Another point of interest for the Congressman is the issue of the environment. The district he is representing deals with a lot of environmental challenges related to the condition of the ports, of the waters and the living creatures present there. At the same time, there is also the matter of irresponsible drilling operations which tend to endanger the equilibrium of the area. In this sense, the Congressman promoted a legislative initiative that would ban "offshore drilling off the Jersey Shore and all North and Mid-Atlantic states from Maine to Virginia." (Frank Pallone, Jr., 2007) in this way, the negative effects of unsafe exploitations can be somewhat limited.

A point related to the issue of the environment is the Congressman's initiative to increase the strictness of the EPA regulations regarding the reports on toxic requirements. By extension, he also got involved in the campaign to increase the awareness of beach goers regarding the level of pollution in the waters near the shore.

The crime sector has become one of the most important segments of the administrative agenda. It is more and more common that a high rate of criminality be registered among teens and children even. Events such as the generically entitled "high school shootings" have underlined the fact that the American society is going through a changing trend which involves children at increasingly younger ages to engage in violent behaviors. The Democratic answer in this respect was "the Fighting Gangs and Empowering Youth Act of 2007. The bill focuses on prevention and economic empowerment to give young people constructive alternatives to joining gangs, community planning and gang policing resources to help communities fight local gangs and increased criminal penalties to crack down on those who commit violent crimes as part of gangs." (Frank Pallone Jr., 2007) This initiative tries to deal both with the underlining factors that determine the outbreak of violence, as well as to counter the results of such outbreaks.

The Republicans and the Democrats have always been in disagreement related to defense policy issues. The war in Iraq and most importantly, the unexpected turn of events led to the creation of an even greater rift between the two opinions. Congressman Pallone took a rather coherent stand over the issue, focusing in the first instance on the situation of the soldiers sent on the battlefield, rather than the actual motivation for their mission. Therefore, he supported an increase in soldiers' wages "providing them a 3.5% pay raise,.5% higher than the president's request." (Frank Pallone Jr., 2007)

In terms of education, the idea was as well taken into account from the social perspective of the issue because it is a rather well-known fact the idea that college and higher education in general are for many students...

In this sense, efforts have been made to increase the access to education for a wider number of students and to help them finish their courses once enrolled in the program. Pallone supported a legislative initiative, "The College Student Relief Act" which enables students to contract subsidized loans in more attractive conditions and with a lower interest rate. In the attempt to increase the access to education, Pallone also endorsed the spread of the Food Program that provides two meals per day to children younger than 18 throughout the summer.
Probably one of the most important issues up for discussion at this time is the degree to which the U.S. can actually achieve energy independence. The legislation Pallone supported included "rolling back $14 billion in taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil companies, who are already enjoying record profits, and then reinvesting that money here at home in cleans, alternative fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency." (Frank Pallone Jr., 2007)

In terms of foreign policy, Pallone's stand, according to his official site, is towards recognizing the Armenian Genocide as part of the strengthening of the relations between the U.S. And the Armenian Diaspora of more than 1, 5 million people. This initiative follows the lines of his constant political aim of managing to achieve a higher degree of integration of minority groups such as Indians, black people, Armenians, Turks.

Overall, as a conclusion it can be pointed out that the political spectrum of the United States democratic system has been one of great turmoil and there are constant debates over the right ways to tackle an issue. However, despite all these, the example of Congressman Pallone shows that no matter the political struggles, it is the interest of the constituencies that must prevail.

References

CNN. Insight Politics. Transcripts. 2000. Accessed 5 September 2007, at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0006/05/ip.00.html

Congressional District 6 Profile. 2004. Accessed 5 September, 2007, at http://www.njvoterinfo.org/cp/6.php?p=cp/6.php

Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. Pallone objects to certification of Ohio electoral votes in presidential election. 2004. Accessed 5 September 2007, at http://www.house.gov/list/press/nj06_pallone/pr_jan6_ohio_certify.html

Frank Pallone Jr. About me. 2007. Accessed 5 September 2007, at http://www.house.gov/pallone/biography.shtml

Frank Pallone, Jr. My Work. 2007. Accessed 5 September, 2007, at http://www.house.gov/pallone/mywork.shtml

Open Secrets. Total Raised and Spent. 2002 race: New Jersey District 6. 2002. Accessed 5 September, 2007, at http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.asp?id=NJ06&cycle=2002