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

Which was the biggest news for New Jerseyans in Congress this week? Was it the swearing in of a new senator? The passage in the House of a major defense bill? Or the continued mystery of the drones that have been appearing over New Jersey’s skies, perplexing elected officials and their constituents alike?

Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did this week on those issues and more.

Andy Kim makes history as New Jersey’s 68th male senator

For the second time in three months, New Jersey has a new U.S. Senator.

Senator Andy Kim was sworn in this week, taking the seat once held by disgraced former Senator Bob Menendez that had been occupied in recent months by interim Senator George Helmy, who stepped down over the weekend so that Kim could take office. It’s the victorious conclusion to a whirlwind saga for Kim, who started out in 2023 as an upstart primary challenger to Menendez and ended up outwitting practically the entire New Jersey Democratic establishment in order to win a seat in the Senate.

“This is certainly going to be a moment I will never forget for the rest of my life,” Kim said on Monday after Vice President Kamala Harris gave him the oath of office. “To be able to swear that oath and see my two boys up in the gallery looking down – it’s incredibly meaningful. I’m humbled by this, and I’m ready to get to work.”

Upon being sworn in, Kim, who previously served three terms in the House, was thrust right into the Senate’s hectic final two weeks of work before senators depart for the holidays.

Kim cast his first handful Senate votes throughout the week, voting to confirm five Biden-nominated federal judges and joining in an unsuccessful attempt to push through a National Labor Relations Board nominee. He’s taken Menendez’s old committee assignments on a temporary basis, though he’ll get new ones come January, and participated in his first Senate committee hearing, a Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing on consumer affairs. And he led his first press conference as a senator, joining with Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) to advocate for more disaster relief funding.

“There is so much to be done at the federal level to help communities across the country as we see a worsening climate crisis and severe natural disasters occurring at an increasingly alarming rate,” Kim said in a statement on FEMA funding. “It was powerful to hear from so many today about the need for leaders to step up and do the jobs we were sent here to do so that FEMA remains fully funded and that disaster survivors have the support they need so that no one has to wait for help to rebuild their homes and lives after catastrophic events.”

The taste of a poison pill paradise

On Wednesday, the House approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual must-pass bill authorizing the Department of Defense’s policies and budget, but not without some severe heartburn for Democrats.

Unlike an earlier House version of the NDAA that passed over the summer, the bill is the product of bipartisan negotiations in both chambers. But Republicans added several controversial culture-war provisions to the bill, including one that restricts gender-affirming care for the children of servicemembers; the New Jersey delegation split down the middle, with five Democrats voting against the bill and three Republicans and two Democrats voting for it. (Two House seats are vacant thanks to Kim’s departure for the Senate and the death of Rep. Bill Pascrell.)

Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) and Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), both declared candidates for governor of New Jersey, were the two Democrats to vote yes. In a statement, Sherrill said that she was dismayed at the bill’s provisions relating to transgender health care, but argued that the bill still notches many important wins for America’s servicemembers and that it was probably the best deal Democrats could hope to get.

“Governing requires making tough choices with the options in front of you,” she said. “Had this bill failed, extremist House Republicans would simply have bided their time, coming back in January with a Trump-led government trifecta to use the NDAA to enact the whole slate of their dangerous agenda. This is only the first salvo in a fight to which I am extremely committed.”

In the Senate, meanwhile, a large group of Democrats – led in part by Senator Cory Booker – are warning against including any similar conservative “poison pill” provisions in government funding bills that will have to be passed shortly in order to avert a government shutdown. (The NDAA and a stopgap funding package are the two main tasks Congress still needs to accomplish before leaving town next week.)

“Dangerous poison pill provisions like those included in the FY25 House appropriations bills will severely undermine Congress’ ability to push forward must-pass legislation and keep the government open and working for the American people,” Booker and a group of more than 40 fellow Senate Democrats wrote in a letter to Senate appropriators. “As such, we urge you to reject these extremist riders from the final FY25 appropriations bills.”

47 dronin’

Anxiety over the drones that have been sighted in New Jersey’s skies reached a fever pitch this week, spurred on in part by statements released by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) that the Pentagon has since pushed back against.

Van Drew said on Wednesday that, given the continued lack of information about the nature of the drones, “it is time we eliminate the threat they pose and shoot them down.” He also shared his suspicions that the drones originated from Iran, saying that he heard as much from qualified sources with knowledge of the matter.

“There are several pieces of circumstantial evidence that Iran is [responsible],” Van Drew said in a letter to President Joe Biden. “First, the Coast Guard has observed drones coming into New Jersey from the Atlantic Ocean. Second, we have information that a sea-based Iranian drone mothership is currently missing from port, and that its embarkation timeline would align with the appearances of the New Jersey drones. We know that Iran has both the motive and the capability to execute such an operation.”

But a Department of Defense spokesperson quickly shut down that speculation, saying on Wednesday that the Pentagon does not presently believe a foreign adversary to be behind the sightings.

“There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said.

State politicians like Gov. Phil Murphy and national security groups like the FBI have urged New Jerseyans not to panic, saying that while they’re still trying to figure out the origins of the drones, they don’t believe they present any immediate threat. But incoming President Donald Trump seems to agree with Van Drew’s solution: shoot them down.

“Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country,” he said this evening on social media. “Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shot them down!!!”

Going ballistic

Brand-new Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) – who, thanks to a pair of special elections held in November, is now no longer the most junior member of the House – has introduced her first House bill, the Better Ballistic Body Armor Act.

The companion to a Senate bill introduced by Senator Gary Peters (D-Michigan) earlier this year, the Better Ballistic Body Armor Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to increase the availability of body armor designed specifically for female agents, whose bodies don’t always fit properly into armor made for male body shapes, a problem that McIver said can have deadly consequences.

“Because of ill-fitting armor, there’s a lethal safety gap for women and some men who work on the front lines at DHS that my Better Ballistic Body Armor Act will address,” said McIver, a member of the Homeland Security Committee. “Regardless of gender or body type, these DHS agents are doing the same challenging work, but with uniforms made exclusively to fit traditional male bodies, they’re open to more harm. This is a fixable problem with a clear solution: let’s pass this bipartisan bill to provide the right protective gear to everyone who serves.”

Things that move and things that don’t

Big New Jersey news on the Energy and Commerce Committee this week: Rep. Pallone will continue to be the committee’s Democratic ranking member, while swing-district Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) will join the committee beginning in 2025.

Pallone has led Democrats on the committee, widely considered to be among the House’s most powerful bodies, since 2015; he was chairman when Democrats held the majority between 2019 and 2023, and Democrats unanimously re-elected him to remain their leader earlier this week.

“I look forward to continuing to work together to deliver for the American people, protect the progress we’ve made, and hold the incoming Trump Administration accountable,” Pallone said. “I am grateful to my Democratic colleagues for once again entrusting me to lead this Committee and look forward to getting to work.”

Kean, meanwhile, has been hoping to make it onto the committee since he first arrived in Congress two years ago, and his efforts paid off this week when the House GOP Steering and Policy Committee chose him for one of the committee’s coveted seats.

“I am honored to be selected to serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee, where I look forward to working with my colleagues to address the critical issues facing our nation’s energy future, research and development, and economy,” Kean said. “Our work will shape the path forward for innovation, sustainability, and opportunity for New Jerseyans and people across our nation.” 

Other Garden State plots

• Morris County’s Kinnelon Borough could at last have its own ZIP Code soon thanks to a bill, co-sponsored by local congresswoman Rep. Sherrill, that would sever it from the ZIP Code it currently shared with the neighboring borough of Butler. (Kinnelon is one of 31 towns addressed by the bill, which passed the House by voice vote this week.)

“When I first took office, residents of Kinnelon came to me to share the challenges they were facing because Kinnelon shares a ZIP code with Butler,” Sherrill said in a statement. “Without a unique ZIP code, residents have faced a number of challenges – including post office delays and dangerous confusion for first responders trying to handle emergencies. Yesterday’s House passage was a critical next step in our mission to cut through red tape and solve a key quality of life issue for Kinnelon and Butler families.”

• In the waning days of his term, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people convicted of nonviolent crimes – most of whom have been in home confinement since the Covid pandemic – and pardoned another 39; Biden’s decision drew swift praise from Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), who has long advocated for the president to take such action.

“For years, Rep. Cori Bush and I have been pushing for the Biden Administration to commute the sentences of folks on home confinement from the CARES Act,” Watson Coleman said. “These people pose no threat to society, have reunited with their families, and make meaningful contributions to their communities. It is a significant act of humanitarianism from the Biden Administration, and I am so pleased they have done the right thing for these people, and their families.”