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New Web site Launches
Posted by John McHugh on 06/23/2009
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I hope you are enjoying the new look and feel of our office Web site. Hopefully, this allows you to find and use the information you are looking for even faster. Please feel free to email me your feedback on the new site and what type of content you would like to see.
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Some New Pictures
Posted by John McHugh on 03/05/2009
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Check out my photo albums for some recent pictures. You can see pictures from my meetings this week with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General Kevin Chilton, Commander, U.S. Strategic Forces, and students from Colton-Pierrepont Central School. View them here and here.
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Photos from Iraq and Afghanistan Trip
Posted by John McHugh on 02/10/2009
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Last night, I returned from a five-day Congressional trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. On the trip with me were Republican Leader John Boehner, Republican Whip Eric Cantor, Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Pete Hoekstra, and House Appropriations Committee Members Jo Bonner and Tom Latham. To view photos from the trip, click here.
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Press Conference on Iraq/Afghanistan Trip
Posted by John McHugh on 02/10/2009
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I just got back from a press conference with the other Members who traveled with me to Iraq and Afghanistan (Republican Leader John Boehner, Republican Whip Eric Cantor, Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee Pete Hoekstra, and House Appropriations Committee Members Jo Bonner and Tom Latham). To listen to the audio, visit: http://www.republicanleader.house.gov/UploadedFiles/02-10-09_CODEL_Presser.mp3.
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Blog: Floor Statement in Support of SCHIP
Posted by John McHugh on 01/23/2009
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I submitted the following statement into the Congressional Record after I voted in support of H.R. 2, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (SCHIP) last week:
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. Given the importance of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to my constituents, I am pleased that the House is working to extend SCHIP through Fiscal Year 2013.
Every bill that works its way through Congress has provisions that are less than ideal and this bill is no exception. Clearly, if given the opportunity, I would write much of this bill in a different way. That opportunity, of course, will not materialize.
However, accessibility to quality health care is one of the great challenges we face as a nation. It is a particularly acute problem in Northern and Central New York, which I have the privilege of representing. According to one source, there are currently over 400,000 children without health insurance in New York State.
The importance of the SCHIP program to my district is hard to overstate. In fact, nearly 20,000 children in the eleven counties I represent are currently enrolled in the Child Health Plus as the SCHIP program is known in New York State.
The bill before the House today would strengthen and expand the SCHIP program by providing an additional $35 billion over the next four and a half years. As a result of this increase in funding, an additional 4 million children – 267,000 in New York State - are projected to be enrolled in the program, thereby ensuring that a total of 11 million children nationwide have access to health care. Thus, I will support this measure.
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Blog: Honoring Our Heroes
Posted by John McHugh on 10/29/2008
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Last week, I had the honor of presenting one of our true American heroes with a much-deserved and very belated Purple Heart. The Purple Heart is awarded to servicemembers injured or killed while serving with the U.S. military, and was established by General George Washington in 1782. This Purple Heart was presented to Jim Woodworth, a Vietnam veteran who waited 40 years for his award. Jim is a Central New York native who now lives in Sullivan, New York with his family.
Jim served his country in the Army during Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. He rose to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. In 1968, the helicopter Jim was in was shot down over South Vietnam, and he sustained injuries that kept him in the hospital for over a year. Jim had 20 surgeries. Although he certainly met the criteria for the Purple Heart, and was told “paperwork was put in for his award,” due to an error, it had never been awarded. After Jim contacted my office this year, we were able to rectify the situation, and on Wednesday, October 22, in Madison County, I was able to finally give Jim the honor he deserved. It meant a lot to me to be able to spend time with a man that sacrificed so much of himself for our country.
To read more about Jim’s story, you can read the Syracuse Post-Standard article here: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/40_years_later_veteran_gets_hi.html.
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Blog: Coming Together on September 11
Posted by John McHugh on 09/11/2008
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Today marks the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As I turned on the television this morning, I saw pictures of American flags and heard strands of “God Bless America.” I listened to parts of the solemn reading of the names of the almost 3,000 victims of the attacks. And, I watched the rare pictures of the actual attacks themselves, played just once a year on too few stations.
Here in Washington, DC, a new corner was turned today - the dedication of the Pentagon Memorial, commemorating the 184 lives that were lost at that site and on American Airlines Flight 77. The memorial is stunning, a tremendous and moving tribute to the individuals - ages 3 to 71 – who lost their lives that Tuesday morning. It is a day filled with a lot of meaning for their families, who have worked tirelessly to make this memorial a reality. And, it will be a place for the rest of us to come and reflect, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
In New York City, today is the last day for the families of the victims to make their way down to the site and touch the ground where the towers stood. Next year, the construction of the World Trade Center memorial will prevent what has become a yearly ritual from taking place. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will take a break from the campaign trail and come together at this place in solemn remembrance.
All too often, during the rest of the year, talking about September 11 has taken on political connotations. It has sadly become a tool for partisan attacks and differences and what separates left from right. This is truly unfortunate - we should instead be able to remember, as a nation, a day that shattered the security of our borders and took the lives of so many. We should be able to pay tribute to those brave men and women – our first responders, our military, and our citizens – who rose to defend us. And, we should be able to recognize the evil in this world that, on that clear morning, acted to take away everything for which this country stands.
I hope you take a moment today to truly remember those individuals who were lost seven years ago and the unimaginable grief their loved ones face living every day since without them. And, perhaps most of all, I hope that at least for today, we can come together as Americans – whether on the steps of the Capitol or on the streets of our hometowns, as did we seven years ago.
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Blog: Protecting Our Roads
Posted by John McHugh on 08/05/2008
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Yesterday, the Department of Transportation announced that they will be extending the Mexican Truckers cross-border demonstration program for two years after the pilot program’s end date this September. This program has allowed Mexican truckers to operate in the United States under the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which I opposed and voted against.
I am strongly against this program – and I have voted for different pieces of legislation in the House of Representatives that would prevent this trucking program from becoming permanent, restrict funding to the program, and prohibit the expansion of the program. It is clear the Administration thus far has refused to listen to the will of Congress, which is why I am cosponsoring the bipartisan H.R. 6630. The legislation, introduced right before August recess and already passed out of Committee on July 29, would expressly prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from granting authority to a motor carrier domiciled in Mexico to operate beyond United States municipalities and commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border as part of a demonstration pilot program.
Protecting American jobs and American drivers on the road should be our foremost consideration, not protecting this misguided program. Mexican truckers are not held to the same high safety standards as U.S. truckers – and their presence on the road is dangerous to American drivers and their families. I am hopeful that the House can vote on H.R. 6630 as soon as we return from August recess and the Senate will quickly follow suit.
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Blog: Unfinished Business
Posted by John McHugh on 07/30/2008
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Traditionally, the week before August Recess is one of the busiest weeks of the Congressional schedule. Midnight votes, Saturday sessions, and bipartisan compromises usually characterize the flurry of activity before the break. This includes ensuring that the House has passed each of the 12 appropriations bills for the next fiscal year (these bills dictate the entire federal budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1). This year, however, things here in the House are eerily quiet. We have yet to vote on a single appropriations bill and most of the bills are not even passed by committee yet – only one appropriations bill is scheduled for the floor this week. That means, when Congress adjourns for August recess, the House will – at best – have passed one of the 12 appropriations bills. Worse, the leadership in the House has refused to let even one meaningful energy bill that would increase American supply– from oil to renewables - come to the floor for a vote. I have heard from constituents across the 23rd District and they are looking to Congress to take action. I believe a vote to increase domestic energy supply would pass the House - if Democratic leadership allowed us to vote on it.
Instead, today, the Democratic leadership voted to go on recess for the four weeks of August and first week of September. Every Republican, including myself, voted no on adjournment. I believe it is important to stay here until we do the work the American public elected us to do – such as addressing record high energy prices. Most Democrats voted yes - which means the House will leave for five weeks without helping consumers with price relief at the gas pump, without working to address what are predicted to be record high heating costs this winter, and without voting on 11 of the 12 appropriations bills that govern how federal dollars should be spent.
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