Source: US Rep. Walter B. Jones (NC-3), 12/3/15

As we enter the Christmas season, I want to update you on my work for Eastern North Carolina and what has happened in Congress so far this Fall.

Tomorrow, December 4th, I am opening two new constituent service centers in Jacksonville and Havelock. These offices will serve the people of the Third District in addition to my existing office location in Greenville.  If you need help with a federal issue or agency, please don't hesitate to stop by.  We're here to help! 

This year, the National Marine Fisheries Service decided to close the South Atlantic red snapper fishery to commercial and recreational harvest.  I'm demanding answers on this decision.  It's a textbook example of the shortcomings of federal fisheries management right now.  Everyone acknowledges the catch estimate data is poor, and has been for quite some time.  But rather than taking steps to improve it years ago, either in-house or through cooperative research, little was done.  And who suffers?  Not the agency, but the fishermen who pay the taxes to support the agency.  It's unacceptable, and the agency needs to provide some answers on how they're going to make it right.

I'm raising strong concerns with the National Park Service's push for increased restrictions on public access to Cape Lookout National Seashore. There is no need for more restrictions that economically hurt the communities serving the seashore.
Standing for What's Right

Last month,  I voted against a bad budget deal negotiated between former Speaker John Boehner and President Obama to raise the debt limit through March 2017.  With a debt of over $18 trillion, congressional leadership and President Obama cooked up a scheme to add $1.5 trillion more to the debt.  We can't continue to borrow from the Chinese and leave our kids and grandkids with the tab.

Last month, I was honored to receive the Defender of the American Economy Award from the U.S. Business and Industry Council for opposing unconstitutional "fast track" Trade Promotion Authority for President Obama. I strongly oppose giving fast track to any president, particularly President Obama.  President Obama has already used fast track to cut another bad trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  Like its predecessors NAFTA and CAFTA, the TPP will cause the loss of more American jobs and more of America's sovereignty.  I will continue to fight TPP and other harmful trade deals in the coming months.

Today, I voted against the Conference Report on a bloated federal transportation bill. The bill was over 1,000 pages and will cost $305 billion. The bill made no substantive changes to the Highway Trust Fund to make it sustainable in the long run. The bill also reauthorizes the unrelated Export-Import Bank, which puts U.S. taxpayers on the hook for future bailouts when foreign companies can't pay their bills. With America's debt already over $18.5 trillion, we just can't afford to keep doing this to the taxpayers!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas season!
Thank you,
Congressman Jones