D.C. Dispatch: What N.J.’s members of Congress did in Washington this week

After last week’s contentious defense bill debate, the House had had an aviation-focused week, with several New Jersey-led amendments successfully being added to an important Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) bill. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s 14 members of Congress did this week.

FAA la la la la, la la la la

With three members on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, New Jersey already had a hand in the shaping of the FAA reauthorization bill. During the floor vote this week, New Jersey’s House members were able to further put their mark on the bill, penning several amendments that were successfully adopted.

The most obviously noteworthy amendment in relation to New Jersey politics came from Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), who has repeatedly pushed for more oversight of offshore wind projects along the Jersey Shore. Smith’s amendment requires the president or his designee to certify that offshore wind development won’t interfere with aviation activities.

The amendment was grouped in a larger bloc of 17 amendments that passed by a wide 348-57 margin. Most New Jersey Democrats, though, voted against the bloc, possibly because of the offshore wind provision.

Also part of that same bloc was an amendment from Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) that mandates the FAA conduct a study of, and issue recommendations on, unmanned balloons and their potential impacts on national security, which Sherrill said is meant in response to the Chinese spy balloon incident earlier this year.

“As a former Navy helicopter pilot, I know the risks these objects can pose to aviators as they embark on either military or commercial travel,” Sherrill said. “My amendment gives air traffic controllers and aviation professionals the information they need to fly safely.”

Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) got one amendment passed that requires the Secretary of Transportation to “refine the reporting directives to provide more detailed information about the cause of a commercial passenger flight cancellation or delay” – essentially a rebuke of the chaotic scenes that unfolded in airports last winter.

And Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) successfully pushed through two amendments: one to study the causes of flight delays in the tristate area, and another to require the installation of secondary cockpit barriers as a preventative measure against terrorist attacks.

Just like last week with the National Defense Authorization Act, a number of contentious amendments backed by the right wing of the Republican Party also came up for a vote. But this time, many of those amendments were rejected; thanks to Kean and other moderate Republicans, the FAA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and climate change mitigation strategies will live another day.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m sixty-seven?

Ultimately, the FAA bill passed on a bipartisan vote of 351-69. But within the New Jersey delegation, four Democrats broke with the majority of their caucus and voted no: Reps. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).

Both Watson Coleman and Pascrell cited the same reason for their no votes: a clause in the bill that would raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67.

“While there is much in the FAA authorization bill that is good … I cannot support the inclusion of an increase to the pilot retirement age without study or consideration of safety,” Watson Coleman said on Twitter. “This introduces an unreasonable amount of risk and makes this an anti-union bill.”

“The bill was wrong to raise the retirement age of commercial airlines pilots without any study, consideration of safety, engagement with the pilots themselves, or acknowledgement of international standards,” Pascrell concurred.

Pascrell also expressed his frustration that Republicans had prevented his proposal to limit helicopter noise from being added to the bill. With the House Rules Committee rejecting his amendment, the congressman will have to find another way to pass his – deep breath – Reduce Excessive Decibels and Unwanted Commotion and Emissions to Heighten Enforcement and Limitation of Intrusive Chopper Operations to Protect Towns and Enhance Residents (REDUCE HELICOPTER) from Noise Act.

But while every House Democrat likely had some issues with individual components of the bill, several of them still voted for it, among them Transportation and Infrastructure Committee member Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City).

“Over the past few months, I have worked alongside my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to develop a strong, bipartisan bill that delivers for all Americans, and that’s exactly what this legislation does,” Menendez said.

Feeling a little congested

Joining with Gov. Phil Murphy this morning, Gottheimer, Pascrell, and Senator Bob Menendez announced a federal lawsuit against New York’s congestion pricing plan, an escalation of a fight that New Jersey politicians have been waging for months.

Under New York’s plan, cars traveling in Manhattan south of 60th Street would be subject to a substantial new fare, with the proceeds going towards the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, argues that the plan failed to include a required environmental impact review and should be blocked.

“As the senior senator of New Jersey, I have made it abundantly clear that it’s unacceptable for New York to try balancing its budget on the backs of New Jersey commuters,” Menendez said. “Their proposed congestion tax scheme is nothing more than a shakedown and must be defeated.”

Sherrill has announced her support for the lawsuit as well, further cementing congestion pricing as one of the few issues that can unite nearly every New Jersey politician in sheer disgust.

Tinker, tailor, senator, footballer

Cory Booker – a U.S. Senator from New Jersey, but more importantly a former tight end for the Stanford University Cardinals – announced bipartisan legislation yesterday that would introduce a number of new regulations to college athletics designed at protecting student athletes.

If enacted, the College Athletes Protection & Compensation Act would create a national oversight agency for student athlete endorsement contracts, establish a medical fund for long-term conditions related to college sports, require colleges to release more data on their athletics programs, and more.

“Being a college athlete was one of the greatest gifts of my life – it opened doors of opportunity and offered lessons I carry with me to this day,” Booker said in a statement. “But it also opened my eyes to some deep, systemic injustices in the system – a system that, to this day, continues to put profits over athletes.”

We all chair a yellow subcommittee

Two New Jerseyans chair House Foreign Affairs subcommittees, both of which met on Tuesday: Kean’s Subcommittee on Europe and Smith’s Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.

In Kean’s subcommittee, the focus was on the Western Balkans, a region of southeastern Europe that includes countries like Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kean summoned Gabriel Escobar, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Balkans, and criticized the Biden Administration’s policies towards the region, particularly in Kosovo.

“The Biden Administration needs to fundamentally rethink its approach if it hopes to lock in the region’s westward trajectory, push back against the malign influence of Russia, China, and corrupt local actors, and ensure desperately needed internal reforms are made,” Kean said in his opening remarks.

Smith’s subcommittee, meanwhile, focused on the “dire state of religious freedom around the world.”  Smith used the hearing to criticize a number of countries that he said violate religious freedoms, such as China, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, where Boko Haram has targeted Christian villages and churches.

“I was shocked when Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken removed Nigeria as a [Country of Particular Concern] in November 2021,” Smith said. “There was a chorus of criticism by the faith community in Nigeria and from the diaspora here, and from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Hopefully they’ll get that right and redesignate Nigeria as a CPC.”

The Pallone Ranger

The transition at the beginning of this year from being in the majority to being in the minority was a significant one for many of New Jersey’s House Democrats, particularly those elected in 2018 who had never experienced life in the minority before.

But no other member of Congress experienced the same loss of power as Pallone, who went from the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee – a perch that gave him significant sway over much of the congressional agenda – to its ranking member.

That has put Pallone in the position of being the chief critic of the partisan Republican bills that come before the committee, a position that Pallone has used this month to denounce a bill reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. The reauthorization bill, which passed out of the committee on Wednesday, is usually bipartisan, but Pallone said that Republicans have made it into a partisan exercise this year.

“This is not only disappointing, but also an abdication of our important responsibility to reauthorize this law to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies and threats,” he said in remarks on Wednesday. “I believe that is dangerous considering we have just witnessed first-hand with COVID-19 how important pandemic response is. It should not be partisan, and we should be working together to protect the health and well-being of the American people.”

Other Garden State plots

Watson Coleman, who represents a substantial chunk of the Northeast Corridor Amtrak line, slammed a Republican proposal slashing Amtrak funding in a House Appropriations Committee meeting on Tuesday.

The House voted on another significant piece of legislation this week, the “Schools not Shelters Act,” which would prohibit public school buildings from being used as shelters for undocumented immigrants. New Jersey’s delegation voted predictably: Republicans in favor, Democrats opposed.

Booker, who has repeatedly called for instituting ethics reform on the U.S. Supreme Court, got a chance this week to vote for a bill that does just that. On a party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation yesterday that would require the court to create a code of conduct and allow ethics complaints to be filed against its justices.

Finally, today is the release date of both Oppenheimer and Barbie, and apparently every member of Congress must take a stance on the two movies. Asked by Politico which he’ll be seeing in theaters, Booker said both, but he had strong opinions on which should come first.

“You need the seriousness and then the desserts,” he said. “You don’t see Barbie and then Oppenheimer. You see Oppenheimer and then Barbie.”

Menendez, Booker’s counterpart, also seems to be of the opinion that you can’t simply choose between Barbie and Oppenheimer. The senator’s response to those asking which he’ll see: “Por qué no los dos?”