Stimulus: Andrews Drops Ball

From Rick DeMichele at the CCGOP Chairman's Blog:

Much has been said about the Obama stimulus money. Congressman Rob Andrews proudly voted for the massive spending bill, and in typical Andrews style, he failed to make sure his district got its fair share of the federal tax dollars.
You may wonder, “Is this failure new?” Well… no …. not really, actually it is old news.

In July of 2008, Star Ledger reporter, Paul Cox, wrote an article with the following headline: N.J. gets lowest state return on its federal tax dollars. Cox went on to say,

“Federal data shows New Jersey gets less from Washington for each dollar in
federal taxes paid than any other state — 61 cents per dollar. New Jersey
has long been among the bottom three states in returns.”

Despite the terrible return on our tax dollars, the Gloucester County Times reported,

“In December 2008, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-1st Dist., of Haddon Heights, asked
all mayors in his congressional district to submit a list of projects that were
on their stimulus wish lists. Approximately two-thirds of the towns responded
and most of the projects were transportation-oriented, since that is one of the
largest funding amounts in the bill…. Ten projects, which would cost some $504
million to complete, were identified as “shovel-ready” when the announcement was
made.”

Any one of the ten projects would have brought jobs to South Jersey and provided an incredible boost to our local economy. Are you wondering how many of those local stimulus projects were funded? Yep, the number of families struggling in South Jersey should let you know the answer is ZERO!

So, what has Rob Andrews done to help revitalize the economy in South Jersey?
I’m not sure.
I do know he has sponsored legislation to promote Chinese Taipei’s domestic economy and position in the global economy. Think I’m kidding? Look at H. Res. 887 sponsored by none other than Rob Andrews.

This may explain why, since January of 1991, only 6 of the bills he sponsored ever made it out of committee. It seems Congressman Andrews is more focused on the Chinese Taipei economy than the needs of South Jersey’s working families. Will he go so far as to introduce a bill to provide stimulus money for the Chinese Taipei people?

We need a Congressman that puts the needs of the people in South Jersey first and uses his talents to bring stimulus money, jobs, and an economic boost to his constituents.