DC Dispatch: What NJ Congressmen Did in Washington This Week

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is alive!

That was the big news of the week, with the chairman easily surviving an attempt to oust him thanks to the support of a majority of both the Republican and Democratic parties. But Congress also tackled other issues, from fire subsidies to federal aviation regulations and census questions. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s thirteen members of Congress did this week.

Motion to go on vacation

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) tried to force a vote on her motion to impeach Speaker Johnson this week, giving the House a chance to reenact last fall’s Speakerless chaos — but House members rebuffed her off.

An overwhelming majority of both the Republican and Democratic parties voted in favor of introducing Greene’s motion, meaning Johnson did not even have to face a proper vote on his possible expulsion. The fact that most Republicans backed Johnson was not surprising, but it was more surprising that Democrats provided the critical votes to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy last fall.

“Our decision to stop Marjorie Taylor Greene from plunging the House of Representatives and the country into further chaos is rooted in our commitment to solving the problems of everyday Americans in a bipartisan manner,” said Hakeem Jeffries, leader of the minorities in the House of Representatives, after the vote. according to the New York Times. “We will continue to govern in a reasonable, responsible and results-oriented manner, putting people above politics all day, every day.”

Of the 11 members of the New Jersey House of Representatives, nine voted to introduce Greene’s motion, including six of the state’s Democrats and all three Republicans. But there were two exceptions: Reps. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), who joined 30 of their fellow Democrats (and 11 Republicans) in opposing the proposed bill.

“I want the best Speaker we can to work for the people,” Watson Coleman said. “Right now that person is Hakeem Jeffries. I don’t want Mike Johnson to be chairman, so that’s how I voted. It’s not my job to save him.”

Firing on all cylinders

While Congress’s dysfunction and partisanship can often dominate Americans’ perceptions of their government, much of the work Congress does every day remains bipartisan and mundane: keeping popular services running, tweaking existing programs, and the like.

Representatives Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) and Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) demonstrated that with them this week Fire subsidies and Safety Act, a low-profile but important bill that renews several key federal grant programs for firefighters and first responders. If the bill is ultimately signed into law, the U.S. Fire Administration, the Assistance to Firefighter Grants (AFG), and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant, which expire later this year, would all be reauthorized. another five years.

Kean was the bill’s sponsor, but it is Pascrell who has the longer history with the programs. In 1999, during his second term in the House of Representatives, he introduced the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement (FIRE) Act, which created the AFG; a few years later, SAFER grants were also passed into law.

“It’s hard to imagine now, but 25 years ago there was virtually no federal support for our fire services,” Pascrell said on the House floor. “The success of these programs speaks for itself. Since its inception, AFG has provided more than $9 billion to equip and train firefighters. I am proud that SAFER has awarded more than $5 billion… These grants are among the most effective in the entire federal budget.”

Twitter: the place where good things happen

On Tuesday, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) teamed up with Rep. Michelle Steel (R-California) to introduce the Oct. 7 Remembrance Education Act, a bill that would direct the United States Holocaust Museum to create a curriculum for students to learn about the October 7 attack on Israel. And of course him promoted the bill on his official Twitter (or X) account.

“I’m proud to join @RepSteel in introducing new, bipartisan legislation to create a commemorative program for October 7,” he tweeted. “10/7 was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. By teaching about that terrible day and the hatred that followed, we can combat rising anti-Semitism.”

Then things went south. Gottheimer’s tweet currently has more than 1,300 replies, many of which express anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi rhetoric: that American Jews are disloyal, that the Holocaust was a hoax, and so on. In a follow-up tweetGottheimer highlighted the worst examples of the responses, saying they showed the need for vigilance against anti-Jewish sentiment.

“It’s a disgusting reminder that anti-Semitism is alive and well,” he said. “Anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred have no place in our country. Don’t be silent, it takes all of us to tackle the hate.”

I notice a disturbance in the corps

Under current congressional apportionment rules, all residents of the United States, both citizens and non-citizens, count equally when it comes to redrawing districts and awarding votes to the Electoral College. This week Republicans in the House of Representatives a bill passed to change that: the Equal Representation Act, which would add a citizenship question to the decennial Census (something the current Census does not ask) and exclude all non-citizens from apportionment calculations.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) said the bill — which passed on a party-line vote and has no chance of becoming law as long as Democrats control the Senate and White House — is necessary to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting. during elections (a practice that is of course already illegal).

“The left is already laying the groundwork to allow illegal aliens to vote in our elections,” Van Drew said. “So it’s no surprise that 202 Democrats simply opposed asking a citizenship question on the Census. They know that more illegals = more seats in Congress. The census should only count citizens.”

But the effects of such a policy would go much further than that. According to a state report based on 2018 data, New Jersey has an immigrant population of just under 2 million people, or 22% of the state. Immigrants make up a much larger share of New Jersey’s population than they do nationally, wherever they are located about 14% of the populationaccording to Pew Research Center.

It’s not clear how many of those New Jersey immigrants are citizens, but it seems likely that New Jersey also has a higher share of noncitizens than the country as a whole. If the Equal Representation Act ever becomes law, New Jersey could ultimately lose seats in Congress and votes in the Electoral College, while states with smaller immigrant populations would see their representation increase.

Do re mi FAA, so la ti do

After a months-long series of negotiations, the Senate passed a bill yesterday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorizes for five years; the bill now heads back to the House for final approval. (The deadline to reauthorize the agency was today, so both chambers also passed a short one-week extension bill to buy themselves more time.)

The most controversial proposal in the bill – one that had come before shot in the House of Representatives thanks to Democratic opposition – will add new flight slots from Ronald Reagan National Airport, a controversial issue in the area. All four senators from Virginia and Maryland voted against the bill for that reason.

The 88 other senators present supported the bill, including Senator Cory Booker. Notably, however, Senator Bob Menendez was absent from the vote – a phenomenon that is likely to become very common in the coming months as Menendez stands trial in New York on federal bribery charges.

Other Garden State plots

• Reps. Gottheimer and Donald Norcross (D-Camden) sent a letter to Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway this week, who questioned his tactics in negotiating with pro-Palestinian protesters who had set up encampments on the university’s campus in New Brunswick.

“We fear that the administration’s acquiescence to difficult demands from protesters has not sufficiently taken into account the perspectives and voices of members of the Jewish community at Rutgers,” their letter said. “Additionally, we are concerned that Rutgers appears to have incentivized people to act in a lawless and threatening manner by accommodating the demands of violent and hateful agitators, while ignoring a similar series of requests peacefully made to the university.”

• President Joe Biden’s decision to interrupting an arms shipment to Israel In response to Israel’s possible bombing of the city of Rafah in Gaza, the criticism was condemned by many Republicans (and some Democrats) in Congress, including Representative Chris Smith (R-Manchester).

“Rather than ensuring our ally can defend itself and defeat Hamas, President Biden is withholding critical support at a time when Israel is negotiating the release of American and Israeli hostages,” Smith said. “By making concessions to Israel’s enemies around the world, Biden is fanning the flames of more violence in the region and anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas protests in our own country. He must immediately change course.”

• One of the bills that the House of Representatives passed this week was the Hands off our Household Appliances Act, also known as the HOOHA Act. Republicans say it’s a necessary step in the fight against the Biden administration’s energy efficiency rules that threaten America’s appliances, but Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), the top Democrat in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said this is a load of nonsense. hurrah.

“Instead of legislating on important, pressing issues, Republicans are pushing for a bill that will raise energy prices for American families,” Pallone said on the House floor. “This Republican Congress is the least productive Congress since the Great Depression. This bill is only brought to the table because Republicans cannot muster the votes to actually achieve anything for the American people.”