Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen was sworn in as a Member of the 106th Congress on January 6th, 1999.

He is New Jersey's only Member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where he serves on three subcommittees: Defense; Veterans, Housing, Environment and Independent Agencies (Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee); and Energy and Water Development.

In his first two terms, he championed a balanced Federal budget, noting his committee reduced wasteful Washington spending by $53 billion in just two years. In doing so, his Committee helped pave the way for the first balanced budget in a generation and the first tax cut in 16 years. Frelinghuysen also supported welfare reform and efforts to secure the future of the Medicare program. Now in his third term, Frelinghuysen continues to be a leader in balancing the budget and setting spending priorities as well as reducing the national debt, cutting taxes, strengthening our military, protecting our patients from managed care abuses, improving education, reforming campaign finance laws, and saving Social Security. He was one of only three NJ members of Congress to support Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. PNTR for China was one of the most important issues for the high-tech industry in the year 2000.

On the House Appropriations Committee, he works within the strict guidelines of a balanced budget to protect vital New Jersey interests, including the "Urban Core" and "Midtown Direct" mass transportation projects, beach and wetlands protection, Superfund cleanups, preservation of Sterling Forest and the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, dredging for the port of NY/NJ, science and education programs at New Jersey's institutions of higher learning. His legislative victories also include passage of a bill to expand the Morristown National Historic Park, to raise the FHA loan limit to increase opportunities for home ownership, and to advance federal research at the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Administration.

For these and other achievements, Frelinghuysen has received national awards including the "Watchdog of the Treasury Award", the "Tax Fighter Award," the "Friends of Housing for the Disabled Award," the "Guardian of Senior's Rights Award, " the "Spirit of Enterprise Award" from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the "Guardian of Small Business Award." In New Jersey, Frelinghuysen was the 1998 recipient of both the Rutgers "University Award" and the University of Medicine and Dentistry's "University Medal" for outstanding support of higher education. As a veteran and leader on issues of national defense, he received the "Legislator of the Year Award" from the NJ Veterans of Foreign Wars and was part of a select group of Members of Congress chosen by the House leadership to review the situation in Bosnia in December, 1995, prior to the commitment of U.S. military troops to the region. He can now add his induction into the NJ High-Tech Hall of Fame to this impressive list of accomplishments.

Prior to his election to Congress in 1994, Frelinghuysen served in the New Jersey Assembly for 11 years, beginning with his election in 1983. Frelinghuysen served as Chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee in 1988-1989, and from 1992-1994. During his tenure, he was a strong supporter of Governor Christine Todd Whitman's economic package, reducing the state budget by more than a billion and a half dollars, and cutting the state sales tax by 14% and the state income tax by 15%.

Frelinghuysen was a three-term Member of the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1974 to 1983, and was chosen to be its director in 1980. During his tenure on the Freeholder Finance Committee, the county first received the coveted "Triple A" bond rating. After graduating from college in 1969, Frelinghuysen served in the U.S. Army in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam in the 93rd Engineer Battalion. He was honorably discharged in 1971.
He is a Member of the American Legion Post 59, Morristown, NJ and Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 3401, Morris Plains, NJ, and is a patron Member of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S. Post 213. Frelinghuysen and his wife, Virginia, reside in New Jersey with their two children. He was born on April 29, 1946.

Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen's Website
http://www.house.gov/frelinghuysen/welcome.html