Frank Pallone: “What I found overwhelmingly was a feeling on the part of my constituents in my district in New Jersey that this House of…”

“What I found overwhelmingly was a feeling on the part of my constituents in my district in New Jersey that this House of Representatives and this Congress under the leadership of Speaker Gingrich and the Republicans is not getting the job done. My constituents expressed concerns about health care, whether or not they were going to have affordable health insurance or any health insurance at all; they expressed a great deal of concern about the environment, because we are now getting close to the summer season. My district is very dependent on shore tourism. For the last few years we have seen significant, at least in the last 10 years, we have seen significant improvement in our water quality, and they do not want to see the clock turned back on environmental protection. They are also concerned about education. Today in my district in New Jersey we vote on the school board elections and the budgets. Property taxes are going up in many municipalities, and there is concern about a lack of State and Federal aid to help and provide property tax relief. They are also concerned about jobs.”