This week marked the culmination of months of complex House negotiations, with Republicans narrowly passing a huge swath of their legislative agenda via their “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” It also marked a further escalation in the fight between a cohort of New Jersey Democrats and federal law enforcement, as Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) was hit with assault charges over an altercation with immigration officials in Newark.
Both stories are sure to have political ramifications for months and years to come; here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.
Good grief!
Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, assuming she doesn’t get nominated and confirmed for a full term, only has a few short months to make her mark on the U.S. Attorney’s office thanks to automatic 120-day limits on interim U.S. Attorneys. She’s doing what she can to make those 120 days memorable.
On Monday, Habba announced (on X) that she will bring assault charges against Rep. McIver related to the congresswoman’s conduct at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility on May 9. McIver, the indictment alleges, assaulted federal immigration officers and impeded Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest during a scuffle that also involved two other House Democrats and a number of protesters. (The indictment references no injuries.)
“No one is above the law – politicians or otherwise,” Habba said. “It is the job of this office to uphold justice impartially, regardless of who you are. Now we will let the justice system work.”
McIver and her fellow Democrats reacted to the charges with outrage, noting that she had a legal right to be present for an oversight visit and arguing that the Trump administration – Habba, while theoretically holding a nonpartisan position, has not shied away from her sympathies to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party – is targeting its political opponents.
“This is political intimidation from the Trump administration,” McIver told MSNBC in an interview. “Me being charged is absurd, especially when I’m just there to do my job. The confusion and the chaos that you see was caused by ICE officials and Homeland Security. They created this unnecessary situation by arresting the mayor.”
The federal judiciary, too, may head into the case with a healthy dose of skepticism for Habba’s methods. At the same time as she unveiled charges against McIver, Habba also announced that she was dropping the trespassing charges against Baraka that kickstarted the scuffle in the first place; while approving the dismissal, federal magistrate judge Andre Espinosa scolded Habba’s office for its “embarrassing” and “worrying” attempt at charging Baraka.
“Jesus, he tore these people a new asshole,” Baraka said on a hot mic after the judge had finished reaming out one of Habba’s deputies. “Good grief.”
Fighting with maces
On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Republicans continued to threaten consequences for McIver and her fellow Delaney Hall allies, Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City).
Their New Jersey colleague, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), chaired a hearing of the Judiciary Committee’s oversight subcommittee focused on threats against ICE facilities, and he used much of the hearing to castigate Democrats’ “shameful” display at Delaney Hall.
“They cursed at staff, they shoved past security, they assaulted federal law enforcement officers – and for what? To free whom? Criminals?” Van Drew said in his opening remarks. “Let’s be honest, who exactly are the Democrats fighting for here?” (Van Drew also accused the three representatives of “storming” the facility, echoing Department of Homeland Security rhetoric, even though members of Congress are permitted by law to visit DHS detention facilities unannounced.)
Republican leaders in the House have raised the prospect of censuring the three members or perhaps stripping them of committee assignments, though nothing will come of that for at least a week, since Congress has departed for its Memorial Day recess. One especially provocative congresswoman, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), introduced a resolution to expel McIver from the House entirely after the charges against her were announced.
Expulsion, though, requires a two-thirds vote in the House, and Democrats will undoubtedly kill any effort to do so if it ever comes up for a vote. Democrats in Washington, ranging from New Jersey’s local delegation all the way up to House and Senate Democratic leadership, spent the week releasing statements, sending letters, and holding press conferences decrying the charges.
“The proceeding initiated by the so-called U.S. Attorney in New Jersey is a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate Congress and interfere with our ability to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team said in a joint statement. “House Democrats will not be intimidated by the Trump administration. Not today. Not ever.”
I like Big Beautiful Bills and I cannot lie
Ever since they won a trifecta last year, Republicans have been talking about the cost-cutting, tax-lowering agenda that they want to pass through Congress. This week, after months of wrangling and numerous last-minute changes, their “One Big, Beautiful Bill” passed the House in a squeaker of a vote at 6:54 a.m., putting that agenda on the path to success.
What does the bill contain? According to Republicans, major new investments in national defense and border security; safeguards against illegal immigrants and ineligible recipients getting Medicaid; tax cuts via a raised State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap and an end to federal taxes on tips; and a cancellation of the Biden administration’s “Green New Deal” programs.
“Today the House took the responsible and critical step to protect all Americans from the largest tax increase in our history, secure our borders to stop the flow of human trafficking and fentanyl and rebuild our military after years of neglect, while protecting fundamental programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, ensuring their survival,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) said after the bill passed.
(Reps. Van Drew and Tom Kean Jr. had both been potential swing votes on the bill – Van Drew because of its Medicaid provisions, Kean because of prolonged negotiations over the SALT cap – but both ended up supporting it with little complaint.)
According to Democrats, meanwhile, the bill’s effects will be that millions fewer Americans will have health coverage thanks to new Medicaid requirements and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies; those reliant on food stamps will have their benefits slashed; and higher income Americans will see their incomes rise while lower-income Americans will see them fall.
“House Republicans have just passed one of the most harmful pieces of legislation in recent memory, slashing vital programs like Medicaid and SNAP that millions of Americans rely on,” Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) said. “This move isn’t about fiscal responsibility – it’s about protecting the wealthy at the expense of the most vulnerable. It’s a stark display of misplaced priorities, revealing that their loyalty lies with billionaires, not working families.”
Which party is right? Both, basically; a 1,118-page bill can contain multitudes. The political battle over which side Americans hear about more, though, is just beginning (and the bill still has to get through the Senate before anyone actually feels its impacts).
Norcross has got some gall
One thing that hobbled Democrats during the vote was the fact that several of their members have gotten sick or died in recent months, reducing their numbers. But Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), who had been out of Washington for nearly two months thanks to a serious gallbladder infection, made sure he showed up to vote.
Norcross, who was released from a physical rehabilitation facility two weeks ago, remains on the road to recovery and may not be a regular presence in Washington for some weeks to come. For this one critical vote, though, he was willing to trek to the Capitol and stay up through the night to give Democrats as large of a voting caucus as possible.
“This Trump-Republican scam was rushed through in the dead of night for a reason: they know they’ve betrayed the American people,” he said in a statement after the bill passed. “Their cuts to home and long-term care put lives at risk, especially for our seniors. How dare they try to rip away basic rights from the people who we were elected to serve – we will fight back.”
(The final tally of 215-214 does overestimate slightly how close the vote truly was, since one Republican had fallen asleep and another had inadvertently stepped out of the chamber and missed the vote; both would have likely voted yes if they’d been needed.)
Charles the Great
When Charles Kushner’s nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to France came up for a vote on Monday, it proved to be a bridge too far for nearly every Senate Democrat. In 2005, Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison over a sordid plot involving false tax returns, his brother-in-law, and a prostitute; the real estate titan, once a major Democratic donor, has since become close with the Trump family after his son Jared married Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
There was one exception in the Senate Democratic caucus, however: Cory Booker.
Booker and Kushner have a long history together that dates back to Booker’s first campaign for mayor in 2002. More recently, the pair worked together on the First Step Act, a major criminal justice reform bill signed by Trump during his first term; that bipartisan work, Booker said, caused him to support Kushner’s nomination even as all of his Democratic colleagues voted no.
“I have passionate differences and disagreements with Charlie Kushner, but I supported his confirmation because he has been unrelenting in reforming our criminal justice system and has substantively helped achieve the liberation of thousands of people from unjust incarceration,” Booker said.
I am not a GENIUS and thus do not understand this bill
That wasn’t the only vote this week on which New Jersey’s typically tight Senate delegation diverged.
The GENIUS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) Act, a bill regarding the regulation of stablecoins that’s too wonky to fully explain on this New Jersey-focused news site, came up for an important procedural vote this week after failing to overcome a Democratic blockade earlier this month. Booker was one of 16 Democrats to vote in support, while Senator Andy Kim was opposed. (The final vote was 66-32 in favor.)
In a statement on his vote, Kim – who had previously voted to advance the bill in committee – said that he was worried about the potential for abuses from hostile foreign powers like Iran and North Korea, and that he could still be open to supporting the bill in the future.
“While I support innovation and growth in blockchain and crypto, we have to do so in a way that stops terrorist groups, cartels, and rogue states like Iran and North Korea from using this tech to move and hide billions of dollars,” Kim said. “I voted yes in committee on this legislation last month with the hope that we could put in the necessary anti-money laundering provisions. I am still in negotiations with my colleagues on that language and hope we can come to agreement.”
Other Garden State plots
• Delaney Hall, the detention center at the heart of immigration debates in New Jersey, is owned and operated by a private company, GEO Group, that contracts with the federal government. Rep. Watson Coleman, one of the representatives who visited the facility earlier this month, is pushing once again for her bill banning for-profit prisons, though it wouldn’t apply to DHS facilities like Delaney Hall.
“Private prison companies like GEO Group create a perverse incentive to increase incarceration to increase corporate profits,” Watson Coleman said. “The use of private prisons erodes the public’s faith in the integrity of American sentencing policy, leaving them to wonder if the impetus for lengthy mandatory minimums, or forcibly detaining immigrant children, is an evidence-based solution or just submission to the will of private prison companies donating to campaigns and profiting from imprisonment.”
• The House Financial Services Committee approved four bills led or co-led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) this week aimed at reducing regulations for small businesses, protecting senior investors from scams, and more.
“We must protect our seniors’ retirement savings and make it easier for our small businesses to grow and thrive,” Gottheimer said. “That’s why I’m fighting every day to protect our seniors, cut red tape for small businesses, safeguard people’s retirement savings, and make life more affordable. These bipartisan bills are a step forward to making Jersey an even better place to live, raise our families, and do business.”
• Less than two days after it began, an NJ Transit strike came to an end on Sunday night after state leaders came to a deal with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, though service didn’t resume until Tuesday morning.
“I applaud New Jersey Transit and BLET for coming back to the table to find a fair agreement,” Senator Kim said on Sunday evening. “New Jerseyans deserve a first-class public transit system operated by professionals treated with respect and dignity; this deal is a step in that direction.”
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September 15, 2023 -
