• Frelinghuysen Cheers Sneaky Move to Undermine Obamacare
• Research and Renewable Energy slashed and burned, Clean Water Rule vaporized
• We won’t have to vote for a ficus in 2018…

Representative Frelinghuysen had to skip marching in any of the dozen Independence Day parades around the district last week as he was visiting the British Territory of Gibraltar for a “fact finding" tour. But what, if any, facts were found, or whether he missed his patriotic constituents in our Red White and Blue (and Purple), we do not know. He sent us no e-newsletter this week.  Will he be similarly silent as the evidence of cooperation between Russia and the President's family and campaign begins to glare? What would provoke definitive response from our congressman?  A return of a healthcare bill to the House? The elimination of renewable energy programs? Of Net Neutrality? Of Women's rights? We can ask.  And if answers are not forthcoming, we can ask the now four declared candidates who seek to oppose him.

The Rodney Report nevertheless persists, looking under the hood of a couple of bills coming out of the Appropriation subcommittees and introducing you to the courageous woman and men who seek to challenge our absent Representative.

Frelinghuysen Cheers Sneaky Move to Undermine Obamacare

Unable to rally public support for the Senate’s Trumpcare bill,  which would result in millions of  uninsured Americans, the GOP devised a backdoor plan that would help dismantle Obamacare.

The House Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government approved a bill that would halt the IRS from enforcing Obamacare’s “individual mandate,’’ which requires those without insurance to pay a tax penalty to the IRS. Although the tax is dependent on income and other factors, the cost averaged about $470 for those who failed to obtain minimum essential coverage.

• On Top Of A Hill And Behind The Scenes
• Budgets, Calendars, Bargaining
• Another ‘Yea’ On Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Agenda
• Town Halls, According To Rodney
• To Russia, With Love?

On Top Of A Hill And Behind The Scenes

In honor of Independence Day, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen had a byline on North Jersey.com yesterday, praising service, sacrifice and civility in an op-ed that referenced Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” speech,   a Holy Grail of GOP oratory. (“... a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity.”)

A portrait of a humble, old-school public servant with a gentle knack for connecting with others when the cameras aren’t rolling, contributor Frelinghuysen’s piece comes a few weeks after he hired Mike DuHaime, the GOP strategist who headed Gov. Chris Christie’s 2009 campaign.

Recording and Transcript of the Tuesday, June 27th "Tele-Town Hall" with Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen

• AHCA: At A Crossroads
• Veterans Affairs: Fixes Vs. Cures
• How Special Are Those Elections?
• Staying Secure

The Senate’s radical take on healthcare, which finally saw the light of day last week, dominated voter attention -- and apprehension. We also take a look at special elections, plus our congressman’s e-News items on veterans and national security.

AHCA: At A Crossroads, And How We Got Here

This week U.S. Senators will vote on what they call the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BRCA), their version of the House bill known as AHCA, or, in yet another shorthand, Trumpcare.

This measure would displace an estimated $1 trillion over the next decade from healthcare funding to bankroll tax cuts for the benefit of the richest U.S. citizens. That is a brutal statement, we know. But then, this is a brutal bill, which:

• Deepens cuts to Medicaid funding, putting poor children, those with mental-health issues, and those with disabilities firmly in the bull’s-eye.
• Would leave 22 million more people without health insurance by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office said today.
• Decimates protections for pre-existing conditions by loosening the rules under which states can waive coverage requirements, and allowing states greater latitude in defining what “essential health coverage” means.
• Throws even those of us in large employer-sponsored plans under the bus – since under current regulations, such plans can choose the rules of any state in the country (loosened rules, remember) as their basis for defining coverage.