Above: Gottheimer on stage at the KAANJ’s 21st Annual Festival celebrating Chuseok with KAANJ President Chang H Lee.

RIDGEFIELD, NJ — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) took part in The Korean-American Association of New Jersey’s (KAANJ) 21st Annual Festival celebrating Chuseok. The festival brings New Jersey’s diverse communities together to enjoy and experience Korean culture. This year’s festival featured Korean dishes, music, art, and more to celebrate Chuseok, a South Korean holiday celebrating the full moon and harvest.

“A critical part of North Jersey’s strength is our proud Korean American community — which works every day to make the Fifth District an even better place to live, raise our families, and do business. I’m proud to be able to help celebrate Chuseok and demonstrate that we must all work together and remember that our greatest strength is diversity,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). 

Gottheimer has worked with Korean American community and business leaders from North Jersey to support small businesses, lower taxes, keep communities safe, help make life more affordable, and combat hate against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Video of Gottheimer at the KAANJ’s 21st Annual Festival can be found here.

Gottheimer was joined by New Jersey State Senator Gordon Johnson (LD 37), Assemblywoman Ellen Park (LD-37), Assemblywoman Shama Haider (LD-37), Bergen County Executive James Tedesco, Bergen County Commissioners Dr. Joan Voss, Mary Amorosso, Tom Sullivan, and Germaine Ortiz, Bergen County Clerk John Hogan, Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton, Bergen County Undersheriff Jin Sung Kim, Teaneck Councilman Michael Pagan, and KAANJ President Chang H Lee. 

Gottheimer’s work to support North Jersey includes:

Boosting North Jersey’s return on investment: Gottheimer is committed to lowering taxes and getting Fifth District residents a better return on the tax dollars they already send to Washington. Gottheimer announced that, by working with Fifth District mayors, councils, first responders, and towns, the Fifth District clawed back $750 from Washington for every Fifth District household the year prior — a 357% increase from what the District has historically received. These dollars help first responders protect our communities while offsetting the strain on local budgets and property tax bills.

Fighting crime and supporting law enforcement: Gottheimer’s bipartisan, bicameral legislation recently passed in the House — the Invest to Protect Act makes critical, targeted investments in local police departments and ensure that police officers in smaller communities in North Jersey and across the country have the resources and training they need to keep themselves and their communities safe. Gottheimer also announced that the Fifth District clawed back more than $3.5 million of surplus federal equipment and resources for local law enforcement in 2020, as well as more than $2.7 million in federal investment to help hire law enforcement and help our police officers better protect our communities and themselves.

Lowering taxes and making life more affordable:​ Gottheimer launched an Affordability Agenda for Jersey, which includes working to get fuel and energy prices down, cutting day-to-day costs like prescription drugs, helping cut through red tape and bureaucracy, and lowering taxes for hard-working families.

Fixing North Jersey’s crumbling infrastructure: Gottheimer helped lead the charge to shape and pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill last year, working with Democrats and Republicans to enact the greatest infrastructure investment in a century. This bipartisan bill will help build the new Gateway Train Tunnel, fix our crumbling roads, bridges, rail, and NJ Transit, help fight climate change, invest in our ports, expand broadband access to the unconnected, and get lead out of our children’s drinking water.

Supporting local small businesses: Gottheimer helped pass the bipartisan Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act, to claw back resources for small businesses that employ fewer than 200 people, suffered a 40 percent pandemic-related revenue loss, and did not previously receive certain grants. During the height of the pandemic, Gottheimer helped lead the Problem Solvers Caucus and a bipartisan group of Senators in writing and passing emergency bipartisan COVID-19 relief legislation to support families, small businesses, and frontline workers, including a new round of PPP resources. 

Combating hate: Since taking office, Gottheimer has helped Fifth District houses of worship, schools, and local community organizations claw back more than $7.7 million in federal Nonprofit Security Grants from FEMA, to invest in security for organizations that are at risk of a terrorist attack from homegrown and lone-wolf ISIS-inspired terrorists and white supremacists. Gottheimer helped pass Rep. Grace Meng’s resolution last Congress to condemn all forms of anti-Asian sentiment as related to COVID-19, and supports the resolution again this Congress. Gottheimer has also helped lead bipartisan efforts to work to pass the NO HATE Act, which has been endorsed by the Problem Solvers Caucus that Gottheimer co-chairs, to strengthen federal law to combat hate speech, threats, and attacks.

Working across the aisle: Gottheimer serves as the Co-Chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, where he works to bring the group of 29 Democrats and 29 Republicans together across party lines to find areas of agreement on key issues including lowering taxes, cutting health insurance premiums, and improving infrastructure to help the American people.

Below: Gottheimer at the KAANJ’s 21st Annual Festival celebrating Chuseok.

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