RELEASE: In Big Win for Jersey, Gottheimer-backed Bipartisan Federal Investments for Towns Passes House

Key Dollars for Veterans

Clawing Tax Dollars Back to Jersey  

Support Law Enforcement, Community Projects for Local Towns, Transit

Key Support for Our Veterans, Boosting National Security, Combating Terror

Support for Iron Dome Missile Defense System Key to Israel’s Security

Gottheimer Votes for Pay Raise for Troops

Fighting to Claw Back More Federal Dollars to North Jersey

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, March 10, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed critical bipartisan federal investments backed by U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), including community projects and infrastructure investments across the Fifth District. This moves these Fifth District community projects another step closer to becoming a reality. 

The House also passed key provisions championed by Gottheimer to invest in national security, combating terror, and providing critical support for our brave veterans. The legislation also helps provide investment for the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, enacted into law last year, to fix and improve crumbling roads, bridges, tunnels, rails, and mass transit; and to improve our broadband, water, and more — including critical investment for New Jersey.

The ten community projects championed by Gottheimer passed by the House today include:

• Bergen County’s Hackensack Transit Connector Project — $250,000.
• Hackensack University Medical Center’s CT Scanner Acquisition Project — $775,000.
• Hardwick Township Virtual Services Upgrades — $17,460.
• New Bridge Medical Center’s Behavioral Health Emergency Dept. Expansion Project — $2 million.
• Newton Medical Center Behavioral Health Department Renovations Project — $750,000.
• Paramus Borough Prospect Avenue Sewer Pump Station Project — $250,000.
• Ridgewood Water Drinking Water Treatment Facilities Construction — $2.8 million.
• Saddle River’s Sewer Main Construction Project — $1.1 million.
• Sussex Borough Water Utility Improvement Project — $100,000.
• Sussex County Elderly, Veteran, and Employment Services Transportation Services — $500,000.

Gottheimer submitted these ten Community Project Funding proposals for consideration earlier this Congress. Each Fifth District project has now been passed by the House, and now heads to the Senate to be passed and then signed into law by the President. More information on community projects can be found here.

“By working closely with North Jersey’s local counties, towns, and municipalities, I’ve been fighting in Congress to claw more tax dollars back to Jersey for projects that help our communities. Today marked a major milestone in that fight. With all ten Fifth District community projects included in the bipartisan legislation, we’re one step closer to clawing back more federal dollars to North Jersey,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “When signed into law, this federal investment will improve transit, support law enforcement, fight terror, and help lower the property tax burden on our families.”

Key Gottheimer-backed provisions passed by the House today to support our brave veterans:

• Veteran health care: Critical investments in health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including a historic investment for Veterans Medical Care. Priorities include:
  • Investment for Mental Healthcare, providing treatment and support for the nearly 2 million Veterans who receive mental health services through the VA, including investment for suicide prevention outreach.
  • Investment specifically for women’s health care.
  • Opioid Abuse Prevention, for more targeted investment of pain management and opioid safety programs. 

• Veteran benefits: Helping ensure the Veterans Benefits Administration can promptly process disability claims and continue reducing the disability claims backlog.
  • Investment will help the VA complete an estimated 1.7 million disability compensation claims in 2022, and support service-connected compensation payments to an estimated 5.5 million veterans, 500,000 survivors and dependents. 

Critical Gottheimer-championed national security and anti-terror provisions passed by the House today:

• Investment to protect our ally Israel: Key investment in security assistance to Israel in accordance with the 2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding.
• Investment for annual U.S.-Israel missile defense cooperation, including support for the Arrow, David Sling, and Iron Dome systems — to protect our key ally and the lone democracy in the Middle East.
• $1 billion in supplemental funding for the Iron Dome aerial defense system, which Gottheimer advocated for since the start of the conflict in May 2021. 
• Emergency assistance in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as it fights back against Russia’s horrific invasion.
• A 2.7% pay raise for members of the military — to ensure we’re getting the backs of those who bravely have ours.
• Combating China: Investment to counter China and other near-peer adversaries, including through Naval support and prompt strike programs.
• Protecting North Jersey religious institutions from terror: A nearly 40% boost in federal investment for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), to help protect and strengthen North Jersey houses of worship, religious institutions, schools, and community organizations from attacks from lone-wolf ISIS-inspired terrorists and domestic extremists. 
• Support for the Abraham Accords: Inclusion of the Israel Relations Normalization Act, bipartisan legislation that Gottheimer cosponsored to:
  • Endorse the Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco;
  • Mandate the formulation of a government-wide strategy to expand and strengthen the accords; and,
  • Identify and push back against government-sponsored efforts in several Arab League countries to discourage and retaliate against their own citizens who engage in people-to-people relations with Israelis.

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