Booker Continues Annual Jersey Road Trip with Stops in Bergen, Passaic, Morris, and Sussex Counties

NEWARK, N.J. - U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) continued his annual Jersey Summer Road Trip today in Paramus to host a town hall with employees of Versa, a valve manufacturing company, in Clifton to tour Modern Meadow at the Hoffman-LaRoche Campus, at Lake Hopatcong to visit the Lake Hopatcong Foundation's Floating Classroom, and in Newton to visit the historic Sussex County courthouse.

Each summer, Senator Booker embarks on a tour of all of New Jersey's 21 counties to highlight the work he's doing to make a difference for New Jerseyans in the Senate-and highlight the ways New Jerseyans are making a difference in their communities.

"Every day, New Jerseyans are making a difference-whether building businesses that grow and sustain our economy, innovating sustainable technologies, educating a new generation of students, or serving their communities," Booker said. "I was grateful for the opportunity to hear and learn from many New Jerseyans today, and I will carry their thoughts and concerns with me in Washington."

Versa, a New Jersey manufacturing company, designs, manufactures, and delivers valves and related accessories for precision applications. All of their products are designed and made at their facility in Paramus, New Jersey, and are used in industries ranging from utilities to food production. Versa products have even been used on launching equipment for spacecraft. Now celebrating its 75th year, today Versa employs over 150 people, many of whom have been at the company for decades.

At the redeveloped former Hoffman-LaRoche campus in Clifton, the New Jersey-based company Modern Meadow develops environmentally-friendly bio-materials for use in various applications. The company offers "plug and play" technologies that can be dropped into existing manufacturing systems, allowing partners to bring more sustainable products to industries such as fashion, footwear, outdoor, and automotive.?

Senator Booker then visited Lake Hopatcong, which is New Jersey's largest lake. The Senator boarded the Lake Hopatcong Foundation's Floating Classroom, a forty-foot, covered catamaran pontoon boat that enhances the foundation's environmental school field trip program and provides opportunities for hands-on learning to the public. Serving as an interactive learning center, the boat is equipped to facilitate a variety of educational activities and experiments focused on water ecology.

The Sussex County Courthouse in Newton, listed on the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the National Park Service, dates back to the colonial era. The original courthouse was first built at the same site in 1765 and is known to have been visited by George Washington on two occasions. The old courthouse continues to handle judicial proceedings in conjunction with a newer Sussex County Judicial Center built in 1992.

Booker's annual road trip concludes tomorrow with two final stops in Warren and Mercer counties. For more information, please contact [email protected].