Donald Payne Jr. on Technology

Smart investments in infrastructure critical to economy

"Smart investments in our infrastructure are critical to public safety and economic growth," said Rep. Payne. This is particularly true in New Jersey, where our decaying infrastructure leads to increased driving accidents and limits the movement of commerce throughout the densely-populated Northeast region. Expanding the Hudson-Bergen light rail line to Bergen County and Jersey City's West Side is an important step toward meeting our infrastructure needs, improving commuter safety, and generating economic growth throughout our state."

The federal lawmakers also urged their colleagues in Washington to pass a long-term fix to fully fund the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which will go bankrupt in this summer, reducing or slowing reimbursements to states for critical highway repairs and transit projects.

Voted YES on protecting cyber security by sharing data with government.

• CISPA conducts federal cybersecurity activities to provide shared situational awareness enabling integrated operational actions to protect, prevent, and recover from cyber incidents.

Proponent's Argument for voting Yes:

• Rep. SINEMA: We need a 21st century solution for this 21st century problem. This bill ensures that research and development, intellectual property, and software code is no longer being stolen by China, Iran, and Russia.
• Rep. MAFFEI: We've already seen state actors like the People's Republic of China pursue widespread data theft from American computer networks. This is a clear and present danger.

• Rep. McNERNEY: I'm concerned with the civil protections not required in H.R. 624. Businesses should be required to remove personally identifiable information before submitting data to Federal agencies.
• CNet.com: Rep. Ron Paul warned that CISPA represents the "latest assault on Internet freedom"; that "CISPA is Big Brother writ large." CISPA would permit, but not require, Internet companies to hand over confidential customer records to federal agencies. What sparked the privacy worries--including opposition from the ACLU and the Republican Liberty Caucus--is the section of CISPA that says "notwithstanding any other provision of law." By including the word "notwithstanding," CISPA's drafters intended to make their legislation trump all existing laws. It would render irrelevant wiretap laws, Web companies' privacy policies, and more.
• Rep. LOFGREN: CISPA could allow any private company to share vast amounts of sensitive, private data about its customers with the government. CISPA would override all other privacy laws, and allow a private company to share nearly anything--from the contents of private emails to medical records--as long as it "directly pertains to" a broadly defined "cyber threat."

Sponsored investing $1 billion in transportation projects.

Congressional Summary: TIGER Grants for Job Creation Act: Congress finds the following:

1. The economy is struggling to recover from the recession. The unemployment rate is nearly 8%.
2. The American Society of Civil Engineers' 2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure estimated that there is a $549 billion shortfall in investments in roads and bridges and an additional $190 billion shortfall in investments in transit.
3. TIGER, formally known as the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program, is a nationwide competitive grant program that creates jobs by funding investments in transportation infrastructure.

Opponent's argument against bill:(The Reason Foundation, July 6, 2012):

The US Constitution authorizes Congress "to regulate Commerce...among the several States." However, the five non-motorized transportation projects, the six transit projects and the six multimodal projects TIGER Grants have funded serve no national need. Some of the port, passenger rai