GOP Leaders Knock Obama On Jobs, Economy

Romney: United, We Can Build A Bright Future

Though each of us is different, though each of us will choose to walk a different path in life, we are united by one great, overwhelming passion: We love America. We believe in America. 
-Mitt Romney

Romney On Job Numbers: Obama Has Failed

Today, Mitt Romney released the following statement on May’s unemployment numbers:

“Today’s unemployment numbers show that we are going backwards, and that is the wrong direction for America. President Obama’s policies made the recession worse and as a result more people are out of work. These unemployment numbers should not be viewed as just statistics – these are real families facing significant economic peril because President Obama has failed to pull us out of this economic downturn. Americans deserve a president who will make job creation his number one priority.”

Complete Text Of Romney's Presidential Announcement

Yesterday, Governor Mitt Romney announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Romney made his remarks at Doug and Stella Scamman’s farm in New Hampshire.
The following remarks (emphasis added) were prepared for delivery:

Thank you for coming. And I want to thank Doug and Stella Scamman for hosting us on their beautiful farm.
You know, everyone here today can tell a different story. We have different backgrounds and we wake up in the morning and go to different jobs … or, look for different jobs. We go to different churches or maybe don't go to church so much. I bet some of you have families who go back 200 years or more in New Hampshire. And there must be some who just snuck in across the border, from Massachusetts. I hear the taxes are better over here.
But here we are on a beautiful June day coming together to begin a process that we often, quite naturally, take for granted. But it is really one of the great achievements in the history of the world. For all of our country’s wealth and influence, those are not the source of our greatness. The true strength of America is self-rule, and a government that answers to a free and independent people.
We live in the most powerful nation that ever existed. And it all goes back to a few men and women who had the courage to stand - and even die - for their belief in liberty and equality. Because of their vision, the United States of America is not ruled by a monarchy or controlled by an aristocracy. Though sometimes folks in Washington might act otherwise, we don't have a House of Lords with inherited power. And as the Red Sox like to remind the New York Yankees, there are no dynasties in America.
Who rules this great nation?
You do. Every four years you decide who will give that State of the Union address, who will set the course of the country, who will be Commander in Chief.
What's true right here in this New Hampshire farm has always been true in America. Though each of us is different, though each of us will choose to walk a different path in life, we are united by one great, overwhelming passion: We love America. We believe in America.
Today we are united not only by our faith in America. We are united also by our concern for America.
This country we love is in peril. And that, my friends, is why we are here today.
A few years ago, Americans did something that was, actually, very much the sort of thing Americans like to do: We gave someone new a chance to lead; someone we hadn't known for very long, who didn't have much of a record but promised to lead us to a better place.
At the time, we didn't know what sort of a President he would make. It was a moment of crisis for our economy, and when Barack Obama came to office, we wished him well and hoped for the best.
Now, in the third year of his four-year term, we have more than promises and slogans to go by.
Barack Obama has failed America.
When he took office, the economy was in recession. He made it worse. And he made it last longer.
Three years later, over 16 million Americans are out of work or have just quit looking. Millions more are underemployed.
Three years later, unemployment is still above 8%, a figure he said his stimulus would keep from happening.
Three years later, foreclosures are still at record levels.
Three years later the prices of homes continue to fall.
Three years later, our national debt has grown nearly as large as our entire economy.
Families are buried under higher prices for food and higher prices for gasoline.
It breaks my heart to see what’s happening in this country.
These failing hopes make up President Obama’s own misery index. It’s never been higher. And what’s his answer? He says this: “I’m just getting started.”
No, Mr. President, you’ve had your chance. We, the people on this farm, and citizens across the country are the ones who are just getting started.
I visited with a family, Kathy and Dave Tyler, who live in a suburb north of Las Vegas, Nevada. You probably know families just like them. They're in their early forties, a couple who had worked hard, sacrificed to buy a home in a good neighborhood, the sort of place they wanted their daughter Allie to grow up. But now that neighborhood is being crushed by this Obama economy. First their neighbors started losing their jobs...and then their homes. And all around them now are abandoned houses... and abandoned dreams.
When the Tylers wake up in the morning and get Allie off to school and then go to work and do everything they can to make it to the end of the month and hold their lives together, it doesn't matter if they are Republican or Democrat, Independent or...Libertarian. They're just Americans. An American family.
And across the richest, greatest country on earth, there are millions of American families like the Tylers. Folks who grew up believing that if they played by the rules, worked hard, that they would have the chance to build a good life, with steady work and always that possibility to work a little harder and get ahead.
And in that America, you don't wonder if your children will have a better life. You know they will. You know it the same way we know that tomorrow morning the sun is going to come up in the East right over this field.
That confidence in a better tomorrow defines us as Americans.
When generations of immigrants looked up and saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time, they surely had many questions and doubts about the life before them, but one thing they knew without a doubt is that they were coming to a place where anything was possible—that in America, their children would have a better life.
I believe in that America. I know you believe in that America. It is an America of freedom and opportunity. A nation where innovation and hard work propel the most powerful economy in the world. A land that is secured by the greatest military the world has ever seen, and by friends and allies across the globe.
President Obama sees a different America and has taken us in a different direction.
A few months into office, he travelled around the globe to apologize for America.
At a time of historic change and great opportunity in the Arab world, he is hesitant and uncertain. He hesitated to speak out for the dissidents in Iran, but his Administration boasts that he is “leading from behind” in Libya.
He speaks with firmness and clarity, however, when it comes to Israel. He seems firmly and clearly determined to undermine our longtime friend and ally. He’s treating Israel the same way so many European countries have: with suspicion, distrust and an assumption that Israel is at fault.
To his credit, the President ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In Afghanistan, the surge was right, announcing a withdrawal date was wrong. The Taliban may not have watches, but they do have calendars.
Here at home, the President seems to take his inspiration not from the small towns and villages of New Hampshire but from the capitals of Europe.
With the economy in crisis, his answer is to borrow money we can't afford and throw it at Washington bureaucrats and politicians. Just like Europe.
Instead of encouraging entrepreneurs and employers, he raises their taxes, piles on record-breaking mounds of regulation and bureaucracy and gives more power to union bosses.
Instead of recognizing the states rightful authority to solve problems, he seizes power from them and rams through a disastrous national health care plan.
This President's first answer to every problem is to take power from you, your local government and your state so that so-called “experts" in Washington can make those choices for you. And with each of these decisions, we lose more of our freedom.
You and I understand this. We look at our country, and we know in our hearts that things aren’t right, and they’re not getting better.
President Obama’s European answers are not the right solution to America’s challenges.
In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense, and I intend to make it—because I have lived it.
Twenty-seven years ago, I left a steady job to join with some friends to start a business. Like many of you, it had been a dream of mine to try and build a business from the ground up. We started in a small office a couple of hours from here and over the years, we were able to grow from ten employees to hundreds.
My work led me to become deeply involved in helping other businesses, from innovative startups to large companies going through tough times. Sometimes I was successful and helped create jobs, other times I was not. I learned how America competes with companies in other countries, what works in the real world and what doesn't.
I left my business in 1999 to help put the Salt Lake City Olympics back on track. And when the Games were over, I came home to Massachusetts and served as governor.
I'd never held office before but I went at it like I ran businesses and the Olympics: ask tough questions and take on the toughest problems first, because they'll only get worse.
When I took office, I faced a nearly $3 billion budget hole. My legislature was over 85% Democrat. The expectation was that we'd have to raise taxes but I refused. I ordered a review of all state spending, made tough choices and balanced the budget without raising taxes. That sent a message that business as usual was over.
Over the next four years, we consolidated agencies, cut programs, sold state property and cut taxes nineteen times. The state was giving away over a billion dollars in free health care, much of it to people who could have paid something but were gaming the system. You won't be surprised that a lot of Democrats thought we should be giving away even more.
I took it on and hammered out a solution that took a bad situation and made it better. Not perfect but it was a state solution for a state problem. At the end of four years, it took over 800 vetoes but we balanced every budget, restored a $2 billion dollar rainy day fund and kept our schools first among all 50 states.
All of these experiences -- starting and running businesses for 25 years, turning around the Olympics, governing a state -- have helped shape who I am and how I lead. Of course, if I ran through a list of all my mistakes, Ann would find it hilarious, and we'd be here all night. But I've learned a lot.
Turning around a crisis takes experienced leadership and bold action. For millions of Americans, the economy is in crisis today, and unless we change course, it will be in crisis for all of us tomorrow.
Government under President Obama has grown to consume almost 40% of our economy. We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy. I will cap federal spending at 20% or less of the GDP and finally, finally balance the budget.
My generation will pass the torch to the next generation, not a bill.
I will insist that Washington learns to respect the Constitution, including the 10th Amendment. We will return responsibility and authority to the states for dozens of government programs – and that begins with a complete repeal of Obamacare.
From my first day in office my number one job will be to see that America once again is number one in job creation. You know, if you want to create jobs, it helps to have had a job. I will make business taxes competitive with other nations, modernize regulations and bureaucracy and finally promote America’s trade interests. It’s time for a president who cares more about America’s workers than he does about America’s union bosses.
Over the last thirty years, I can't tell you how many times I've heard a situation is hopeless. But I've never been very good at listening to those people and I've always enjoyed proving them wrong.
It's one of the lessons I learned from my Dad.
My father never graduated from college. He apprenticed, as a lath and plaster carpenter, and he was darn good at it. He learned how to put a handful of nails in his mouth and spit them out, point forward. On their honeymoon, he and Mom drove across the country. Dad sold aluminum paint along the way, to pay for gas and hotels.
There were a lot reasons my father could have given up or set his sights lower. But Dad always believed in America; and in that America, a lath and plaster man could work his way up to running a little car company called American Motors, and end up Governor of a state where he had once sold aluminum paint.
For my Dad, America was the land of opportunity, where the circumstances of birth are no barrier to achieving one’s dreams. Small business and entrepreneurs were encouraged, and respected, and a good worker could almost always find a good job.
The spirit of enterprise, innovation, pioneering and can-do propelled our standard of living and economy past every other nation on earth.
I refuse to believe that America is just another place on the map with a flag. We stand for freedom and opportunity and hope.
These last two years have not been the best of times. But while we’ve lost a couple of years, we have not lost our way. The principles that made us a great nation and leader of the world have not lost their meaning. They never will.
We know we can bring this country back.
I'm Mitt Romney. I believe in America.
And I'm running for President of the United States.

AFP To Protest NJ Greenhouse Gas Initiative, 6/8

Americans for Prosperity, New Jersey's leading free-market, grassroots organization, will lead a protest demonstration next Wednesday, June 8 at 12:00 noon outside the offices of the failing Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The protest will take place as the latest secretive auction of carbon permits is underway inside RGGI’s headquarters located at 90 Church Street (near Ground Zero).

Americans for Prosperity’s New Jersey chapter has led the fight against the clandestine Cap & Trade scheme for the past year leading to last week’s decision by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to pull the Garden State out of what he termed was a “gimmicky” program that is “nothing more than a tax on electricity.”

“Governor Christie’s decision to withdraw New Jersey from the destructive and failing RGGI Cap & Trade program was a major blow to the regional scheme,” said AFP-NJ state director Steve Lonegan. “But that was not the end of this fight, nor the end of RGGI.”

“Americans for Prosperity’s thousands of citizen activists in New Jersey, New York and in the eight other states that are a part of this Cap & Trade scheme will not rest until RGGI is sent to the ash heap of history,” added Lonegan. “We will not rest until RGGI is completely rooted out and dismantled. That includes fully repealing RGGI in the New Jersey state Legislature and seeing that the other states also pull out of RGGI.”

“That’s why we will be leading hundreds of activists right to RGGI’s doorstep next Wednesday to demand that this sketchy, shadowy, job-destroying scheme be killed once and for all.”

For more information on the RGGI cap-and-trade program, please visit www.NoNJCapAndTrade.com. Also, visit Americans for Prosperity’s website here.

N'tl. Rugby Tournamet Sat./Sun. In Philly

Sixteen of the nation’s best collegiate rugby teams compete for the Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) title beginning tomorrow (Saturday, June 4) starting at 9:58 am at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., just off I-95. Round One of the tournament features 24 round-robin matches. The first match of the tournament begins at 9:58 a.m. with the Louisiana State-Penn State match-up.
Other notable matches include Boston College-Notre Dame at 10:42 a.m., Arizona-Temple at 12:10 p.m., Ohio State-Penn State at 12:54 p.m., California-Penn State at 4:06 p.m. and Army-Navy at 5:02 p.m. The last match of the opening round begins at 7:30 p.m. with Oklahoma-Temple. Each match consists of two seven-minute halves.
The CRC tournament also features a massive Rugby Festival and Block Party. Highlights of the CRC Block Party include local entertainment, free concert by Dropkick Murphys on Saturday evening, six of the East Coast’s best food trucks, international beer garden, a high school recruiting program and rugby interactive area and rugby legends.
The tournament and block continue on Sunday, June 5 where the Men’s and Women’s Collegiate Rugby Champion will be crowned.
Single-day and weekend tickets for USA 7’s CRC are available exclusively through ComcastTIX on line at ComcastTIX.com/rugby, by phone at 1-800-298-4200 or in person at the PPL Park box office. Group discounts are available by calling 215-389-9543.

Christie Names Hulick To Lead Alcoholism Council

Yesterday, New Jersey Governor Governor Chris Christie nominated John Hulick of Hamilton (Mercer) to serve as Executive Director of the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. As Executive Director, Hulick will lead the Council’s work in creating and sustaining substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery policies. He will also be charged with the Council’s continued planning and inter-departmental policy coordination role for the State. Currently, a Policy Advisor to the Governor, he leads policy development in the areas of child protection and welfare, persons with disabilities, and behavioral health, as well as economically disadvantaged individuals and families.

“I have seen firsthand the invaluable work that many of our State’s prevention, treatment and recovery organizations are doing every day and applaud their work and understand what a vital role they play in communities,” said Governor Christie. “We are committed to continue working with providers and local communities to focus our prevention efforts on reducing the harmful consequences of alcohol and drug abuse among New Jersey’s youth while continuing to develop a trained workforce able to meet both the mental health and substance abuse disorders facing residents. A strong advocate for families and children throughout his career, New Jersey will be served well with John as the Executive Director of the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.”

Composed of twenty-six members, ten of whom are appointed by the governor with confirmation by the New Jersey State Senate, the Council administers the Statewide Alliance to Prevent Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and establishes guidelines for the grants process to fund local Municipal Alliances. The Municipal Alliance Committees bring together representatives from local governmental bodies, the educational system, the health care community, law enforcement, business, labor, faith based leaders, civic associations, and the community at large to assess the kind and scope of prevention initiatives needed within a given community.

"I'm honored by Governor Christie's nomination and the faith he has placed in me to execute his vision for addressing New Jersey's number one public health concern -- substance abuse," Hulick said, "The Governor's personal, sustained leadership to bring focus to this chronic illness offers hope to the many New Jersey families facing it. His leadership also brings a sense of renewed purpose to the Council's work as it confronts the significant rise in heroin and other opiate use amongst New Jersey's youth and shapes how addiction services are provided. I appreciate the Governor's commitment to this issue and look forward to working with his Administration to address the challenges ahead."

Mr. Hulick’s nomination requires the advice and consent of the Senate and he will serve in an acting capacity in the interim.

Christie Acts To Protect Health Of Newborns

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed first-in-the-nation legislation today to protect the health of newborns from potentially life-threatening congenital birth defects by requiring all inpatient or ambulatory health care facilities licensed by the Department of Health and Senior Services to perform pulse oximetry screenings. The screenings must be completed a minimum of 24 hours after birth and on every newborn at a facility. The legislation makes New Jersey the first state to mandate pulse oximetry testing on newborns statewide.

“As the father of four, I know the birth of a child should be a joyous occasion for parents and family,” said Governor Christie. “There are times when an infant does not readily exhibit symptoms of a potential defect and the condition may not be detected in a routine exam. This legislation will help identify infants who may have hidden, serious heart problems before they leave the hospital, making a significant difference in the lives of these babies, their families and their treating physicians.”

Pulse oximetry is a non-invasive, low-cost test used to identify congenital birth defects in newborns. It measures the percent of oxygen in the blood of an infant and whether a baby’s heart and lungs are healthy. The screening involves taping a sensor to the newborn’s foot that beams red light through the foot to measure blood oxygen content.

“Before they leave the hospital, the 102,000 babies born in our state each year will now have a simple, painless screening test to ensure that any hidden, but potentially life-threatening heart defects will be detected,” said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Mary O’Dowd, who is expecting her first child in a few weeks.

"We expect the pulse oximetry test to detect about 100 congenital heart defects in infants each year, enabling early treatment and preventing life-threatening injury or death," O'Dowd said.
According to the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children, congenital heart disease affects approximately seven to nine of every 1,000 live births in the United States and Europe. About 100 heart defects a year are detected in newborns in New Jersey.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that congenital heart defects are the leading cause of infant death due to birth defects. When left untreated, congenital birth defects may cause physical and mental disabilities, or even death.

Sponsors of the legislation in the Assembly include Assemblypersons Jason O’Donnell (D-Hudson), Connie Wagner (D-Bergen) and Ruben J. Ramos, Jr. (D-Hudson). Senate version sponsors are Senators Richard J. Codey (D-Essex) and Joseph F. Vitale (D—Middlesex).

Christie Nominates Members To Agencies, C'ssns.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today filed the following nominations with the State Senate. The Governor’s nominations are subject to the advice and consent of the State Senate.

NominationS

public employment relations commission

Employee

Nominate for appointment Detective Captain Richard A. Wall (Great Meadows, Warren)

Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse

Nominate for appointment Frank L. Greenagel, Jr., LCSW, LCADC, ACSW, CJC  (Lebanon, Hunterdon)

Nominate for appointment Barbara Adolphe (Newton, Sussex)

New Jersey CemeTery Board

Nominate for appointment Rabbi Jay M. Kornsgold (East Windsor, Mercer)

State health planning board

Consumer

Nominate for appointment Jon S. Brandt (Randolph, Morris)

Domestic Companion animal council

Humane Society of the United States

Nominate for appointment Sherry L. Ramsey, Esq. (Freehold, Monmouth)

Christie Vetoes NJEFA Appointment

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie continued to exercise his veto authority today by rejecting a portion of the minutes of the May 24, 2011 board meeting of the New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority (NJEFA) for its approval to appoint a new Deputy Executive Director. The Governor noted that the selection process for the position was flawed since no application or interview process was conducted and that the Board simply handpicked an employee for the post.

“The need for a Deputy Executive Director at EFA, which has a staff of only fourteen employees, is questionable,” the Governor wrote in his veto letter to NJEFA Executive Director James Poole. “The designation of important staff titles such as Deputy Executive Director should be made only after the appropriate agency leaders have determined that the position is necessary and that candidates have been considered in a fair and consistent manner. Neither of those tasks was accomplished here.”

In his letter, the Governor also pointed out that the Executive Director, on the record at the May 24, 2011 meeting, noted there was no need for the position.

No other veto power was exercised on any other action taken by the Board.

This veto is the twenty-third exercised by Governor Christie in his effort to reform spending, budgeting and management practices at New Jersey authorities, commissions and boards over which he has veto authority. A bill proposed by Governor Christie that is pending before the legislature would expand that veto authority to numerous other semi-autonomous state entities.