Press Releases
"This week marks the 30th anniversary of the illegal military occupation by Turkish military forces over a section of the island of Cyprus.
"It was thirty years ago, July 20, 1974, when Turkey illegally invaded the island nation, occupying 37 percent of the territory and forcing nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. These Greek Cypriots became refugees in their own country, and have remained refugees for the past three decades.
"Mr. Speaker, today, the House will attempt to do something it has never done before----strip our courts of hearing cases on the Defense of Marriage Act.
"Eight years ago, I opposed DOMA because I felt it was a blatant act of discrimination against gays and lesbians. To this day, I believe Republicans forced the issue in 1996 because it was a presidential year and they wanted to divide the country in a desperate search for votes.
Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today voiced his grave disappointment with the U.S. Department of State's decision to force visa holders of E, H, I, L, and O visas to return to their country of origin in order to renew their visas, and urged Secretary of State Colin Powell to reverse this ill-advised decision.
July 16, 2004
The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker of the House
H-232
U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Speaker,
I write to you today to express my deep regret and disappointment over the statement released earlier today from yourself and members of the Leadership, regarding the Schiff Amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill.
Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, tonight praised the U.S. House of Representatives for approving an amendment to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Foreign Operations appropriations bill that prevents Turkey from using U.S. funds to lobby against H.Res.193, the Genocide Resolution. Pallone worked with U.S Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the amendment's sponsor, to have the amendment passed by voice vote this evening on the House floor.
"Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairman, Mr. Kolbe and Ranking Member, Ms. Lowey, for their support and leadership in ensuring appropriate funding for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Thanks to their support, $65 million was allocated to Armenia in economic assistance, and an additional $5 million was allocated in military assistance. In addition, $5 million was secured for assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The National Park Service has informed me that I'll receive a copy of the lease agreement in the next couple of days. I'll meet with members of Save Sandy Hook later this week to read through the final agreement and to discuss possible options for our next step in opposing the agreement.
"I simply cannot believe the National Park Service went ahead and signed a lease agreement with Wassel before a scheduled Monday meeting with me and members of Save Sandy Hook to discuss the proposal.
Washington, D.C. --- After numerous conversations yesterday with state and federal agencies working to clean up garbage discovered along several beaches in Monmouth County, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today questioned why a federal program created to prevent such problems did not work this week.
"I would like to thank the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for scheduling this meeting tonight to seek community input on its proposals to address the contamination at both the Horseshoe Road and the adjoining Atlantic Resources Superfund sites. While I am pleased that this public meeting is taking place and that the EPA has chosen a preferred alternative to cleaning up the sites, I have a couple of concerns that I would like to address tonight."