New Jersey is home to five military bases, from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to Picatinny Arsenal, from Naval Weapons Station Earle to the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May and the 177th Fighter Wing in Atlantic City. These installations are essential to our national security – and our location has made them critical pieces of our nation’s military preparedness.
“They want to raise what they call the debt limit,” Norcross (D-Camden County) said. “You want to raise the debt limit? My idea is let’s raise the minimum wage. We can do this together and there are a number of other issues that we have to get done passing these spending bills.”
“Finally, after 11 years, we will have a vote to raise the minimum wage. This is America. You play by the rules, you work hard, you are supposed to be able to make it. But that’s not the way it is,” Norcross said. “Less than two years ago, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle made sure that the top 1% got their raise as they’re stepping on the American worker. Today’s the day that we set the record straight and give opportunity to those who need it the most.” Norcross invoked Henry Ford, who famously paid his workers the highest wages in the automotive industry at the time and said that the act would “give a raise to the people who need it most to survive”.
“Americans have been rightfully demanding lower healthcare costs and today the House responded to their call,” said Congressman Norcross, a former IBEW and SJ AFL-CIO leader who spent years negotiating workers’ benefit packages. “Congress has been continually delaying this policy instead of enacting an outright repeal, which means workers and negotiators have been unable to properly plan or bargain during three-to-five year wage and benefit negotiations. By repealing this tax, we’re giving workers the certainty they need to plan their benefit packages, and working families are safeguarded from an undue increase to their healthcare costs.”
“These grants will help advance cutting-edge projects in South Jersey and help ensure students and teachers are ready for the demands of the 21st century economy,” said Congressman Norcross, a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor. “As our hometown researchers work to find cures for diseases and our local teachers gain new tools for the classroom, South Jersey will be able to continue innovating and thriving.”