THE Congressman CHRIS SMITH PACKAGE.

By District 4 Coalition for Change

A Republican supporter of our movement to #stopchrissmith told us that her Republican friends were going to vote for the whole package, regarding Chris Smith.

So, we decided to review what is in the Chris Smith Package and here are our TOP TEN reasons to VOTE AGAINST Chris Smith.

1. Voted to close the government - closing parks, impacting veteran benefits and putting people out of work.

2. Voted for the Ryan Budge - cutting benefits for Veterans, the elderly and cuts long term care for the disabled and autistic. Also, reopens the prescription drug "Donut hole" impacting the elderly.
The Consortium for Disabled Persons, the Veterans and the Autistic Society urged Smith to NOT vote YES on the Ryan Budget - but he voted as a GOP block anyway and ignored is constituents.

3. He has not lived in NJ for over 30 years. His children received Virginia In State tuition for college. He was not here for 9/11, Irene or Sandy. Which is probably why he made an oath to NOT support any climate change legislation unless it also provided tax cuts for the biggest polluters, the Koch Brothers who wrote the pledge!

4. He voted Against Wage Fairness in 2014

5. Voted for Personhood over and over again. Personhood gives a fetus the same rights as an adult human. Personhood BANS ALL birth control, stem cell research and in - vitro fertilization.

6. Wrote Bill, HR3, redefining the language of rape to forcible rape. Women would have to be beaten, bloody or worse to prove they were raped based on Smith's definition.

7. Voted to OUTLAW the Birth Control Pill.

8. Smith is Against CHOICE even in cases of RAPE, INCEST and to SAVE THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER.

9. Smith refuses to support common sense expanded Universal Background Checks that keep guns out of the hands of rapists, criminals, domestic abusers and terrorists. Even after 87 school shootings, Smith will not support Gun Reform.

10. Voted Against the VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN'S ACT IN 2013.

To boot, Smith will not support Marriage Equality.

Is that the package that the Republican's are voting for?

Who in this District does he actually represent?

Help us #stopchrissmith and his #waronwomen by sharing Smith's voting record and #GOTV

Towns in District 4 NJ
Allentown, Bayhead, Belmar, Bradley Beach, Colts Neck, Eatontown, Englishtown, Fair Haven, Farmingdale, Freehold Township, Freehold Boro, Hamilton, Holmdel, Howell, Jackson, Lake Como, Lakehurst, Lakewood, Little Silver, Manalapan, Manasquan, Manchester, Middletown, Millstone, Neptune, Ocean, Pt. Pleasant, Pt. Pleasant Beach, Red Bank, Robbinsville, Roosevelt, Rumson, Seat Girt, Shrewsbury, Spring Lake, Tinton Falls, Upper Freehold, Wall, Neptune, Neptune City

Savvy Smith Undermines his Own Work for Austism

By District 4 Coalition for Change

Publically Congressman Chris Smith Is a Champion of Autism but behind closed doors he undermines his work and his constituents. Please share this with friends and family that care about Autism.

Smith is savvy. His Newsletter arrived in the mail this week.

What Smith Omits from his Newsletter is what we should be paying attention to.

He left out his Signature Legislation HR7 that blocks private insurance companies and Flexible Spending Accounts from covering women's reproductive care. There was no mention of the Hobby Lobby and Buffer rulings in the Supreme Court in which he advocated for as well as helped architect the legislation and... NO MENTION OF THE RYAN BUDGET in which Smith VOTED YEA.

(Recent Chris Smith Newsletter)

The Ryan Budget was warned as dangerous by the Autism Society.
http://www.autismpolicyblog.com/2011/05/autism-society-ryan-plan.html






Smith is a savvy politician, he publically supports Autism research and fund raising but when he votes ... he stabs his constituents in the back and undermines his own work.

#chrissmithhastogo

Towns in District 4 NJ:
Allentown, Bayhead, Belmar, Bradley Beach, Colts Neck, Eatontown, Englishtown, Fair Haven, Farmingdale, Freehold Township, Freehold Boro, Hamilton, Holmdel, Howell, Jackson, Lake Como, Lakehurst, Lakewood, Little Silver, Manalapan, Manasquan, Manchester, Middletown, Millstone, Neptune, Ocean, Pt. Pleasant, Pt. Pleasant Beach, Red Bank, Robbinsville, Roosevelt, Rumson, Seat Girt, Shrewsbury, Spring Lake, Tinton Falls, Upper Freehold, Wall, Neptune, Neptune City

Chris Smith turns his back on America’s Veterans Once Again!

 For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2014

Long time Congressional GOP member Chris Smith has once again shown his true colors on the issue of Veteran’s rights. By supporting the Ryan budget, Smith has helped his fellow Republicans cut pension benefits for current Veterans and active duty military. This is yet another blow by Congressman Smith against those who have fought and sacrificed so much for this great nation.

Better Off

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

A person or a country invests with the hope and expectation that investing some resources now will produce a better future. Historically, America’s optimistic outlook and commitment to investment have made us great and strong.

This week the House considered a budget that abandons that vision of optimism and investment. The so-called Ryan Budget – named after its author, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan – is based on the premise that America cannot afford to invest in infrastructure, science, education; that we have to cut back, shrink, reduce our efforts, hunker down.

It would slash $790 billion from our budget, even beyond the already harsh cuts of sequestration. It would push up to 170,000 vulnerable children out of Head Start, cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance for children by $125 billion, reduce Medicare coverage, eliminate jobs for up to 29,000 teachers and aides, and make college less affordable for millions of students by cutting $205 billion for higher education. The Ryan Budget Resolution passed the House. The Budget Resolution is just a plan; it is not appropriations, but it is probably the clearest statement of how we see ourselves as a country.

In short, the Ryan Budget suggests that America can’t afford to do things – anything. Paul Ryan says we have a debt, and so, it seems, we cannot invest. That is simply not true. What a pessimistic view of our country! The wealthiest nation on earth can and should invest as if we have a future. By his way of thinking, the USA could not have created the national highway in the first decade of the 19th century or the interstate highway system in the 20th, or the transcontinental railroad during the Civil War, the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, Pell Grants or the community college system, the GI Bill for housing and college, the National Weather Service or the Head Start program, the Peace Corps or the greatly expanded National Parks. All of those things, and so many more that have contributed to our greatness, were done when we were in debt, sometimes significantly more than now. And they have helped us grow as a people and an economy.

This week my colleagues and I in the Congressional Progressive Caucus outlined a better path forward. Our Better Off Budget would create 8.8 million jobs over its first three years by investing in infrastructure, education, training, and research. It would invest $100 billion in teachers and schools and $81 billion in science. What's the secret? None. We simply would raise the necessary revenue to cover the necessary expenses.

Quite simply, the Better Off Budget calls for investing as if we will have a tomorrow.

Don’t Change the Target. Change the Approach.

Earlier this week, I met with the European Union’s Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, who is among the highest-ranking international officials devoted to addressing climate change.

We spoke about the EU’s successes in making the fight against climate change a policy priority and in developing forms of non-carbon energy.  I was impressed by her sense of urgency and her commitment to holding world powers accountable for their promises to reduce carbon pollution. As she said in a speech to the United Nations late last year, “We should learn from the economic policies. If targets are not met, normally you don't change the target. No, you add more policies in order to achieve the target. Nowhere in politics will this approach be more needed than exactly in climate policies.”

What No Student Should Face

Along with late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, I’ve worked for years to end bullying and harassment on college campuses – spurred in part by the memory of New Jersey native Tyler Clementi. As you may recall, Tyler was an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University when he died by suicide after being harassed by his roommate.

Late last month, Sens. Patty Murray (WA) and Tammy Baldwin (WI) reintroduced into the Senate the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act, which I wrote with Sen. Lautenberg.

As Sen. Murray said, “I am extremely grateful for the work my friend Frank did to honor Tyler Clementi’s life with this legislation…. No student – whether they’re gay, straight, black, white, Christian, or Muslim – should have to face discrimination and harassment in their pursuit of education.”

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

The Hardship Is Only Beginning To Be Felt

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed – over my objections – the so-called Ryan budget, a grim and pessimistic vision for America’s future authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan.

If the plan of the budget resolution were made real in appropriations legislation, it would, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, cost 2 million jobs next year. It would eliminate the mandatory Pell Grant program, a cut of $98 billion, and let interest rates double on student loans. It would cut key transportation investments by more than 20 percent. It would slash Medicaid support by $810 billion, and it would end the Medicare guarantee on which seniors depend.

If that sounds familiar, it should. This Ryan budget is a barely warmed over version of last year’s Ryan budget, which was so thoroughly debated during last year’s election – and so soundly rejected by voters.

It is important to remember that a House budget is only a roadmap and does not have the force of law. However, budget sequestration, which already is in effect, and the Appropriations Legislation passed today are binding. The resulting hardship is only beginning to be felt.

A Shameful Anniversary

As we now recognize that it has been 10 years since American troops were sent into Iraq, it is worth remembering that the Iraq war was a shameful example of the victory of ideology over evidence. Indeed, some leaders were so tied to their ideology that they deluded themselves and the public at the cost of more than 100,000 American and Iraqi lives.

People often ask me whether my decision to vote against the Iraq war was a difficult one. In advance of that vote, I worked hard and thought hard to examine the evidence about whether military action would improve America’s security. But ultimately, it was an easy vote once it became clear that there was no justification to go to war.

On a Collision Course

Earlier this week, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology – spurred to action by the February meteor in Chelyabinsk, Russia that injured more than 1,500 people – held a hearing to examine methods of detecting asteroids and comets that might impact the Earth.

The Chelyabinsk meteor was, to be sure, an exceedingly unusual event; an impact of this magnitude occurs only once a century or so. Even more rarely, far larger rocks fall from the sky: Every 100 million years or so, the Earth is hit by a meteor large enough to cause mass extinctions, like the one at the end of the age of dinosaurs.

As I wrote in a Washington Post op-ed with my colleague Donna Edwards, while the threats posed by meteors are miniscule on a day-to-day basis, surely any existential threat to the human race must be taken seriously. In particular, we should provide NASA with the support necessary to meet a 2005 Congressional mandate that it detect 90 percent of all near-Earth asteroids larger than about 500 feet in diameter. Congress also should take seriously a possibility that has been raised by senior military officials: that a meteor impact might be misinterpreted as a nuclear strike, leading to dangerous overreactions from nuclear-armed states.

Recently I discussed these concerns with the journalist Chuck Todd. A video of our conversation is available online.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

5 Reasons Why The Ryan-Romney-Ryan Economic Plan is Wrong

On Wednesday, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) delivered a speech on the Senate floor to expose VP Candidate Paul Ryan's budget impact on middle-class families.

A Paul Ryan Primer: Deficit Hawkman

by markfiore

Cut taxes and cut services for the poor, yay! Finally, Mitt Romneys everywhere have a hero.

Off Limits, Things Ronmey Doesn't Want To Talk About

• Tax Returns
• Bain Capital
• RomneyCare
• The Ryan Budget
• Women's Issues
• Immigration
• Gay Rights

How Ryan budget plan would hurt New Jersey

BY GORDON MACINNES

Cross posted from The Record

NEW JERSEY is hurting. It’s hurting so bad that the only way the governor could pay for his proposed tax cut is to borrow the money from our kids and grandkids. Float a bond for $260 million to pay for the $200 million or so tax cut proposed for this budget year. Benefits to future taxpayers? Zero. No matter, we can all enjoy a night out with the reduced taxes and let our kids pay. Given the amount we’ll get back, most of us can reserve a spot at the nearest White Castle.

This is not the condition one would expect of the “Comeback” state. But it gets even worse.

The United States has suffered a cut in its prime credit rating because Congress wouldn’t provide timely funds to repay the nation’s debt.

To add to our growing burdens, the House of Representatives has passed a plan that is supposed to balance the federal budget without increasing revenues. It’s called the Ryan Plan for its Wisconsin sponsor, Paul Ryan.

The first-ever state-by-state analysis of the Ryan Plan released this week by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities presents the bad news. The plan, if approved, would dig the New Jersey hole even deeper, about $760 million deeper in the budget year that begins next July.

That may not sound like enough money to worry about in a $32 billion state budget. But the reason the governor was driven to borrow money for his tax cut was that tax collections came in $700 million short between the time he delivered his budget message in February and when the receipts were counted in May.

1.5 billion in the red

By July, the non-partisan legislative research arm estimated the hole was $1.5 billion; Moody’s — the credit rater — suggested that it was closer to $2 billion and counting.

So, a reduction in federal aid of $760 million has significant and negative consequences for New Jersey citizens. Is the state helping to pay the bill for your grandmother in a nursing home? If so, you might have a problem since Medicaid — the federal-state program that pays for most nursing home care — is due to take a one-third cut between 2013 and 2021.

Other programs would suffer as well — programs for special education kids, for putting cops on the street and for providing emergency aid following fires, floods and hurricanes.

The companion proposal to the Ryan Plan is to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. The combination of repealing the act with its Medicaid expansion and the one-third cut proposed by Ryan is to add another $500 million per year to the budget burden.

This time the addition comes because there will be no expected reduction in the charity care payments to hospitals that treat uninsured patients. With the health care act and the existing Medicaid population, the state could assume a sharp falloff in its hospital payments (that now total about $1 billion).

Blance cuts with revenue increase

As New Jersey residents, we might hope that our governor would use his influence with Governor Romney and the national Republican Party to call on the House of Representatives majority to balance some of its tax cuts with revenue increases. Not only would such a move increase the chances of avoiding the “fiscal cliff” we all jump off on Jan. 1 if there’s no agreement on taxes and budgets, but it would do less harm to New Jersey, which is still crawling out of the Great Recession.

So far, instead of making the call for New Jersey, the governor has applauded Ryan, hailed the cuts in Medicaid and remained silent about the negative consequences facing his state. It’s not too late for him to show that he puts New Jersey above party politics.

Gordon MacInnes is president of New Jersey Policy Perspective