By Ron Miskoff

EDISON – Transportation remains a key concern for Rep. Frank Pallone, especially since he was appointed chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2018. 

Pallone met with members of the local media — newspapers and websites — on Feb. 21 at the Menlo Park Diner in Edison to discuss recent legislative goals and accomplishments. Pallone represents the sixth district of New Jersey, which includes Perth Amboy and South Amboy.

Rep. Frank Pallone. Photo by Ron Miskoff

Pallone discussed the upgrade of the Perth Amboy train station, which, according to a report in December, received unanimous New Jersey Transit Board of Directors approval of nearly $7 million in funding to provide final engineering design services and construction assistance. Although construction has not begun, Mayor Wilda Diaz has declared the station upgrade to be a “mission” of hers since she was elected in 2008.

The project would upgrade station accessibility, including the installation of elevators to augment the steep staircases that passengers now have to descend or climb to reach the low-level platform or the street, respectively. The station is 91 years old.

Pallone said he planned to “look into” the rail station project in the coming weeks, and, right on the spot, he assigned a member of his staff — District Director Matthew Montekio — to be a liaison to the media on the subject. The project has been stalled for years, and NJ Transit, various federal agencies, and the mayor’s office have only moved the project ahead at glacial speeds in the past.

“Funding has been cleared up,” Pallone noted as he reminded the members of the media that there is a federal mandate to complete the project.

Aside from Pallone’s interest in upgrading the station, he discussed myriad goals he has as chairman of his committee and as a member of Congress. 

His committee concerns itself with many issues, according to his website, including health care; health insurance; biomedical research and development; food safety; clean air and climate change; safe drinking water; national energy policy; nuclear facilities; electronic communications and the internet; privacy, cybersecurity and data security; consumer protection and product safety; travel, tourism and sports; and interstate and foreign commerce.

It’s a wide-ranging number of areas, and Pallone noted on his site that his committee is the oldest continuous standing panel in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was established in 1795 to regulate interstate and foreign commerce.

Right now, Pallone has also concerned his committee with offshore oil and gas exploration and improving the national infrastructure; that is, roads, bridges, and other substantial federal building projects. 

In discussing his latest efforts to attract more public attention to his work and that of the federal government in general, he noted the lack of media coverage of federal legislation. For example, although his committee has jurisdiction over the Federal Communications Commission, the committee has not been able to bring up issues concerning better news coverage by broadcasters. Meanwhile, he noted, President Donald Trump has relaxed rules on broadcasting.

“There is a need to promote local media,” he told the local news representatives.

He even toyed with the idea of holding hearings on how to improve local media coverage.

“It’s not a bad idea,” he said.

He said he planned to look into the possibility of a hearing on the lack of local news.

Pallone also pointed out that the national and regional media, in its recent coverage of the executive and legislative branches, has been emphasizing the conflict between parties over getting legislation passed. But, he went on, there is, in fact, a lot of cooperation between the parties and frequent cross-aisle agreement.

His most frustrating problem, he said, is the passage of bills in the Democratic-controlled House that are stymied when they land on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk. McConnell is regarded as a tool of Trump’s in the Senate. 

Still, Pallone, said, “There’s bi-partisan efforts and efforts to reach out to the (Trump) administration.”

He discussed the Portal Bridge, a railroad bridge that runs from Kearny to Secaucus and crosses the Hackensack River. The bridge routinely opens to allow boats to pass underneath. That causes delays on NJ Transit and Amtrak lines. The bridge has been in disrepair for years and causes many delays, including ones that are felt by passengers traveling to and from central New Jersey. 

Pallone thought the Portal Bridge should be “much further down the road” on federal preferences, far behind the Gateway Tunnels, which are supposed to improve the flow of rail traffic into and out of Manhattan.

“They want the state and the Port Authority to contribute more, and the feds to contribute less,” said Pallone.

But he said he disagrees with the federal government’s analysis.

“If the tunnel closes or collapses,” he said, “it would be a disaster. The Trump administration is playing games. Another storm like Sandy could cause the tunnel to collapse or become unusable.”

Pallone said Trump proposed $2 trillion over 10 years for the Gateway project but then “backed off.” Pallone said he would move money out of the defense budget and move it into infrastructure (including transportation) if he were in charge of Congressional priorities.

“We’re just woefully falling apart,” Pallone said. 

He also talked about many other issues. One was the presence of PFAS, a pollutant in drinking water. Pallone said a bill “is now on McConnell’s desk,” but not moving forward.

He specifically mentioned the “Clean Futures Act,” proposed legislation that would make the U.S. carbon-neutral by 2050. He said he is trying to pass “pieces” of the bill since there is substantial opposition in the White House.

In discussing health care, Pallone is working on bills to lower prescription drugs by having the federal government negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. Pallone also talked about the current trend of consolidation and mergers in medical care that move health care further away from individual patients and toward regional medical centers.

“I’m not a fan of all that,” he said. “The individual gets lost.”

He said the trend has put New Jersey in a competitive contest with medical facilities in New York.

“We’re always in the squeeze,” Pallone said. “New York hospitals are always trying to grab patients.”