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

For months, New Jersey has been hurtling towards a battle over its interim U.S. Attorney, Alina Habba, whose 120-day temporary term expires today. This week, that battle arrived; federal judges voted on Tuesday not to extend Habba’s term, only for the Justice Department to maneuver a convoluted workaround that could keep Habba on for another seven months or more.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Republicans moved ahead with a censure resolution against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) before skipping town for more than a month, in part to avoid further debates and votes on the release of files related to financier and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.

Graceland

On Monday, New Jersey’s District Court judges held a meeting to determine what would be done with the state’s U.S. Attorney’s office once Habba’s 120-tenure ended. They ultimately voted not to retain Habba, who has been an unusually high-profile and partisan prosecutor during her four months in office, and instead appointed First Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace in her place, effective Saturday at midnight.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department fired Grace from her role as First Assistant U.S. Attorney, with Attorney General Pam Bondi saying that her department “does not tolerate rogue judges.” In theory, though, Bondi’s decision still left the judges’ appointment of Grace intact.

On Wednesday, Grace said that she still intended on assuming the U.S. Attorney post on Saturday; both of New Jersey’s senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, had released statements supportive of Grace and the judiciary’s decision to appoint her.

And on Thursday, in a complicated maneuver, Habba announced that she would be assuming a new role as acting U.S. Attorney, which involved resigning as interim U.S. Attorney, being appointed to the First Assistant post Grace had been fired from, and then assuming leadership of the office by default. Habba – whose nomination in the Senate had to be withdrawn in order for the maneuver to work – could theoretically now hold the office for 210 days or more.

What comes next? Will Grace still try to take office at midnight tonight? Will there be a court battle over the appointment? As of now, no one knows for sure.

Claymation

Months after Rep. McIver tussled with immigration agents at Newark’s Delaney Hall detention facility, Republicans in Congress are at last making good on their threat to punish her for it.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) officially filed a privileged resolution to censure McIver on Wednesday, one that’s set to come up for a vote soon after the House returns in September from its extended summer recess. The resolution states that McIver’s actions “do not reflect creditably on the House” and strips her of her seat on the House Homeland Security Committee.

McIver, who also faces federal assault charges related to the same incident, said that Higgins – a controversial conservative who has made racist remarks in the past – was a “bigot who wants to be back in the news.” And Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), who was also present at Delaney Hall alongside McIver back in May, connected the resolution to another hot topic: the Epstein files. 

“This censure resolution is yet another pathetic attempt by Republicans to deflect attention away from their ongoing obstruction of the release of the Epstein Files, which we learned today mention Trump numerous times,” Watson Coleman said in a statement. “This resolution was brought up on the last voting day until September because Speaker Mike Johnson ended the week early to avoid voting on the release of the files.”

Indeed, the House left town earlier than expected due to internal disputes in the GOP over the Epstein files, and failed to vote on many of the noteworthy bills they intended to this week. One of the renegades within the GOP conference: New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), who signed onto Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky)’s bipartisan measure to release more Epstein records.

“The American people deserve full transparency,” Van Drew said of the bill.

Bove’s Labour’s Won

Despite hearty protests from both of New Jersey’s senators and practically all of their Senate Democratic colleagues, Emil Bove is likely to be confirmed next week to a New Jersey-based seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Senate voted 50-48 on Thursday afternoon to invoke cloture on Bove’s nomination, the final procedural step before a confirmation vote likely comes on Monday. Two Republican senators, Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), voted no, but it wasn’t enough to stop Bove, currently a high-ranking Justice Department official, from advancing.

In the lead-up to the vote, Senators Booker and Kim both took to the Senate floor to lay out why, exactly, they believe Bove to be so unfit for the federal judiciary.

“We have seen so many people come forward from both sides of the aisle to say, ‘This is wrong. It would be wrong for the senators to do this,’” Booker said. “The facts are so glaringly clear that this is someone who has no respect for the rule of law, this is someone who has shown no temperament to be a judge, this is someone who has been condemned for his lack of ethics.”

“More than nine million people that I represent, the people of New Jersey, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Third Circuit,” Kim said. “This nomination has a direct impact on their lives, their futures, and their rights. The people of New Jersey deserve better.”

Conscious pilot

When Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) was suddenly struck by a gallbladder infection while on a flight from Florida to New Jersey in April, pilots made the decision to divert the plane to North Carolina so that Norcross could get to the hospital. It was a decision that Norcross credits with saving his life.

On Wednesday, the congressman got to commend those who made that call. Norcross welcomed Captain Michael Tibaldo, First Officer James Kim, and flight attendants Donnell Mitchell and Jaclyn Curry to an event at the Capitol, where he presented them with framed copies of Congressional Record statements honoring their actions; International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien was also in attendance.

“Every minute matters in a medical emergency, and I’m lucky that the Republic Airlines crew was trained, equipped, and ready to respond when I was in my hour of need,” Norcross said. “It’s an honor to present the airline crew with an official Congressional Record of their heroic actions, and I once again thank them for their bravery.”

Wrongstown

After Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) received confirmation last week that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington and Ocean Counties will be used to detain immigrants, he and Rep. Norcross paid a visit to the base today to talk with its commanders about the detention proposal.

The two congressmen criticized the Trump administration for failing to make much information available to members of Congress; the letter Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sent Conaway last week contained almost no details about his department’s plans. But more important, they said at a press conference in nearby Wrightstown, was the fact that the base’s commanders also seemed to be unaware of what will happen.

“As of now, no undocumented immigrants are being held on the base,” Conaway said in a statement. “But that hasn’t stopped this administration from keeping Congress and military officials in the dark about their intentions. I will continue to press the Department of Defense for transparency and will return to carry out official oversight when appropriate.”

Conaway and every Democrat in the New Jersey delegation said last week that they strongly disapproved of using the joint base as a detention facility, regardless of the specifics of how or when it will begin.

Great Scott!

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced on Monday that it will take control of the embattled Atlantic City Housing Authority (ACHA) after finding it to be in “substantial default” – a decision that Rep. Van Drew, who represents Atlantic City in Congress, hailed as a major win.

“For years, I have been fighting tooth and nail to get HUD to take over the ACHA, and now that day has finally come,” Van Drew said. “Families were freezing in their homes, living with mold, no heat, no hot water, and no help. It was unacceptable. I promised the people I would not stop until something changed, and today, accountability is here.”

Van Drew has long used his perch in Congress to push for major changes at the ACHA, especially at the Stanley S. Holmes Village, the oldest public housing complex in the state. Shortly before now-HUD Secretary Scott Turner took office earlier this year, Van Drew secured a commitment that Turner would visit the facilities himself; evidently, his department ended up determining that conditions there required federal action.

ACHA officials have said that they disagree with HUD’s assessment and plan to fight back against its takeover plan.

Bringing a New York New Jersey perspective to the table

Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon)’s district will be home to next year’s FIFA World Cup final in East Rutherford, and a task force she co-leads, one focused on safety and security at the World Cup and other upcoming mass gatherings, met for the first time this week.

Pou used the inaugural meeting of the House Homeland Security Task Force on Enhancing Security for Special Events to lay out its mission of protecting the 2026 World Cup, the 2028 Olympics, and the 250th anniversary of America’s founding – and also criticized the Trump administration over the grants and programs it has cancelled and delayed since taking office.

“I want to point out that while our cities prepare for these wonderful celebrations of sport and global fellowship, the administration has cut, frozen, and slowed disbursement of DHS and FEMA grants that help cities address terrorism and regional preparedness,” Pou said in her opening remarks. “Cities and states needed that money yesterday.”

ZIP line

On New Jersey’s current ZIP Code map, Mendham Township is split across multiple ZIP Codes and shares one with Mendham Borough, while Kinnelon and neighboring Butler share one ZIP Code. A bill passed by the House this week would change that, giving both Morris County towns – as well as 72 other communities around the country – their own dedicated ZIP Codes; Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), who represents both towns in Congress, is a co-sponsor of the bill.

The bill is similar to one that the House approved last December, though that earlier bill didn’t include Mendham; with only a few days left in the 118th Congress at the time, the bill never made its way into law.

“Kinnelon has worked for a very long time to try to get its own ZIP Code, which will make life easier for Kinnelon families and support our first responders,” Kinnelon Mayor James Freda said last year, when the prior bill passed the House. “I want to thank Congresswoman Sherrill for working closely with me to try to help our Kinnelon residents. This is the closest we’ve ever been.”

Sherrill herself, though, wasn’t present for the vote, and six New Jersey Democrats voted against the bill, seemingly due to a procedural dispute over how Republicans put it up for a vote in the first place. (Last year’s bill passed on a voice vote.)

Other Garden State plots

• Led by Rep. Sherrill, 13 out of New Jersey’s 14 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary Hegseth and Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll urging them to reconsider a plan that could result in the loss of 1,000 jobs and $1 billion in funding at the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County.

“There is no other DoD installation with the same uniquely experienced and qualified staff in arms and ammunition,” the letter states. “Moving these missions to other installations would inevitably lead to reduced lethality and poorer weapons being delivered to our soldiers.”

• Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) introduced a bill this week, the Stopping Terrorists Online Presence and Holding Accountable Tech Entities (STOP HATE) Act, that would require more active moderation and reporting by social media companies related to content produced by terrorist organizations.

“We’ve seen an explosion of disinformation and antisemitic hate online in America and around the world – especially since the horrific October 7 terrorist attacks,” Gottheimer said. “There is a massive disinformation campaign influencing us every day. Our legislation will be a new tool in our online arsenal to protect our nation against terrorists and foreign adversaries that continue to threaten us in new ways.”

• Senator Cory Booker spoke to Semafor’s Burgess Everett about how he’s been coaching his fellow Democratic senators on using social media more effectively, and he argues he’s achieved some real results; engagement on Democratic posts has quadrupled from 400,000 to 2 million a day, Booker said.

“Our caucus was not understanding that we put so much energy into going on MSNBC, but more people are on these devices,” Booker said. “We’ve got to start shifting our strategy towards having a digital and media strategy that could break through, that could capture attention.”