President Donald Trump arrived in the House chamber on Tuesday for his State of the Union address – technically his first since returning to the White House – and finished up a record one hour, 48 minutes later.
The address broke little new ground policy-wise, but featured lots of special guests, plenty of taunts towards the Democratic side of the aisle, and a focus on the issues that have defined Trump’s second term: immigration enforcement, tariffs, and the cost of living. Debates also raged this week over immigrant detention facilities and air traffic safety; here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.
Scutari honored to see his county get such national attention
How successful was President Trump’s State of the Union? Depends on which party you ask.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) went up to the president shortly after the speech ended and called it a “home run,” while Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) said it “laid out a vision focused on renewing America’s strength at home and abroad.”
“Over the past year, we’ve worked to grow our economy, cut taxes for the middle class, rein in wasteful spending, and advance policies that lower costs so families here in New Jersey can keep more of what they earn and feel greater financial security,” Kean said.
New Jersey Democrats, meanwhile, mostly reacted with derision; Senator Andy Kim called it “the most delusional, detached from reality speech I’ve ever seen.” And some didn’t even attend at all: Senator Cory Booker and Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) all skipped it to attend rival progressive events (McIver even gave a “prebuttal” address of her own), and Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) left partway through.
“There was no reason to go and stand there and listen to him be cognitively impaired and lie,” Watson Coleman said a few hours before the speech began. “So I said no, I’m not going. I’m not putting myself through that crap.”
Pallone’s guest breaks the record for bushiest beard in the House chamber since 1848
Members of Congress frequently use their guest ticket for the State of the Union as a way of advocating for their preferred policies – or, in many cases, jabbing at the president – and this year was no different.
Two New Jersey House members, Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) and Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), both brought construction workers on the Gateway Tunnel project, which has undergone a month of starts and stops thanks to Trump. Pallone’s guest, Laborers’ International Union of North America member Derrick Healy, was one of the nearly 1,000 workers who temporarily lost work thanks to Trump’s funding freeze.
“Trump promised more building, more manufacturing, and more jobs in America,” Healy said. “What’s he actually done? Nothing but play political games, cause chaos with our paychecks, and make it harder for blue collar people to do their damn jobs… I’m proud to be Congressman Pallone’s guest at the State of the Union to help send a message: stop the games and lower the high cost of living.”
Reps. Conaway and Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) each brought attention to Trump’s immigration policies via their guest: Menendez brought Monica Isabel Van Housen, the niece of a Colombian asylum seeker detained by ICE, and Conaway brought Jocelyn Cabrera, a constituent who filmed an encounter with immigration officers on her doorbell camera.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) brought Claire Lai, the daughter of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai; Senator Kim brought Cathy Rowe, the executive director of New Jersey Advocates for Aging Well; and Rep. Kean brought local disability advocate Sherry Nelson.
Great Scott
There was another storied New Jerseyan sitting in the gallery during Trump’s address: Scott Ruskan, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who is credited with helping to save hundreds of lives during last year’s catastrophic flooding in Texas. Ruskan, standing next to one of the children he helped save, was awarded the Legion of Merit midway through the speech.
“It was Scott’s first-ever rescue mission – young guy, but very brave,” Trump said. “He lifted not just Milly Cate but 164 others to safety… People watched Scott from a distance and they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.”
Also getting a prolonged shoutout from Trump was the U.S. men’s hockey team, which won a gold medal at the Olympics; Jack Hughes, a New Jersey Devils player whose chipped-tooth smile became an iconic image of the team’s win, joined his teammates in the gallery for the occasion. (The women’s hockey team, which also won Olympic gold, went unmentioned.)
Go kick Roxbury
After nearly two months of local hand-wringing, Immigration and Customs Enforcement at last confirmed late last week that it has, indeed, purchased a warehouse property in Roxbury Township for conversion into an immigrant detention facility.
The announcement drew swift blowback from Roxbury’s mayor and township council, all of them Republicans, who said that ICE had never communicated with them or addressed their concerns about the planned facility. The officials also called out local Rep. Kean by name in their statement, saying that he “did not engage to the level we had hoped to provide the advocacy our residents deserved.”
Kean quickly defended himself from their accusation, saying that he had “engaged directly with the highest levels of DHS on [Roxbury’s] behalf.” But the congressman hasn’t come out in opposition to the facility itself; instead, he’s pushing for a new bill that would create a grant program to help towns like Roxbury defray the costs of immigrant detention facilities within their borders.
“My legislation would ensure that law enforcement facilities in New Jersey and across the country can operate self-sufficiently without straining municipal utilities, resources, or local budgets,” Kean said. “I have heard directly from communities in our district, and I am fighting to make sure they are fully protected from bearing costs that are not theirs to carry, while also ensuring community safety and enforcement of our nation’s laws.”
Kean isn’t the only one advocating for a legislative remedy to the Roxbury news; Senators Kim and Booker introduced a bill yesterday to prevent money from the One Big Beautiful Bill, which provided ICE with an enormous funding boost, from going towards the purchase or maintenance of warehouses-turned-detention facilities.
Rotor voter
An air safety bill that had broad bipartisan support came up for a vote shortly before the State of the Union on Tuesday, but failed thanks to a House rule that requires bills to get two-thirds of the vote if they are put forward on a condensed timeline.
The ROTOR Act, which would require aircraft to carry a specific kind of tracking technology, was written in the wake of last year’s fatal accident over the Potomac River. Though its chief sponsor was a Republican, the Department of Defense came out in opposition to the bill shortly before the vote, peeling away just enough Republican support to sink it; one of those Republicans was Rep. Kean, the lone member of the New Jersey delegation to vote no.
“The Rotor Act was not the right reform,” Kean’s office said. “Congressman Kean is a co-sponsor of the ALERT Act which Chairman Graves has committed to move forward as soon as next week. That bill provides the comprehensive legislative response needed to fully implement the [National Transportation Safety Board’s] 50 safety recommendations.”
Also an important factor in the bill’s failure: the fact that 35 House members, among them Rep. Conaway, had not yet shown up to vote during the hurried voting session.
Pou money, Pou problems
The 2026 World Cup is just a few months away, but Rep. Pou – whose district is set to host the cup’s final match – said this week that host cities still haven’t received the FEMA funding they were awarded under the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“Congress has appropriated $625 million for the 11 cities hosting World Cup matches, including my district,” Pou said at a meeting of the House Homeland Security Committee’s task force on World Cup security, where she is the top Democrat. “With only roughly four months to go, these cities still report they have not received this funding. This is completely unacceptable this close to kickoff.”
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said that the delay in grant money is due to the ongoing shutdown at DHS, which has been without funding since February 14. “The longer DHS goes without funding, the less prepared our nation will be for threats at the FIFA World Cup and America 250,” Noem wrote on social media yesterday.
Pou, however, countered that the grant money was originally supposed to be awarded “no later than January 30, 2026,” before the DHS shutdown even began. (Pou, like all of her fellow Democrats, voted against the broader bill that originally included the funding.)
“If DHS is going to play a role in this tournament, then DHS needs to be transparent, coordinated, and timely,” Pou said at the task force hearing. “The World Cup is a global stage. We need to act like we are ready for it.”
Other Garden State plots
• Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), who lost his mother to a rare disease called sarcoidosis in 2018, launched the Congressional Sarcoidosis Caucus on Monday to support more research into the currently incurable illness.
“Sarcoidosis is a devastating disease that too often goes undiagnosed and under-researched,” Gottheimer said. “After losing my incredible mom to this illness, I know how urgent it is that we do more to support patients, families, and researchers working toward better treatments and, ultimately, a cure.”
• As DHS remains shut down with no end in sight, Rep. Van Drew is urging the passage of legislation to make sure federal workers and service members still get paid, while encouraging members of Congress to withhold their own pay during shutdowns.
“Using members of the Coast Guard at Training Center Cape May, TSA agents, FEMA personnel, and law enforcement officers as leverage in funding disputes is completely unacceptable,” Van Drew said. “We need to pass legislation now so federal workers are never again caught in the middle of funding fights.”
