Mikie Sherrill Takes The Stage

  There’s a new officeholder of the 11th Congressional District and she made her Morris County Chamber of Commerce debut this spring at the chamber’s annual Washington Update Breakfast. Mikie Sherrill was elected to fill the seat vacated by Rodney Frelinghuysen, who represented the district for 24 years, and shared her thoughts on infrastructure, taxes, business development, health care and other issues with more than 100 attendees at the breakfast held at the Wyndham Hamilton Park Hotel and Conference Center in Florham Park.

Sherrill, a Democrat, is a former Navy helicopter pilot and assistant U.S. Attorney. She is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Georgetown University Law Center. As pointed out by chamber president Meghan Hunscher, Sherrill was named the most important new woman in Congress by Politico and placed #19 on its Power List.
Sherrill said she is pursuing a policy of consensus as a new member of the House of Representatives. She is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, who identify themselves as fiscally-responsible, centrist Democrats, and the New Democrats Coalition, centrist Democrats who support a moderate and pro-growth agenda and support a balanced budget.  

Yet within that policy of consensus remains a focus on the interests of Morris County, she added.
With a $53 billion economy that is the state’s most economically diverse, Morris County plays an essential role in the state economy, according to Hunscher. The county also can serve as a model for the nation, Sherrill added. “Over the last 100 days I have put this district first and fought for its interests in Congress,” Sherrill said, citing infrastructure, taxes and health care among those interests.
Sherrill said the Gateway Project under the Hudson River can be a symbol of the benefits of investment in infrastructure for the entire nation. More generally, she said the county’s and state’s failing bridges and roads hurts recruitment of new talent by businesses and there also is an exodus of young people from the state – she noted 85 percent of people leaving New Jersey are between ages 18 and 25 – which impedes business development. “Infrastructure is, without a doubt, an area (on which) Democrats and Republicans can come together on behalf of the American people,” she said. 

The Congresswoman told the audience the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 is hurting New Jersey residents, particularly the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions that is leading many state residents to pay more taxes than in past years. She noted 60 percent of the responding members of the New Jersey Association of Certified Public Accountants are advising their clients to leave the state. Sherrill said she is proposing raising the SALT cap and eliminating the SALT marriage penalty. “We must make all possible inroads on SALT and I can assure you we are working on a fix,” she said. Sherrill noted the importance  of Picatinny Arsenal economically, contributing $13 billion the New Jersey’s economy. “I will continue to advocate for the continued success of Picatinny Arsenal, even though I am a Navy girl,” she said to laughter.

​Sherrill said all Americans having access to affordable health care is critical and said she is working to cut the costs of prescription drugs. She also said laws need to change to adapt to an evolving society and allow health care coverage to follow workers from one job to another. In response to the opioid epidemic, Sherrill co-sponsored the State Opioid Response Grant Authorization Act to get more federal funding to the states to fight the spread of opioid addiction.

During the question and answer period, Sherrill said New Jersey’s Congressional delegation – all but one are Democrats – is working well together for the state’s interest. ”We’re all aligned in what we need to do,” she said. “I think the 11th District can and should lead the way for the rest of the country,” she added. In responding to a question on border security, Sherrill said she felt the more pressing issue is stopping the fl ow of people and illegal goods through legal ports of entry, of which New Jersey has many, and that more money needs to be spent on improving technology at these points.
Questioned about additional federal funding for the Morris County Economic Development Corp. and local economic development in general, Sherrill said her office is working on tracking all federal money coming into New Jersey through programs and grants in an effort to help New Jersey businesses apply for that funding. Finally, when asked about assistance for lower-income and ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families, Sherrill said she believed the nation needs to adopt regional minimum wages to assist these families while also protecting small businesses.