Congress is back! And it immediately threw itself into a bevy of controversial issues: a censure resolution against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), an effort to force the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, and a funding deadline looming at the end of the month that could lead to a government shutdown.
Somewhat surprisingly, the censure resolution failed and McIver emerged unscathed, but plenty of other challenging issues remain unresolved. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.
Censure, Jan
Ever since Rep. McIver got into a scuffle with federal immigration officials last spring, Republicans in Congress have made it clear that they believe the first-term congresswoman should be censured. House Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed the idea formally punishing McIver just a few days after the Delaney Hall fracas, and some Republicans went even further and floated expelling her (a proposal that would have unrealistically required the consent of some Democrats).
But when Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins’s resolution to censure McIver and strip her of her seat on the House Homeland Security Committee came up for a procedural vote yesterday, five Republicans surprisingly sided with the entire Democratic caucus and voted to kill it. (One of those five later said his vote was an accident.)
McIver, who has maintained that she did nothing wrong during her oversight visit at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention center, said she was grateful for the result and unbowed by Republican attempts to “intimidate” her.
“This whole situation, this whole ordeal, has been a political attack against me since the day I went to Delaney Hall,” she said. “I continue to be a critic of this administration, and I think they just want to find different ways to bully me and intimidate me while I’m here. I’m not going to back down.”
The congresswoman still faces some legal jeopardy relating to the same incident, however. McIver was charged with assault by controversial acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba in May, and a trial in the case is set for November; McIver’s attorneys have filed several motions seeking to dismiss the charges as politically motivated.
The Epstein Discharge List
An issue that had been building up all summer – the release of files related to the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein – came to a head this week, with survivors of Epstein’s abuse coming to the U.S. Capitol and urging President Donald Trump’s administration to be more transparent.
To that end, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) is leading a discharge petition – a mechanism that allows 218 House members to put a bill on the floor against the wishes of House leadership – to force a vote on the release of the files. Nearly every House Democrat (including all nine from New Jersey) has signed the petition, but at the urging of GOP leaders, all but four House Republicans have declined to do so.
One New Jersey Republican, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), is a sponsor of the underlying bill regarding the Epstein files, but even he said he won’t sign the petition, arguing that it’s better for the bill to go through the standard process rather than coming directly to the House floor.
“I support maximum transparency, and we’ve got to get the information out for the sake of the victims, for the sake of the American people,” Van Drew said. “However, this is a very, very sensitive issue, and it needs to be done in a proper way. I really support the bill, but it needs to go through the committee process.”
Democrats clearly see the political upside to the issue; Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) trolled neighboring Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) today by giving him a pen he can use to sign the discharge petition as a birthday present.
Shutdown showdown
If Congress can’t pass a government funding package by September 30, the federal government will shut down. And Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker – who, thanks to the filibuster, have a fair bit of power despite being in the Senate minority – say they’re willing to oppose a shutdown-averting funding bill if it’s not sufficiently bipartisan.
The government appropriations process has historically been bipartisan, but the Trump administration and some Republicans in Congress are hoping to freeze Democrats out. That’s essentially what happened in March of this year, when Republicans essentially dared Democrats to oppose a partisan stopgap bill and a critical handful of Senate Democrats allowed the bill to pass.
Kim and Booker, however, weren’t among them, and they say they’re prepared to vote the same way if another partisan GOP bill is put before them.
“Let’s just say there’s no way I’m going to vote for something that’s purely partisan on the Republican side, and let that go through,” Kim said. “I’m prepared to do what I did the last time around.”
“I am not going to support a budget that hurts New Jerseyans, that hurts people more than they’re hurting already,” Booker said. “Donald Trump and Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. They have a responsibility to put forward a budget that can get through the United States Senate.”
The House, of course, will be involved in any funding battle as well. But because House Republicans can pass a bill on a purely party-line vote without any threat of a filibuster, the dynamics there are substantially different, and New Jersey’s nine House Democrats may not have much say in the debate at all.
Amy Kennedy’s cousin-in-law testifies before the Senate
In the wake of the ousting of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez – who had been nominated to her role by President Trump and confirmed just last month – bipartisan frustration at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. boiled over during a Senate Finance Committee hearing yesterday.
Neither of New Jersey’s senators is on that committee, but Senator Kim nonetheless released a statement calling on Kennedy to resign, saying that the secretary has a “complete disregard for science and the health of our families.” At a rally with his fellow members of the Congressional Doctors Caucus yesterday, Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) said much the same thing.
“We’ve seen the disaster that he has wrought, and we warned the [Senate] about it,” Conaway said. “Sadly, they refused to listen to his own history of lying and spreading misinformation that is directly harmful to the health of many citizens.”
Rules of engagement
Senator Booker announced this week that he’ll soon do something everyone else in the New Jersey congressional delegation has done at least once: get married.
The 56-year-old senator, whose dating life has long been subject to media speculation (especially during his 2020 presidential campaign), said on Instagram that he’s engaged to Alexis Lewis, a vice president of investments at Brasa Capital Management. According to the Washington Examiner, he and Lewis have been dating for around a year.
“Alexis is one of the greatest unearned blessings of my life,” Booker wrote. “She has transformed me, helping me to ground and center my inner life, and discover the joys of building a nurturing home with someone you love… I am savoring the soul-affirming wonder of everyday life with my partner, best friend, and now my fiancée.”
Darling there’s cables, need to be stable, under the sea
On a voice vote, the House passed a bill on Tuesday authored by Rep. Kean that aims to protect the construction and maintenance of undersea cable projects from foreign adversaries like China.
“Undersea cables are the lifeline of global communications, carrying data quickly and securely across continents,” Kean said. “While our nation maintains a competitive edge in the deployment and development of these cables, China seeks to expand its influence over one of the world’s most important communications networks. We must protect these cables from foreign interference, sabotage, or control by our adversaries.”
Kean’s fellow swing-district House member, Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), also found legislative success this week, getting her Water Crisis Prevention Act – which would direct the Government Accountability Office to study water infrastructure failures like the one that has recently plagued Paterson – through the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.
Other Garden State plots
• The House passed an Energy Department-related appropriations bill on an incredibly tight 214-213 vote this week; Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) lauded the bill for including funding for a new shallow draft dredging vessel.
“A vote ‘NO’ on today’s bill would have been a vote against a desperately needed new dredge for the Manasquan and Shark River Inlets and the economy of the Jersey Shore,” Smith said. “We have been fighting for years for a new dredge, and this bill will make that a reality.”
• Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) today unveiled a new E-Bike Safety Plan, which includes a bill increasing federal funding for state-level e-bike safety training and programs.
“While fun and efficient, without the right safety precautions, e-bikes can be dangerous,” Gottheimer said. “When it comes to preventing our children from serious crashes, we need to pull out all the stops and put real safeguards in place. By further raising awareness, I’m hoping that we can prevent the next e-bike crash before it happens.”
