Open enrollment is underway. Here are important things to know: Open enrollment for all those covered by Individual Plans (non-employer) is Nov. 1st - Dec 15th. This is your opportunity to change your plan. All plans renew on January 1st. After December 15th there is no opportunity to buy or change your plan unless you experience a qualifying event (i.e. getting married, having a baby, or losing health coverage). Subsidized Plans – If, based on your income, you qualify for a subsidy through the ACA please visit the exchange website to renew or purchase a plan. Open enrollment dates and restrictions apply. Visit www.healthcare.gov NJ Individual Mandate - NJ passed legislation that requires all NJ residents to have health insurance in 2019 and beyond. The NJ mandate replaces the Federal mandate that was repealed by Congress in 2018 (for 2019). The NJ penalty applies to 2019. The Penalty – If you reside in NJ and do not have health insurance in place for 2019 the penalty is 2.5% of household income with a minimum of $695.00/adult and $347.50/child. Some good news! – Because of actions taken by NJ, most individual premiums are lower in 2019. Thank you NJ!

  Hate is on the rise in our country. In the past week, we have seen the attempted assassination of 14 critics of the President; the killing of two black Americans by a man who first tried to force his way into an African-American church; and the slaughter by an avowed anti-Semite of 11 Jewish Americans who were praying together in their synagogue. Hate crimes are on the rise.  And the Anti Defamation League reports a 60% increase in anti Semitic incidents.  Is there anyone who does not believe that this rise in intolerance is emboldened by the incendiary comments of our President?  Since the earliest days of his campaign, he has rallied his supporters with divisive color-coded rhetoric, and has told them dissent should not be tolerated. “Knock the crap out of him, would you?  I’ll promise to pay your legal fees.” “I’d like to punch him in the face.” “Maybe he should have been roughed up.” The MAGA bomber went to some of those rallies.  What lesson did he absorb about Trump’s opponents?  When neo-Nazis marched under Nazi flags in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us”, we learned that some of them are “very fine people.” As Trump whips up fear of the raggletaggle band of asylum seekers heading to our borders, he emboldens those who believe Jewish billionaire George Soros is funding the marchers.  This, and the refugee settlement actions of theHebrew Immigrant Aid Society were enough to send a mass murderer to the Tree of Life synagogue.  The President knows what he is doing.  Rule #54 of his acolyte and advisor Roger Stone is that hatred is the most powerful motive incentivizing voters in US elections.  Trump plans to parlay hate into votes, even if the inevitable side effect is violence and an outpouring of anti-Semitism.  In all of this, he is facilitated by Republicans who see fear and hatred as their best hope of retaining their grip on Congress.  It is a dangerous game. They are riding a tiger they dare not dismount.  And the tiger is getting hungry.  And Leonard the Lionheart? Laying low.   #RememberinNovember #NJ07

BREAKING NEWS:  According to Web Archive June 5th 2014, Leonard Lance’s website boasts the following about his record (see below). During this campaign season, Lance proudly claims he is a defender of healthcare, the environment and a true bi-partisan. He also says that a change to the corporate tax cut would cause a recession but does not acknowledge that it is fueling an out of control deficit which will ultimately result in CUTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE. He suggests a solution to this deficit is to RAISE THE RETIREMENT AGE TO 67.5 YEARS. In 2014, Lance shows us a different candidate and one that earns his recent endorsement from the TEA PARTY EXPRESS. We believe Lance changes his brand in order to SIMPLY WIN AT ALL COSTS. Is he a principled leader who stands by his convictions or does he say ANYTHING to gain re-election? Maybe this is why Paul Ryan’s SUPERPAC is filling the airwaves with negative ads. Have you had enough? The citizens of NJ7 need change. We deserve better than this. VOTE Tom Malinowski November 6th!       MEET LEONARD LANCE (web archive) On Tuesday, June 3, you have an opportunity to vote for Leonard Lance for Congress. Leonard Lance has fought and voted for fiscally responsible measures to reduce spending, lower debt, create jobs, spur economic growth and provide energy independence. AGAINST OBAMACARE: As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Leonard Lance is on the front-lines in the fight against ObamaCare, voting 64 times to either fully repeal, defund, or dismantle portions of this onerous legislation. Leonard Lance supports sensible measures that include allowing insurance to be sold across state lines, improving health savings accounts (HSAs), establishing Association Health Plans (AHP) insurance pools and enacting real medical malpractice reform. FIGHTING AN IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY: Leonard Lance joined fellow conservative lawmakers in voting to rein in an out-of-control executive branch who has far exceeded its constitutional limits at nearly every turn. Leonard Lance also voted to stop Obama’s Internal Revenue Service from attempting to silence American citizens who merely seek to exercise their constitutionally-protected right to freedom of speech. SUPPORTS AMERICAN-MADE ENERGY: As New Jersey's only Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Leonard Lance is committed to an “all-of-the-above” American-made energy policy to help bring down fuel prices, create more jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign energy. AGAINST AMNESTY: Leonard Lance opposes the Senate's comprehensive immigration bill. Lance opposes amnesty, supports securing our borders first and requiring businesses to use the E-Verify background check system. SUPPORTS KEYSTONE PIPELINE: Four times Leonard Lance voted to approve the Keystone XL pipeline that will bring secure energy to America, support the creation of thousands of jobs, and help bring down prices at the pump. AGAINST OBAMA'S ENERGY TAX: Leonard Lance voted to protect American businesses from overly burdensome environmental regulations, including twice casting his vote against President Obama’s energy tax proposal. FIGHTING FOR A BETTER ECONOMY: Leonard Lance voted for fiscally responsible proposals that will bring growth, prosperity and certainty to our economy. And Lance has voted for proposals that lift bureaucratic hurdles, red tape, and cost burdens that have hurt New Jersey’s small businesses. LOWER TAXES FOR NEW JERSEY: Leonard Lance voted to renew all the expiring tax cuts for 99 percent of New Jersey taxpayers and has been a vocal opponent of the President's plan to raise taxes on New Jersey's families and small businesses. Leonard Lance voted to eliminate the "death tax," voted to cut business taxes by 20 percent and cosponsored legislation to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). And on tax reform Lance voted for a plan that calls for a simpler, flatter and fairer tax system that will restore economic opportunity and prosperity to our Nation's economy. VOTED FOR RESPONSIBLE BUDGET PLAN: As a strong fiscal conservative Leonard Lance has voted for “The Path to Prosperity" that balances the federal budget in a decade, cuts wasteful spending, reins in our national debt, harnesses domestic energy, restores patient-centered health care, strengthens retirement and safety net programs and reforms our tax code. Leonard Lance also voted for "Cut, Cap and Balance" that brings our budget into balance in five years. SUPPORTS A BALANCED BUDGET: Leonard Lance voted for a federal balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and is the author of the Lance Amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution that prohibits further state borrowing without voter approval. STOP THE SPENDING: Leonard Lance has always fought against wasteful government spending, opposing the $1 trillion stimulus, the 9,000-earmark omnibus spending bill and President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget. And Lance was one of the first Republicans to reject earmarks and authored legislation to repeal the wasteful ethanol subsidy. NO BAILOUTS; REJECT TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL: Leonard Lance voted against the TARP bailout bill. Lance voted to rein in housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and cosponsored legislation to audit the Federal Reserve. And Leonard Lance voted against the disastrous Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that codified "too-big-to-fail" and created a permanent federal bailout authority paid for by the taxpayers. 

Leonard Lance stands before us, stripped for his medical exam, and it is not a pretty sight. What is his position on healthcare?  The man whose proud boast was once the 60+ times he had voted eviscerate The Affordable Care Act, has gone strangely quiet on the topic. The man has no more idea what to do about this issue than he knew about the number of his constituents who depended on Obamacare.  Little wonder he is quiet.  After Lance and his colleagues failed to get the Affordable Care Act repealed, Republicans have turned to the courts to do their work for them. Jeff Sessions has refused to defend a Texas lawsuit, which if successful will have nationwide implications. It will make the individual mandate unconstitutional AND the provisions that protect people with pre-existing medical conditions and limit what insurers can charge older, sicker customers.  The Department of Health and Human Services  say about 133 million Americans younger than 65 — about 51 percent of that population — are believed to live with pre-existing conditions. In NJ7, the estimates for the number of non-elderly (under 65) with preexisting conditions is331,800, or 53%.    And, no, all those people are not going to suddenly lose their health insurance. But maybe, if you have a preexisting condition and are covered by your employer, think about what may happen when you change jobs.  Or have some empathy for those who will face higher premiums, or who have no coverage. Or think about the 20,600 of Lance’s constituents who currently depend on Obamacare. Or think about women, who stand to lose the ability to buy a health plan that actually covers the medical care they need. Or those in their 50s and early 60s who have not yet reached 65, the age at which most people become eligible for Medicare.  Medicare - The Great Safe Haven for healthcare. Well, in case you millennials missed it, Leonard Lance just said in the Chamber of Commerce debate that “for people who are young now” the age for Medicare eligibility will have to go up…..  Leonard Lance’s prescription for healthcare is a plague. Tom Malinowski is the cure for what ails us.  #RememberinNovember #NJ07  

  While I was canvassing last week, a voter told me he and his wife would not consider voting for a Democrat because “what the Democrats are doing in Washington is a disgrace”.  I bid my doorstep interlocutor a polite good day, and moved on. But I was seething, thinking this is all of a one with Lindsay Graham’s vituperative outburst about the Democrats “unethical sham.”  The “unethical sham” comes from Republicans, and the righteous hysteria on view has become the Republican stock-in-trade in response to any push-back to their right wing agenda. That primordial turtle, Mitch McConnell, blew up any remaining bipartisan consensus on Supreme Court nominations when he flat out refused to hold hearings on the Merrick Garland nomination. That was the first step in conservative plans to reshape the courts for a generation. He doesn’t give a damn about Christine Blasey Ford and her accusation.  He wouldn’t care if Kavanaugh followed Trump’s playbook and stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot somebody, Kavanaugh has got his vote.  Indeed Kavanaugh DID follow Trump’s playbook in his shrieking defense on Thursday.  Here is a Trump quote from Bob Woodward’s book “Fear”: “You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women. If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you’re dead.” Sound familiar?  In Kavanaugh’s extraordinary rant, any shred of pretense that we can expect judicial impartiality from him was ripped away.  This is a man who is hand-picked to rubber stamp the Trumpianagenda. And he can start right away through his vote in “Gamble vs. U.S.” in October. That decision could allow Trump to pardon all of his associates who have pleaded guilty in the Mueller investigation, and protect them from separate state-level criminal prosecutions. And Lindsey Graham’s crepuscular colleague on the Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch, filed a brief to the court promoting just that outcome.  You know what I think? What Republicans are doing in Washington is a disgrace.  On November 6, we need to get off our doorsteps, get to the polls, and throw them out.  Leonard Lance goes first.   #RememberinNovember #NJ07