Press Releases

March 16, 2004

Dara Corrigan

Acting Principal Deputy Inspector General

Department of Health and Human Services

Office of the Inspector General
330 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201

Dear Ms. Corrigan:

Washington, DC --- U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Rush Holt (D-NJ) announced today that they'll be hosting a town hall meeting later this month to discuss Fort Monmouth's future and their efforts to expand the Fort's mission beyond 2005. The town hall meeting will be held on Saturday, March 27, at 2 p.m. at the Eatontown Borough Community Center. It is open to all who are interested in the role the Fort plays in our national security and in the lives of New Jerseyans.

Long Branch, N.J. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today announced a new engineering plan for the Deal Lake Flume that would allow the herring population access to Deal Lake, but would not affect wave patterns. The agreement was reached last Friday at a meeting at Pallone's Long Branch office between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Asbury Park Fishing Club, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, and the Shark River Surf Anglers.

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.