Poverty Network indentified 26 programs (see list below) that were cut in the Christie budget that primarily affect the most vulnerable: low and moderate income families; the elderly; and people with disabilities. The list is conservative in that it does not include program cuts to items such as transportation and education, which serve mostly middle class and higher income groups as well as large numbers of low income people. The budget restorations only fund seven of those programs, leaving $262 million in program cuts to the most vulnerable.

The largest restoration was in General Assistance, which provides temporary financial assistance to unemployed adults without children. The Christie budget would have eliminated the entire $140 a month stipend, which is often the only source of income they have. The Legislature and the governor are to be commended for at least partially restoring this vital safety net program.

However, the administration did not restore cuts to the two largest programs that help vulnerable families remain independent. State and federal funding for New Jersey FamilyCare, which provides affordable health insurance for children and certain low income parents or guardians, was reduced by about $100 million. Enrollment has already been closed for parents with incomes between 133 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($24,352 to $36,620 for a parent with two children). This cut will be continued in FY 2011 resulting in 39,000 uninsured parents being denied health insurance at the same time many employers are dropping health coverage. Also, about 11,700 legal immigrant parents who have been in this country less than five years and currently receive health insurance through FamilyCare will lose their coverage altogether.

The state Earned Income Tax Credit was cut by $45 million, which will in effect increase taxes for 485,000 lower income households. At the same time, the governor refused to continue higher tax rates on those in the uppermost brackets, households with more than $400,000 in annual income. About 77 percent of the households that received the state EITC are working families with children. A parent earning the minimum wage in a full time job ($15,000) with two children will see his or her taxes increase by $300 as a result of this action. Taxes for wealthy households, on the other hand, will be cut by thousands of dollars.

It is also disturbing that the governor has opposed legislation which would restore the funds for the state EITC, if federal funds become available specifically for this purpose. Congress appears likely to act on legislation that would make $120 million in emergency contingency funds available to New Jersey without costing the state a dime. But the administration has rejected a budget resolution from Sen. Shirley Turner which would require that if such funds become available in FY 2011 they would be used to restore the state EITC cutback.

While the budget treats each of these programs separately, the cutbacks will have a cumulative impact on vulnerable families. Virtually all of the families that will lose or be denied health coverage in FamilyCare will also have the state EITC reduced. Many of these same families will also be denied vital supports like family planning, school breakfast, legal services, and affordable housing. None of the cuts in these programs have been restored in this budget. The combined effect on some families will be devastating and have long term consequences for them and the state's economy.

Attempts are being made to restore some of these funds to vulnerable families in separate legislation. Senator Loretta Weinberg has introduced a bill to restore funding for family planning and Senator Joseph Vitale and Assemblyman Lou Greenwald have bills to restore funding for FamilyCare. If these bills pass the legislature, however, the governor is likely to veto these bills, as he did when the legislature passed a millionaires' tax increase a month ago.

What some see as fiscal conservatism might be seen by others as plain mean-spiritedness.

It would appear that the deal on the FY 2011 budget is final but the fight to protect and support struggling working families in this high cost state must continue.

President Obama's Weekly Address: 2/6/10 Opening Doors for Small Business

Reiterating once again his commitment to small business as the engine of our economy, the President urges Congress to move forward immediately on steps to help them expand and create jobs. These proposals include using $30 billion in TARP funds to create a new Small Business Lending Fund to provide capital to community banks to increase lending to small businesses, offering a new tax credit for over one million small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages, and providing targeted support for the most innovative small businesses with the potential to export new goods and products.

Senate Dems set Feb. 13 goal for stimulus

The Hill - Democratic senators have set a goal of Feb. 13 to pass an $800 billion economic stimulus package proposed by President-elect Obama.

Senate Democrats said they made significant progress during a rare two-hour Sunday meeting with Lawrence Summers, a senior Obama aide who will head the National Economic Council.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), vice chairman of the Democratic conference, told reporters that Obama’s economic team was proceeding with the stimulus in the "right way."
"They put together a broad outline and are asking us to fill in the details," said Schumer. "We could get it to the president’s desk by the 13th, which is our deadline."

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, applauded the incoming Obama administration’s response to criticism its proposal received on Capitol Hill last week.

"It is very clear that they’ve listened and heard and are working to respond," said Conrad. "They’re not defensive and arguing back."

Conrad said he received a call from Summers on Friday after he criticized Obama’s proposal to include several tax incentives such as a $3,000 tax credit to employers for each new hire.

Read More >>> Here