Forget Frelinghuysen! SC Applauds his Not Running Again

Congressman Frelinghuysen (R-NJ Congressional District 11) will not be running for re-election in 2018. The Congressman has been Chair of the House Appropriations Committee and has voted to support many of the Trump Administration’s cuts and rollbacks. The budget Frelinghuysen voted for included cutting the EPA budget by 30%, Medicare cuts of $500 billion and Medicaid cuts of $1.5 trillion over the next decade. These cuts to important programs like Medicare, Medicaid, nutritional food programs and education are proposed to fund tax cuts for people earning $1.3 million or more. New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel, has released the following statement:

“Given his record, it makes sense that Frelinghuysen is not running for office again. He’s leaving because he knows how unpopular he is with his constituents. Frelinghuysen has sold out the environment and his people. Frelinghuysen has sold us out on EPA funding, the Antiquities Act, clean energy and on climate change. He’s for sale by for the special interests as he rolls back critical protections for this country. He voted for a budget that hurts the people he represents and cuts environmental funding by ten percent. Now there’s an open seat that we can try and get a better candidate into. We will endorse a candidate that makes environmental protection one of their major issues.

“We have been working to educate the people of District 11 on the failures of Congressman Frelinghuysen. We’ve co-hosted town halls in West Orange, Morristown, Montclair, and other locations. We’ve held protests against his voting record and refusal to meet with constituents. Frelinghuysen has voted to roll back key environmental protections like Waters of the United States and blocked EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, and voted against other clean air and water protections. He continuously sides with corporate interests over the people of the 11th District.

“As chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Frelinghuysen currently has a prominent role in determining funding for government programs like the EPA. The Trump Administration’s proposed budget aims to cut the EPA budget by 31 percent overall with a 30 percent cut to the Superfund program. It also plans to end programs for states to handle hazardous waste, test drinking water quality, and monitor air quality; eliminate the Office of Environmental Justice; cut the Office of Science funding by 50 percent; cut enforcement by 23 percent; and cut 30 percent from programs to remediate and protect people from lead poisoning.

“The Congressman has failed to advocate for a full cleanup of the site or even to get it placed on the Superfund list and didn’t even go on his tour this year. Usually every year, Congressman Frelinghuysen tours Superfund sites and talks about his concern for the environment and public health. However, in reality he has done nothing to reinstate the Superfund tax on the chemical and fossil fuels industries that funded the program until the mid-1990s. Lack of adequate funds means it takes longer to clean up sites, leading to more toxins in groundwater and neighborhoods. The Congressman is so far going along with the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back EPA funding in general.

“Frelinghuysen finally woke up and hear the people of his district. We’ve had enough of him selling out the environment and the people he’s supposed to represent. We are glad to be part of the efforts to replace him with a better Representative for the people of New Jersey: one that will fight to protect our environment and our state from Trump rollbacks.”