Prior to formally releasing the news to the media, 3rd District Republican Representative Jon Runyan informally announces his intention to run for re-election during WOBM's live monthly call-in Town Hall program "Ask The Congressman" Monday night.

The announcement was actually in response to a direct question asked by the program's Host, News Bureau Chief Tom Mongelli.

Runyan discussed his fast-paced and hectic year. One in which he's had to be a quick-study on a wide range of topics and has had to prepare in advance before going to a Committee or to the House Floor to vote on a particular measure. He also explained the need to be flexible. "Because you never know what's going to pop its ugly head the day you're actually there to do it. So, you can't really set that time away and that is part of it, is that flexibility of being able to stop what you're doing and run to a vote, or stop what you're doing because you have a constituent with an issue that you have to deal with or stop what you're doing because another member of Congress wants to sit down and talk to you about a piece of legislation."

Runyan says he also surrounded himself by a great team of people that work hard for him. "You can't do it alone but ultimately all those decisions do have to go through you. There are certain things that I'm up on, I get, but there are certain things ... sometimes you don't know, what you don't know and you have to have your people around you to help fill those gaps."

SUPER COMMITTEE FAILURE

Monday's failure of the Super Committee to institute cuts to help reduce the Federal deficit weighed heavy on Runyan because he says their failure to act will set in motion across-the-board Federal spending cuts that will be devastating to the Department of Defense. Runyan says the DOD's budget will be reduced by over a trillion dollars in ten years as a result. He says it will cost over 1 million potentional U-S jobs and harm National Defense. "I don't think that the world, as we sit here, is getting any safer, whether you're talking Iran and their nuclear capabilities or you're talk about the rest of the Middle East. Again, we look at our ability to defend this country and I think it's in question."

Runyan also explains why He's not in favor of the President's Jobs Act. He said the act includes too many unfunded programs and doesn't create long term jobs. "But ultimately, it comes down to deficit spending and that's why that jobs bill hasn't went anywhere. There's only been two people in the House of Representatives to sign on to the President's Jobs Bill. It is that toxic because it does look like stimulus two."

SUPPORT FOR CONCEALED WEAPONS BILL

Runyan was also one of six Republican Representatives from New Jersey who gave their approval to a controversial concealed weapons bill. The measure, allows people from other states, who have permits to carry concealed firearms, to also carry them in the Garden State. Runyan says, "If someone's going through the process to legally carry a concealed weapon, that's not the person you have to worry about, the law abiding citizen. It's the person that doesn't care about the law."

Runyan also discussed his position on the Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Programs designed to help the Homeless.

 

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