Where does delegation stand on the economy?

By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... With the advent of the New Year, the 2024 election cycle began in earnest.
..... NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network - New Jersey reached out to each of the state's 12 members of the House of Representatives to find out what they focusing on and how they think the country is handling foreign policy and the economy.
..... We asked about inflation and other economic uncertainly. here is a selection of what the said:

What more can be done to help people in the face of high inflation and other economic uncertainly?

Representative Josh Gotheimer, D-5

..... "It's something I've been focused on for seven years and I always talk about, which is clawing back more of our tax dollars sent to Washington back to Jersey, away from the moocher states. "We're actually up 357% or so in my district since I'm in Congress about getting money back, for things form cops and firefighters and firetrucks to clean drinking water. And across the board, we've been able to get more money back to Jersey versus going to other states, especially in my district.

Representative Mikie Sherrill, D-11

..... "The number one complaint i get from my companies is that they don't have enough people to employ. We're working overtime with our community colleges and our apprenticeship programs to cerate the workforce that our companies need ... We've been attacking inflation; it's down by 60% from its height, so I think we're seeing a lot of good news. What is incumbent upon us now is to grow some of those gains that we put in place and protect those gains form the last Congress. I think that the work we did in the last Congress was so incredibly innovative. So we move our economy forward; we come to the table to compete globally, enter the global competition, which the United States can deliver on."

Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9

..... "I'm hoping that the [Federal Reserve] board not only doesn't increase interest rates, or cut them, and I am very confident if we move the way we're moving in the last couple of months in terms of job increase, in terms of the reduction of inflation on goods and services that people need day in and day out."

Representative Robert Menendez Jr, D-8

..... "I think what we have to communicate to our residents: We know there's still challenges that they're facing every single day.
..... They get up and they're dong the best they can to provide for their families to put money away. But there's external factors that make that hard ... it's been a challenging time coming out of COVID, and the federal government, Democrats, acted to stabilize the situation. There's more work to do. We want to do that work."

Representative Frank Pallone, D-6

..... "That's where i think that we can come up with a consensus hopefully between the parties. The Energy and Commerce Committee, where I'm the ranking member, we actually did approximately 40 bills that were consensus, and some of them dealt with improving the supply chain.
..... I think that Democrats and Republicans have come together on a number of supply chain issues because we recognize that during COVID, one of the factors with inflation was the fact that the supply chain dried up, the demand was great, but the supply was very limited, and that's a major factor ...
..... We have a bill that deals with transparency of hospitals and insurance companies. So they have to provide information on pricing.

Representative Andy Kim, D-3

..... "We've already seem a lot of good come out of the inflation Reduction Act, but our work is far from over. I'm glad Medicare has identified the first 10 drugs they're going to negotiate prices, and that in another year, my $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs for seniors on Medicare provision will go into effect.
..... "We're bolstered our supply chains and now we need to make those permanent so grocers and gas continue to drop in price and people can better afford the everyday things need."

Representative Donald Norcross, D-1

..... "It's about making the dollars that you bring home from your job work and making sure that you can afford the basic staples of life, obviously food, education, things that we all care about. The inflation Reduction Act did a tremendous step in the right direction of stemming the cost of prescription drugs.
..... It is stunning ... Inflation is coming down. The gas prices are coming down but are still too high.
.... We understand ... This is headed in the right direction. We just need to get there quicker."

..... Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse email:sobko@northjersey.com.

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