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

To shut down or not to shut down? That is the question – and it’s one that’s caused Democrats a tremendous amount of heartburn this week.

With a government funding deadline arriving today, Republicans put up a stopgap funding bill that Democrats hated for several reasons, most importantly the fact that they believe it gives President Donald Trump and Elon Musk the ability to continue their quest to take apart much of the federal government. But a cohort of Senate Democrats, saying that a shutdown would be worse than the funding bill itself, chose to give Republicans the votes needed to pass the continuing resolution (CR) and keep the government open.

That decision has inspired waves of anger among many rank-and-file Democrats, although since none of New Jersey’s Democratic senators or representatives voted for the stopgap bill, they may be spared some of their constituents’ wrath when they’re home for next week’s district work period. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.

Some Democrats want to Chuck their leader

As New Jersey Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker have repeatedly said this week, Senate Democrats were left with no good options in the government funding debate. They could vote yes on the CR, and allow a bill they repeatedly said was no good be signed into law, or they could vote no, which thanks to the Senate filibuster would result in a government shutdown.

Kim and Booker both came to the same conclusion: voting no was worth the risk.

“I will not support what congressional Republicans are calling a ‘Continuing Resolution’ because it’s not. It is a surrendering of the powers of Congress to the president and Elon Musk,” Booker said. “Congress has a job to do. We swore an oath to uphold the Constitution – not to surrender Article One constitutional powers to Trump and Musk. I don’t want them to have more power.”

“This hyper-partisan funding bill is a setback for our country and a win for the millionaires and billionaires the Trump administration is working for,” Kim said. “We knew that no matter which way this vote went, families were going to be hurt. As Republicans gear up to gut Medicaid and take money from our schools, this can and will not be the last time this Congress has the chance to stand up against this lawlessness – and we must.”

But ten critical Democrats, among them Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, voted for cloture on the bill, allowing it to overcome a filibuster and pass the Senate (though most voted against the bill itself), putting it on Trump’s desk. That means that the government will keep its lights on beyond tonight, though there could be political consequences for Democrats going forward; Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, for example, is saying that Schumer’s vote is evidence that he needs to step aside as Democratic leader.

The House does things, too

The House, of course, had already gone through the same drama earlier in the week – but because Republicans only needed a simple majority to pass the funding bill, there wasn’t nearly the same pressure on Democrats to vote yes.

Accordingly, every Democrat in the New Jersey delegation (and all but one House Democrat nationwide) voted against the bill, saying that it was a partisan effort by Republicans to let Trump and Musk continue dismantling the government.

“With control of the House, Senate, and the presidency, Washington Republicans opted for a partisan funding measure that does nothing to protect Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) said in a statement. “Instead, they are jeopardizing critical resources for New Jersey while abdicating responsibility for our economy by letting Donald Trump enact extreme tariffs and allowing Elon Musk to line his own pockets with our tax dollars.”

New Jersey’s three Republicans, on the other hand, supported the bill with little protest, although Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) did signal some frustration at the fact that Congress was continuing to run the government via CR without passing a proper appropriations package.

“We’ve got to keep the government open,” Smith said. “It is a stopgap, so it’s got to be done to keep the lights on.”

After the House had done its duty, it adjourned for the week, but some Democrats still tried to put the pressure on their Senate counterparts to reject the CR: “House Democrats did our part and voted no. We’re demanding Senate Democrats do the same,” Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) said on social media. But since when has the Senate ever deigned to listen to the House?

A congressman of particular concern

During the Biden administration, Rep. Smith called on the president to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC), saying that religious freedom for the country’s Christians was under threat. A new presidential administration is now in control, but Smith’s request remains the same.

At a House hearing this week, Smith – the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa – heard from religious freedom advocates and from a Nigerian bishop who testified as to the dangers Nigerian Christians face. Trump had designated the nation as a CPC at the end of his first term, but Biden undid that designation shortly after taking office.

Smith introduced a resolution last session calling on the Biden administration to issue the CPC designation, and while it never came up for a House vote, Smith is pushing for it once again this session.

“While I strongly believe that President Trump will again designate Nigeria a CPC – and do much more to assist the persecuted church including outreach to Nigerian President Bola Tinuba – last night I reintroduced the resolution,” Smith said on Wednesday. “Help can’t come fast enough.”

HALT – in the name of love

Right before it began debate on the government funding bill, the Senate took up the HALT Fentanyl Act, a bill permanently designating fentanyl-related substances (though not fentanyl itself) as Schedule I drugs. The bill passed 84-16 – but one of its few naysayers was Senator Booker.

In a lengthy statement, Booker explained that while he has advocated for, and will continue to advocate for, solutions to the opioid crisis, the HALT Fentanyl Act “doesn’t address the root causes of the crisis and it will make matters worse.”

“Criminalization alone cannot stem the crisis of overdose deaths,” Booker said. “We need to prevent overdoses before they happen, but this bill does nothing to curb demand, stem the flow or emergence of new drugs, or help people free themselves from the darkness of addiction. My colleagues and I fought to include dozens of amendments, many of which had bipartisan support, designed to address the opioid crisis through these public health measures, but none were adopted.”

The House previously passed its version of the bill last month; a majority of the New Jersey delegation voted for it, but Reps. McIver, Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) were among the 108 Democrats who voted no.

Trump resort representatives, unite!

Bedeviled by the costs incurred upon Bedminster and Somerset County when then-presidential candidate Donald Trump came to visit his golf course, Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) proposed a bill last year that would authorize the Secret Service to pay back local governments for the use of their security resources and personnel. Kean’s idea got some bipartisan momentum, with Senator Booker becoming its co-lead in the Senate.

The bill didn’t end up going anywhere – it wasn’t introduced until last August, when Congress had entered its “let’s just make it to the end of the session” mode – but now that a new congressional term has begun, Kean is trying again. And this time, he’s joining with Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Florida), whose South Florida district includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

“The Secret Service relies on strong collaboration with local law enforcement to fulfill its mission effectively,” Kean said. “Currently, much of that responsibility falls on small-town taxpayers and local budgets. We must ensure our local law enforcement has the resources they need to do their job successfully. That is why I am reintroducing this commonsense legislation – to ensure the necessary funding is readily available to support every security operation.” 

Gannett worth

Following a vote by staff at the Bergen Record to walk out, alleging that Gannett has “continue[d] to bargain in bad faith and insult us at the bargaining table,” New Jersey’s Democratic House delegation have sent a letter to Gannett CEO Mike Reed insisting that the media company do better by its employees.

The letter, led by Rep. Sherrill and signed by all eight of her fellow New Jersey House Democrats, says that Gannett – which owns many of New Jersey’s oldest and most storied papers – needed to provide better pay and working conditions for its shrinking New Jersey press corps.

“We are greatly alarmed and disappointed that Gannett – after more than three years of negotiations with workers at several of your local New Jersey newspapers, including the Bergen Record, Daily Record, and NJ Herald – continues to delay progress in negotiations and hasn’t put forward a good faith contract offer, as required by the National Labor Relations Act, that provides good wages and job certainty to your employees in New Jersey,” the letter states.

“Given this, we write today to urge you to bargain in good faith, in accordance with Section 8 of the NLRA, with your employees represented by the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America and to settle contracts as quickly as possible that provide fair wages, benefits, and job security to your employees in New Jersey,” it continues.

Doctor who?

During now-Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran)’s first unsuccessful run for Congress in 2004, Roll Call ran an article titled “Doctor/Lawyer/Veteran Wants to Add a Title.” Now that he’s been elected to Congress as one of its few Democratic physicians, Conaway is helping to launch a caucus built around the first of those jobs.

Conaway announced today that, alongside the five other medical doctors currently serving in the House Democratic caucus, he’s launching the Congressional Doctors Caucus. According to a press release, the fledgling caucus will be dedicated to “promoting the health and well-being of Americans, advancing pragmatic health care policy and providing fellow Members with insights on critical health issues.”

“Medicine is not just a profession; it is a calling – a lifelong commitment to alleviating suffering, saving lives, and advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves,” Conaway said. “By launching the Doctors Caucus, we are continuing that commitment. I’m proud to join my fellow Democratic doctors in creating this caucus, where we will fight for patients and providers. Considering the present political landscape, it is more important than ever that we stand together.”

Other Garden State plots

• Rep. Watson Coleman issued an open letter this afternoon calling for the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian student activist and green card holder who was detained by immigration officials despite not having been charged with a crime.

“The case of Mahmoud Khalil should outrage everyone who values our fundamental right to free speech,” Watson Coleman wrote. “Whether or not you agree with Khalil’s political views, it should alarm each of us that his freedom of speech can be snuffed out solely because it is at odds with the official position of the President or the Federal Government.”

• After Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) was forced to come to Washington last month with her newborn son in her arms in order to vote, a bipartisan set of 218 representatives have signed a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill allowing new parents to vote by proxy for 12 weeks. Among the 218 are nine New Jerseyans; Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) is one of just 12 Republicans to have signed it.

“[Pettersen] has flown across the country with a newborn – twice – to protect our democracy against dangerous Republican budget proposals. It shouldn’t have to be this way,” Rep. McIver said on social media. “I signed her discharge petition to allow new parents in Congress to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks after their child is born. I look forward to voting for it on the House floor.”