2nd Veteran History Project Event

The Garrett Gazette is back. As a reminder, Garrett included the following:

I recently hosted a kick-off event for my Veterans History Project. This exciting project, created in 2000 by Congress is aimed at collecting oral history interviews, memoirs, letters, diaries, photographs, andother original materials from veterans like you.

Our Second Veterans History Project Forum will be Tuesday, July 1st at 9am - 11 am at the Tice Senior and Community Center, 411 Chestnut RidgeRoad, Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677.

If you have questions regarding this event or would like to sign up foran interview, please call my Newton office at 973.300.2000. Additional information can be found at http://www.loc.gov/vets/

Garrett on Memorial Day

The New Jersey Herald has some of Garrett's comments:

Congressman Scott Garrett, R-5, who spoke at the ceremony, noted that each soldier's death has "a sad, poignant meaning for that family."

He also recognized the dedication of small-town America, which honored its fallen on such a beautiful day.

"It is important that we continue this tradition for this generation and the next generation," he said.

Veterans History Project

This from the latest Garrett Gazette:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: CALLING ALL VETERANSI am hosting an event kicking off our Veterans History Project onMonday, June 2nd. This exciting project, created in 2000 by Congress isaimed at collecting oral history interviews, memoirs, letters, diaries,photographs, and other original materials from veterans like you. Thekick off event will be Monday, June 2nd at 10 am - 12 pm. at SussexCounty Community College, 1 College Hill Road, Newton, NJ 07860 in thePerforming Arts Center. If you have questions regarding this event orwould like to sign up for an interview, please call my Newton office at973.300.2000. Additional information can be found at http://www.loc.gov/vets/

Garrett, I Understand

Representative Scott Garrett is catching a bit of hell for his vote against the new GI Bill the other day. I think most of us in Garrett's position would have voted for the bill, but I understand why Garrett voted against the bill. It has nothing to do with Garrett's comments on the issue, because as usual he didn't make any. It also has nothing to do with the BS reasons given by the opponents saying it was a tax on small business, because it's not.

No, actually it was one of the arguments by a proponent of the bill. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for (due to her work to reign in private contractors like Blackwater and the abuses and waste they create in Iraq), said the following:

We are talking about people who are making over $1 million to pay a small sacrifice for this war where our military families are paying a huge sacrifice.

I suppose that's what I don't like about how they decided to fund the bill: targeting millionaires to pick up the entire tab. No one denies the way things have gone the last few years that certain income brackets (none of which I'm in) have done better than others in terms of taxes, however, those who serve in the military are all of our responsibility.

I crunched the numbers, and to pay for this bill without adding to the deficit, the average tax bill of $11,081.26 would have to go up $53.79. Basically, if you multiply your taxes paid by 0.004854202 that would be your increased contribution.

I don't know if I'm alone on this or not, but I've often said I have no problem with my taxes going up if I knew it was going to veterans. It's a national disgrace that we have veterans who are homeless, veterans who are lacking medical care, and veterans who find themselves struggling to make ends meet. Veterans have been willing to give their lives so all of us can have our freedoms, and we don't do enough for them.

Unfortunately, partisan politics and ideology have gotten in the way of providing what our troops need. The Republicans want to pass costs on to the next generation, and only support the troops in campaign commercials; while the Democrats want to only go after millionaires when all of us should be helping the troops and veterans. Meanwhile, things don't get better for O-U-R troops and veterans.

In that sense, I simply wish Democrats would show some real leadership and ask all of us to make the sacrifice. The Republicans didn't ask anybody to sacrifice, except future generations and military families, and now the Democrats are saying only millionaires and military families should. I understand the ideology and I understand this is an election year, but I'm sick of our troops being used as partisan political talking points instead of being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

We all should be kicking in for this, among other programs, for veterans; it's the least we can do when weighed against what they have been willing to do for us.

What a Couple of Weeks

Well, it's been a few good weeks for me. The major project I was working on is done and I got a little trip in there. A few interesting things went on while I wasn't watching, so let's get to it:

1. Representative Scott Garrett has continued his quest to blame Democrats for all that is wrong with the economy. During a speech largely aimed at Democrats, he also continued his practice of misrepresenting facts when it comes to numbers. Garrett stated that gas had not yet crossed $2 a gallon on Election Day in 2006, sitting around $1.90.

Had Garrett or his staff bothered to check with Energy Information Administration they'd know gas was at $2.20. While no one denies, prices have gone up, why exaggerate the truth? Either it's an honest mistake, or a continued pattern of misrepresentation that raised it's head when Garrett was misrepresenting income levels during the SCHIP debate.

2. Shockingly, Garrett and Senator Bob Menendez issued a joint statement regarding a bill to help veterans. This was written up by the folks over at Blue Jersey and Herb Jackson of the Record. It's nice to see partisanship put along. As noted by Jackson, Garrett's efforts in this area haven't gone anywhere since November. Hopefully, Menendez coming on board might help get it done.

3. Garrett led the fight against the housing package that went through the Financial Services Committee, which will be voted on by the House this week. Of particular interest was Garrett going against a proposal to give an automatic 10% equity if someone refinances their loan through FHA. I've checked with folks in both parties, and all agreed with Garrett that on face value the proposal seemed a little over the top and rather unfair to those without the opportunity.

4. Garrett went on television to argue against regulating deceptive advertising and double billing by credit card companies.

5. Camille Abate, candidate for the Democratic nomination, put up a biographical video on YouTube.

6. The Bergen County Freeholders were ripped by the Record for voting as a block the majority of the time. It's a bit ridiculous that the Freeholders claim they have an open process when they schedule their meetings at times when no one can make it.

More to come...

Limbaugh Argument Continues

Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" thing has now gone into the partisan bickering sphere. Representative Scott Garrett's backing of Limbaugh has been picked up in a number of spots, so my guess is that it's his real thought on the matter. Considering the outrage about the MoveOn ad, the hypocrisy of Republicans defending Limbaugh is disheartening. The folks over at Human Events see this as a great struggle of Democrats vs. Republicans, as if that's all that matters.

What happened to right vs. wrong? Are the Republicans like Garrett so partisan they can't see that?

Maybe, just maybe, the Republicans figured Rush would leave it alone. However, Limbaugh has backtracked and bobbed and weaved on this thing. He's afraid, because he knows this time he's said too much.

Keith Olbermann made a good point that if Limbaugh attempted to apologize for misspeaking it would be one thing, but he hasn't. Instead, Limbaugh metaphorically referred to a Purple Heart recipient who called Limbaugh out as akin to a suicide bomber. Do Garrett and the rest of the Republicans rushing to Limbaugh's defense back that comment, too?

Here's the video:



I'm not a partisan, so this is an issue of right or wrong for me. Limbaugh was wrong at first, but could have recovered. Now, he's making it worse on himself. We'll see how far he goes to try and defend himself, and how far down he'll pull those Republicans that are too blinded by partisanship to actually listen to what Rush is saying. It should be interesting to see when or if Garrett gets to a point he feels he needs to distance himself from Limbaugh.

Veteran's Expo

This is from the latest Garrett Gazette:

Dear Friends:

Next month, on September 17th, I will be hosting a Veterans Expo at the Paramus Veterans Home from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. This will be an opportunity for area veterans and their families to come gather information on programs and benefits available to our nation’s veterans.

I have invited representatives from a wide variety of agencies and organizations that serve our nation’s heroes. You will be able to:

-Learn more about health and other benefits available through the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs and the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs,

-Get glaucoma and blood pressure screenings,

-Talk to representatives about Social Security and Medicare,

-Meet other local veterans and find out about local veterans service organizations,

-Get involved with efforts to help local military families with loved ones in Iraq, and

-Find out more about the Paramus Veterans Home.

If you are a veteran or have a family member who is a veteran, I hope that you will be able to join me and my staff at the Expo on September 17th. Please feel free to spread the word to other veterans you know as well.

Sincerely,

Scott Garrett
Member of Congress

Vets Finally Getting Fire Alarms?

Back in October, Representative Scott Garrett announced that The Veteran's Memorial Home in Paramus would be getting a $590,000 grant to update their fire alarms. Then, the Republicans decided after losing the elections in 2006 not to pass any spending bills, leaving it to the new Democrats, who in turn passed one massive bill without any earmarks.

At the time, I commented on Garrett's reaction to this move by Democrats by saying it was misplaced rage, because had the Republicans passed the bills they were supposed to pass the funding for things like our Veterans in Paramus wouldn't have been in jeopardy.

Today, the Record reported that the VA has announced the Veteran's Home grant was back on. Hopefully, they are actually getting the check this time.