After a two-week recess – and with the government at last fully funded – Congress returned this week and immediately threw itself into a debate over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA for short), a major federal surveillance law.
That wasn’t the only thing Congress set out to accomplish to kick off spring, though; here’s some of what New Jersey’s 14 members of Congress did this week.
FISA Minnelli
The effort to reauthorize FISA, which allows the U.S. government to warrantlessly collect data from non-Americans – and, in certain cases, from Americans as well – went on quite the rollercoaster this week.
First, on Wednesday, a few renegade Republicans tanked a procedural vote that would have allowed a FISA reauthorization bill to come to the floor – the latest instance of certain House conservatives turning what are normally routine votes into contentious spectacles. The bill’s death was attributable in part to former President Donald Trump, who had posted on social media that FISA should be nixed because “it was illegally used against me.”
House Republican leaders quickly regrouped, however, and put forward a new, more limited bill today that only extends the program for two years. It passed 273-147, with an eclectic array of Democrats and Republicans both supporting and opposing it.
In the New Jersey delegation, four House members voted against the bill: Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), and Republican Reps. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) and Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis). In a statement, Watson Coleman specifically cited the failure of an amendment adding a warrant requirement for U.S. citizens as the reason for her no vote.
“As a former member of the House Homeland Security Committee I understand the importance of giving our intelligence services the tools they need to keep Americans safe,” Watson Coleman said. “However, the failure of the House to pass a bipartisan amendment intended to close a loophole and prohibit warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA Section 702 database meant I could not vote for the final bill. The Constitution’s protection against warrantless searches is an important provision protecting Americans against government overreach.”
Get well soon!
Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) had a health scare this week, being admitted to the hospital over the weekend due to complications from diabetes, which the congressman has lived with for decades.
“Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. suffered a cardiac episode based on complications from his diabetes during the weekend,” Payne’s office said in a statement on Tuesday. “He was admitted to a local hospital for treatment. Currently, he is recovering in the hospital as doctors conduct routine exams to monitor and observe his improvement. The Congressman’s prognosis is good and he is expected to make a full recovery.”
Payne was unable to make it to any votes in Congress this week; a spokesperson said today that he is still recovering and his prognosis remains good, but that it’s not clear if he’ll be well enough to return to Washington by next week.
A bridge too far
Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge in Baltimore due to a cargo ship collision, many members of Congress – particularly the Maryland delegation – are working to secure funding to rebuild the bridge and reopen the port of Baltimore, projects which could cost billions of dollars.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), New Jersey’s most consistent critic of government spending, has other ideas. He introduced a resolution this week, the Francis Scott Key Bridge Disaster Taxpayer Reimbursement Resolution, that calls on the companies that chartered the cargo ship Dali to compensate taxpayers for the damage sustained to the bridge.
“While we need to rebuild this bridge as quickly as possible, we must also ensure that this company, along with others, understands that this kind of neglect will not be tolerated, and they must contribute to covering the costs,” Van Drew said in a statement. “The magnitude of this financial burden should not fall entirely on hardworking Americans, but rather the private entities who were directly responsible for this accident.”
The congressman also introduced a second bill, the Bridge Protection Act, which would require large bridges being constructed or repaired with federal money to include structural features designed to avert ship collisions.
UNacceptable
The Foreign Affairs subcommittee chaired by Rep. Smith held a hearing this week on the Chinese Communist Party’s influence at the United Nations, with several Trump-era UN representatives testifying on how China has utilized the international body for its own ends.
“The Chinese Communist Party is an unelected, highly deceptive, and unimaginably cruel political entity – a dictatorship – that rules by force, torture and coercion and stands credibly accused of genocide and a plethora of human rights abuses,” Smith said. “The CCP does not just seek to dominate the international rules-based order, it seeks to replace it.”
The hearing furthered two of Smith’s long-term focuses as chair of the House Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations Subcommittee: untoward actions at the United Nations and Chinese human rights abuses, which Smith has fought against throughout his many decades in Congress. (Smith also chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.)
Other Garden State plots
• Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) introduced the Protecting Personal, Private Medical Decisions Act this week, a bill that would push back on some conservatives’ attempts to resurrect the 1873 Comstock Act as a way of banning abortion drugs like mifepristone.
“Let’s be clear: without access to safe and legal reproductive healthcare, women will die,” Gottheimer said. “I will always oppose any attempt by those sitting on the bench or sitting in Washington who want to roll back the clock on the right to choose and stand between a woman, her doctor, and her faith when making personal health care decisions.”
• The Biden administration announced new regulations this week that mark the first-ever federal limits on PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” in drinking water – a move that earned plaudits from Pallone, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“We are thrilled the Biden EPA is stepping up to tackle this crisis with strong, enforceable drinking water standards to protect Americans from six insidious PFAS chemicals,” Pallone and fellow Rep. Paul Tonko (D-New York) said in a joint statement. “Every American deserves to know the water coming out of their tap is safe, and today’s announcement is a tremendous step toward making that a reality… There is still important work to do, and many more PFAS chemicals that must be scrutinized, but these new standards are a strong and admirable first step.”