Press Releases
Long Branch, NJ --- At a meeting in Long Branch organized today by U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and U.S. Sens. Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), the U.S. Coast Guard told officials from area fishing groups that fishermen, surfers, runners and others will permanently have access to an area at Sandy Hook near the Coast Guard station that was closed off to them last month when the Coast Guard erected a fence at the site.
Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), senior Democrat on the House Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee, today voiced serious concern over President Bush's Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget for the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS). The New Jersey congressman raised his concerns at a hearing on next year's budget requests for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with Under Secretary of NOAA, Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Jr.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), chairman of the Democratic Health Care Task Force, will talk with seniors on Saturday, March 20th about the new prescription drug law passed by Congress. The New Jersey congressman is hosting a town hall forum to answer any questions about how the new law will affect senior's Medicare, PAAD and Senior Gold coverage.
Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, today called on President Bush to include India as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a five-year, $15 billion dollar plan to combat international HIV/AIDS. Funding thus far has gone to 14 countries in Africa and the Caribbean, but now Congress has mandated the Bush administration select a 15th country in a new region of the world.
Long Branch, NJ --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today lauded the U.S. Coast Guard's decision to permanently remove a fence that it installed along a popular Sandy Hook beach that cut off access for fishermen, surfers, runners and others who enjoy the area known as 'The Rip.' Last Friday, the Coast Guard informed Pallone that it was still exploring several security alternatives, but that the agency would no longer explore security options that would prevent public access to the Rip.
"I'm concerned about several aspects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleanup of the former Raritan Arsenal. With ongoing public concern regarding unknown health impacts of volatile organic compounds identified in groundwater, I support efforts that would fully remove the groundwater and surface water contamination at this site. I believe it's in the public's best interest to find a solution to this problem now, so that this issue and the public health concerns do not perpetuate indefinitely.
"Mr. Speaker, last week, peace negotiations finally resumed over the 30-year Cyprus conflict. After reaching the end of the road last March, thanks to what was described at the time by officials close to the negotiations as intransigence on the part of Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, the Turkish-Cypriot leader finally agreed to return to the negotiating table with Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos. The framework by which the two are now negotiating is a plan written by the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Washington, D.C. --- In response to recent press reports stating that members of the Iraqi Governing Council plan to prevent tens of thousands of Iraqi Jews from returning to their homeland, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today urged Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, to work with the council to ensure Jewish refugees can reclaim their citizenship.
Dear Chief Bone:
Recently, the United States Coast Guard erected a barbed wire fence blocking access to the renowned Sandy Hook Rip, about a mile of open beach where New Jerseys fishermen have enjoyed catching striped bass, bluefish and fluke for over a century.
Washington, D.C. --- 37 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives today sent a letter to President Bush urging him to support parity in military funding to Armenia and Azerbaijan. The letter was sent in response to the president's Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget request, in which he asked for $8.75 million in military assistance for Azerbaijan, $6 million more than the $2.75 million requested for Armenia.