The deadline to avert a government shutdown is 10 days away, and there’s currently no funding plan in place.
That’s a sentence that could have been repeated plenty of times over the course of this congressional session, and it’s true once again this week, with the House failing to pass a stopgap funding measure that was paired with a GOP-led voter security bill. The question of how to keep the government running has dominated Congress all month, but lots of other issues arose this week as well, including the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap, the minimum wage, Billie Jean King, and more.
Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.
The bill could not be SAVED
Going into this week, virtually everyone on both sides of the aisle seemed aware that Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to keep the government funded would fail – and it did.
The main problem for House Democrats, all but three of whom voted against the stopgap funding bill, was that the bill was paired with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill that requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. The vast majority of Democrats oppose the SAVE Act – citizenship is already a necessary prerequisite for voting – and argued that the attempt to tie it to government funding was a political ploy.
“I think that this is some sort of order from former President Donald Trump to the Speaker, telling him what to do,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) said shortly before the vote. “They’re playing politics and are willing to put the government, and the things we do for veterans and for seniors and for families, at risk while they play their political games.”
New Jersey’s three GOP congressmen all supported the bill, but 14 of their Republican colleagues did not, dooming it to failure. Congress has until September 30 to find an alternate path to funding the government before triggering a shutdown, which is something almost no one (except maybe Donald Trump) wants.
“You’ve got to keep the government going,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) said. “I’m not for a shutdown. I think it’s counterproductive… [Shutdowns] are a blunt instrument, and it’s better to continually try to work it out.”
Suddenly, Advantageous Legislation from Trump
No matter who is elected president in November, the SALT cap is going to be a major issue in Congress come 2025, which is big news for high-tax states like New Jersey. And Trump – the man who implemented the cap in the first place back when he was president in 2017 – is staking a new claim as a SALT defender.
“Hundreds of thousands of Migrants, Crime at record levels, Terrorists pouring in, Inflation eating your hearts out – WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? VOTE FOR TRUMP!” Trump said on social media prior to a rally on Long Island. “I will turn it around, get SALT back, lower your Taxes, and so much more.”
Trump’s new position, if he sticks to it, will come as a relief to New Jersey taxpayers hoping that Congress will allow the SALT cap to expire next year. Some Democratic members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, though, said that they’re skeptical of Trump’s commitment to the issue given his history.
“President Trump gutted SALT and raised taxes on hardworking middle class Jersey families,” Rep. Gottheimer said. “Now he wants to fix the problem he caused? And without any specifics? Sounds like the arsonist volunteering at the fire department.”
George Helmy gives speech that takes up 0.1% of his total in-session Senate tenure
When you’re only a member of Congress for a couple of months, everything you do takes on a new level of importance.
That’s the message that brand-new – and soon-to-depart – Senator George Helmy had in his maiden Senate speech yesterday. Helmy was sworn in last week to replace disgraced Senator Bob Menendez, and will step down in November after the results of the regularly scheduled Senate election are certified; he said in his speech that he intends to accomplish as much as possible during his short tenure, especially on the issue of youth mental health.
“No one comes to this august and revered chamber because they were a wallflower before they got here, and so no one seeks to be a wallflower whether they are here for a day or a decade,” Helmy said. “The challenges facing our nation are many, but that means so, too, are the opportunities. And I am going to lean into these opportunities so that, while my time here may be short, my impact may be lasting.”
Senator Cory Booker, for whom Helmy once worked as his state director, lauded Helmy on the Senate floor as someone who will get things done for New Jersey.
“He is throwing himself into this job as if every single day is precious,” Booker said. “I dare say there is not a senator in this body who is taking each day like he is and trying to make it as meaningful as possible. In that sense, Jersey has a senator that is incredibly hardworking.”
The Navy runs in the family
Since being elected in 2018, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) has been one of just a handful of female veterans in Congress. That’s given her a unique perspective on an issue that has come before Congress repeatedly since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision: access to abortion for active-duty servicemembers.
Sherrill, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, has frequently led the charge against Republican efforts to prevent the Department of Defense from facilitating servicemembers’ abortions. And earlier today, she put forward two bills to add new protections for servicewomen: one to require the Defense Department to provide servicemembers with information on the reproductive health care they can receive, and another to improve active-duty servicemembers’ access to contraception under TRICARE.
“This issue is deeply personal to me – my daughter recently enlisted in the U.S. Navy,” Sherrill said of her two bills. “And I know that she and her fellow servicewomen do not have a choice where they are sent to serve. As MAGA extremists continue to implement abortion bans nationwide, we have a responsibility to ensure that women have the baseline reproductive care and rights they need.”
Wage war
Last year, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) put his weight behind an effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $17, up from $7.25 currently. That bill hasn’t gone anywhere – not surprisingly, given GOP control of the House – but Norcross is now lending his name to a new effort to raise wages for tipped workers.
Under Norcross’s Tipped Income Protection and Standards (TIPS) Act, the subminimum wage that is currently allowed for workers in tipped professions would be abolished, standardizing the federal minimum wage across the board. Taxes on tips for workers making under $112,500 a year would also be eliminated, echoing a policy that both presidential candidates have espoused lately.
“By eliminating the subminimum wage and income tax for tips, we can put more money into the pockets of tipped workers, and finally give these folks a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work,” Norcross said in a statement. “While there’s still more work to be done when it comes to increasing the federal minimum wage, this legislation marks a pivotal step in the right direction toward ensuring tipped workers can experience less financial stress, provide higher quality service, and will improve overall workplace morale.”
Other Garden State plots
• Back in June, the Senate failed to pass a bill guaranteeing nationwide access to fertility treatments like in-vitro fertilization (IVF) thanks to opposition from most Senate Republicans. Democrats forced another vote on the same bill this week – and got the same result, with a motion to begin debate on the bill failing 51 votes to 44 (it needed 60 votes to succeed).
“Senate Republicans claim to support IVF — even wrote a letter about it — then turned around and voted against protecting it. Twice,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) said following the failed vote. “Actions speak louder than words, and Democrats are the ones actually fighting to ensure nationwide access to IVF.”
• Rep. Smith has been one of Congress’s leading voices on autism research for decades, and this week the House overwhelmingly passed his Autism CARES Act of 2024, which reauthorizes several key autism programs through 2029.
“The Autism CARES Act is a comprehensive reauthorization, and a strengthening of the whole-of-government effort that we have been working on now for three decades,” Smith said on the House floor.
• Also passing the House this week was the Dennis John Benigno Traumatic Brain Injury Program Reauthorization Act, a bill sponsored by the late Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) that, following his death, was amended to include a provision naming the national traumatic brain injury registry after Pascrell.
“Simply put, [Pascrell] never, ever backed down from doing what was right and always fought for the little guy,” Rep. Pallone said. “Renaming these grants in Bill’s honor ensures his tireless dedication to Traumatic Brain Injury advocacy will live on.”
• Yet another successful New Jerseyan-sponsored House bill this week: Rep. Sherrill’s effort to give a Congressional Gold Medal to tennis star Billie Jean King, which she co-led with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) and which is now headed to the president’s desk.
“She will be the first individual female athlete to earn [the Congressional Gold Medal], and what a great person to award it to,” Sherrill said of King. “She has truly been a barrier-breaker for athletes around the country, especially for women athletes and LGBTQ athletes.”
• The House is soon to get a new member from New Jersey: Rep.-elect LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), who overwhelmingly won a special election on Wednesday to succeed the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark).
It’s still something of an open question when McIver will actually be able to take her seat in the House, but New Jersey’s election officials are working to make it as early as possible. The Division of Elections sent a letter to the U.S. House Clerk yesterday saying that McIver is the apparent winner of the election even though it hasn’t been certified yet, and McIver’s Republican opponent, Carmen Bucco, has said he has no plans to contest the election and wants McIver to be sworn in quickly.