Frelinghuysen: We Must Not Default on Our Debts

On the day that the U.S. government reached its debt ceiling, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen Tuesday told an audience of Morris County business leaders that the Obama Administration and both political parties have to deal carefully with this issue.

Frelinghuysen is not in favor of the allowing the federal government to default on its debts, the Republican 11th-District Congressman said.

There is confusion about what surpassing the debt ceiling means, he said.

“This allows the government to pay obligations created by what we approved, our present debts,” Frelinguysen said.

It is not a signal to trigger additional spending, he said.

The nine-term Republican Congressman from Harding, who serves a district that includes all of Morris and parts of Sussex, Somerset, Essex and Passaic counties, was speaking to members of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce at its Washington Update breakfast.

The concern over reaching the debt ceiling was produced, he said, by a Congress over the past two years that failed to pass a complete federal budget, settling instead on a series of continuing resolutions to fund operation.

The George W. Bush administration raised the debt ceiling seven times in eight years.

With the election last fall of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Frelinghuysen said, the need to do the people’s business is taking hold. He serves on the House Appropriation’s Committee, and the sense on that panel is of getting down to business, Frelinghuysen said.

With a Democratic president, a Democratic Senate and a Republican House, he said, more conversation is taking place. “It is good to have some articulate debate,” he said. “It is welcome with the new members of the House.”

Frelinghuysen said the Tea Party is making its presence felt in Congress, but is a reflection of the “anger and concern” that was expressed in last November’s election.

Many of the new members of Congress who were elected as Tea Party members are from the business community or are former state elected officials, and they bring solid ideas to the debate, he said.

The biggest issue in Washington is getting federal spending under control, he said. It will require cuts to federal support of local programs and eventually taking a hard look at the big entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare, he said.

Michelle Roers, chief professional officer of the Morris County office of the United Way of Northern New Jersey, asked what the potential impact could be on programs that support low-income families, seniors and others in need.

Frelinghuysen said that cuts would be made in social programs, but called for a careful review of the potential impact.

“We have to be careful and not use a broad-brush approach,” he said. “We have to know the real impact.”

He said he would be working carefully on those issues.

On other issues:

• On Pakistan, the death of Osama bin Laden and the turmoil in nations in the Middle East and North Africa, Frelinghuysen said, “We need to keep Pakistan close to the United States.” Ninety-percent of the fuel used by American troops in Afghanistan is delivered over trade routes that originate in Pakistan, he said. That relationship is key to the war effort, he said. “We could  not conduct the war in Afghanistan without access from Pakistan,” Frelinghuysen said  He said the furor over whether Pakistan should have known Bin Laden was living in the country will pass, and said members of Congress need to be careful about what they say about the nation, and the tone of those remarks.
• He said the protests and government overthrows in North Africa and the Middle East are a concern because of the potential impact in Israel, the closest ally the U.S. has in the region. He said President Obama was right  in supporting Lybian rebels while leaving the fate of Omar Gadhafi to NATO.  The concern he has about the rebellions, he said, although he generally supported efforts to create free governments, is “who will fill the vaccum.”
• On energy, Frelinghuysen said Obama's administration needs to develop a coherent and comprehensive plan to incorporate wind, solar, nuclear and alternative energy sources into the types of power used across the country. He applauded New Jersey’s efforts in solar power generation which places  the state in the number two in terms of the amount  of electricity generated by solar. But over all, alternative energy only accounts for 7 percent of all power used, he said. For the time being, Frelinghuysen said, the country will be relying on oil-based products and coal, while other sources are developed. The intricate politics of Congress plays a role in this debate. Congress members from the coal regions work hard to support that industry, while other from areas that rely on water power, for example, tend to protect their own industries, he said.