Thanks to collaboration between the White House and the federal judiciary, New Jersey at last has a lawfully appointed U.S. Attorney again, bringing to an end a battle that’s been hounding the state for more than a year. But another thorny battle in Washington, over Department of Homeland Security funding, is still up in the air after a late-night deal in the Senate began to collapse in the House.
It all came right before Congress is scheduled to head off for its April recess, meaning that this is the last spurt of legislation we’ll be seeing for weeks. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.
Set Frazers to stun
Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Jersey has had seven different people claim at one point or another, with varying degrees of legality, to be in charge. An eighth was named this week, and he may be here to stay.
On Monday, Chief District Judge Renée Marie Bumb and the Department of Justice announced in a pair of brief legal filings that Robert Frazer had been appointed by the District Court at the next U.S. Attorney. Frazer was a low-profile career prosecutor who had been with the office he now leads for more than 20 years.
The announcement came as a surprise to most of the world, but it followed a series of discussions between Bumb and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who were both eager to get the office back on track after a year of nationally watched chaos. Frazer went through a White House vetting and ultimately emerged as a consensus choice.
At no point during the process, however, were U.S. Senators Andy Kim or Cory Booker brought in on the matter. The senators would normally get to weigh in on U.S. Attorney nominees (and would have veto power over home-state nominees they didn’t like), but the collaboration between the judiciary and the DOJ shut them out; Frazer is set to hold the role until the end of Trump’s presidency unless Trump were to for some reason submit a different person to the Senate for confirmation, which seems unlikely.
“I want to make it known that this is not something that I want to see the Trump administration ever do again,” Kim said. “I don’t want to see them try to replicate this in other states or do this again in New Jersey down the road. But look, I’m glad at least we can try to get that office up and running.”
Midnights (Andy’s version)
In the wee hours of this morning, the Senate seemed to finally break through the impasse on DHS funding. Under a deal agreed to by unanimous consent at around 2:20 a.m., most of DHS, which has been shut down since February 14, would get funding except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol.
Senator Andy Kim was among the small handful of senators who were present for the vote, and he objected to an effort from a Republican senator to separately fund ICE and Border Patrol. The immigration enforcement wing of DHS, he said in an early-morning floor speech, needs more guardrails before Democrats are willing to fund it.
“Democrats have been steadfast in our insistence that we will not support providing more funding for ICE without also including common-sense reforms to rein in the abuses we have seen in Minnesota and elsewhere,” Kim said. “All we’ve been demanding here is what the American people are demanding: body-worn cameras; no masks; keeping ICE agents out of our hospitals, schools, and churches; and assuring ICE follows the same practices and procedures as local law enforcement.”
But of course, this is Congress in 2026, so nothing can last. House Republicans, once they woke up, quickly started panning the Senate proposal and declaring it dead on arrival; they’re instead forging ahead with a 60-day stopgap DHS funding bill that funds the entire department, which Democrats are saying is a no-go.
In other words: it’s still probably wise to show up for your flight 17 hours early this weekend.
The Golden Bachelet
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s bid to become the next United Nations Secretary-General is taking fire from Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) and a number of other anti-abortion Republicans in Congress.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Smith and 27 of his House and Senate colleagues highlight Bachelet’s “promotion of an extreme abortion agenda” both as president of Chile and as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The United States, Smith argues in the letter, should use its veto power on the UN Security Council to prevent Bachelet from becoming the next UN leader and should instead seek out “a more qualified candidate.”
“Dr. Bachelet’s resume reveals a pro-abortion zealot intent on using political authority to override state sovereignty in favor of extreme agendas,” the letter states. “She has demonstrated that she is not a candidate who will respect state sovereignty, refrain from divisive ideologies, or focus [on] issues of common concern to UN member states.”
Beach body
An effort co-led by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) to re-up the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000, which created and funded a number of water quality programs for coastal and Great Lakes beaches, cleared the House this week.
“New Jersey’s beaches are a cornerstone of our economy and our identity,” Pallone said. “Our bill makes sure residents know when the water is safe and, just as importantly, gives states the tools to go upstream and stop pollution at its source. That’s how you protect public health and keep our shore open for business.”
The reauthorization of the BEACH Act came up as part of a larger package of water quality legislation that passed the House 378-32; every present New Jersey representative voted in favor.
An update on Kean
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) remains out of action in Washington, missing all House activity for a second week in a row – an unusual occurrence for a congressman who barely skipped a single vote during his first three years in Congress.
Kean’s office said in a statement last week that the congressman was attending to a “personal health matter” and that he’d be back with a full schedule “soon.” Asked for more details today, his office said it had “no further update.”
While the House remains tangled in DHS debates for now, it’s scheduled to begin a two-week recess next week, meaning that it may be some time before Kean is next required to be in Washington.
Other Garden State plots
• Several of New Jersey’s House Democrats made a push earlier this year to get Gov. Phil Murphy to sign a series of immigrant protection bills, to no avail; Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a package of similar bills this week, much to the relief of those same House Democrats.
“Families across New Jersey can feel safer and more secure because the Immigrant Trust Directive is now law, Trump’s untrained paramilitary forces are banned from hiding behind masks, and sensitive data is not being shared with the federal government,” Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) said. “I am grateful for Governor Sherrill’s leadership for making this victory a reality, and to the legislators and advocates who never gave up in this critical fight.”
• The governor also faced some criticism this week, however, from Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) over South Jersey’s stubbornly high utility bills and the delivery fees that accompany them.
“The Governor and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities have the authority to fix this, and they need to act now,” Van Drew said. “I am once again calling on them to repeal these excessive delivery fees. The root of this problem lies at the state level. My hands are virtually tied here, but I am trying desperately at the federal level to help where I can.”
• Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) is leading a bipartisan bill to create a pilot program providing mental health services to incarcerated veterans, especially those with PTSD or other traumatic backgrounds.
“Service to our country does not end at incarceration, and neither should our commitment to care,” Conaway said. “As a physician, I’ve seen how untreated conditions like PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and military sexual trauma can shape the course of a veteran’s life. The Get Justice Involved Vets BACK HOME Act is about closing a dangerous gap in care by ensuring that justice-involved veterans can still access the mental health services they need to heal, rebuild, and successfully reenter their communities.”
• Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) has teamed up with several of her Democratic colleagues to introduce a new Working Women’s Bill of Rights, a resolution that “recognizes Congress’s obligation to address recent executive and administrative actions that have caused disproportionate harm to women’s workplace rights, freedoms, and protections, by safeguarding workers from unequal treatment.”
“I introduced this resolution to sound the alarm because no one should be able to bully women out of their rightful place in the economy,” McIver said. “As much as this administration wants to ignore us, we’re demanding Trump and Republicans’ attention to the damage they are doing to women.”