The people of New Jersey’s 11th district have elected a new congresswoman: Rep.-elect Analilia Mejia (D-Glen Ridge).
Mejia now has the privilege of joining a fractious, cantankerous legislative body that tied itself in knots this week debating Iran, Israel, and a key U.S. surveillance law that’s soon to expire. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.
Not Mejia, Usjia
Around 130,000 voters in Essex, Morris, and Passaic Counties went to the polls on Thursday, and their choice was fairly clear: Mejia defeated Republican Joe Hathaway by nearly 20 points, a larger margin than now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill ever got in her campaigns (albeit in a smaller, bluer electorate).
Mejia’s journey, from hardscrabble progressive activist to underdog congressional candidate to representative-elect, is one of New Jersey’s most impressive recent political rises. She’ll also be a notable change from the district’s past representation, which typically tilted towards moderates on both sides of the aisle.
Sherrill left office on November 20, so the North Jersey district has gone without a member of the House for close to five months. That’s likely to change early next week, assuming that the schedule for Mejia’s swearing-in follows the precedent set by other recent House special elections.
“To all those assembled here, to everyone in this incredible district, I want you to know that I will fight for you every single day,” Mejia said at her victory party. “I did not come to play, my friends. I came to fight for what is right. It is not about left or right. It is about right and wrong.”
Another update on Kean
Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) once again missed votes this week due to an unspecified medical issue, and his office is staying mum about what the issue is or when he might return.
“The congressman is dealing with a personal medical issue that prevents him from casting votes this week,” Kean spokesperson Harrison Neely said. “He’s expected to be totally fine and back to a full schedule soon.” (Neely similarly said Kean was due back in Congress “soon” after he first began missing votes a month ago.)
Kean hasn’t made an appearance in Congress since the week of March 2; he’s missed 37 consecutive roll-call votes beginning on March 17. His office has remained active, introducing legislation and penning letters to Trump administration officials, but it’s not clear what the congressman’s day-to-day involvement has been.
The wars powers votes will continue until morale improves
Democrats have not let up on their efforts to halt the Iran War via congressional war powers resolutions, and while they haven’t yet succeeded in passing one through either chamber of Congress, the margins are getting closer.
In the House, at least. On Thursday, the House took up its second war powers resolution, and it only failed by one vote, 213-214; had Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voted in favor rather than against, it may have passed. As in the past, every New Jersey Democrat supported the resolution.
Over in the Senate, Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker have become two of the leaders of a group of Democrats dedicated to keeping the war front-and-center. Kim said that the group intends on forcing new votes at least once per week, and while the margins haven’t shifted yet, he thinks Republicans are beginning to get cold feet about the Iran conflict, too.
“I know that the more we do this, the more that Republicans in the Senate are frustrated that they have to vote,” Kim said. “They’re feeling the pressure, and the pressure is going. They would like nothing more than for this to go off of the front page news.”
Weekday at Bernie’s
Inevitably tied to any discussion of the Iran War is Israel, a U.S. ally that has been closely involved in the conflict. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) forced the Senate to vote on two resolutions on Wednesday blocking arms sales to Israel, and while they both failed, a record 40 out of 47 Senate Democrats supported one of them – Kim and Booker among them.
Kim has been voting for blocking weapons for Israel since he arrived in the Senate, saying at one point last summer that they would only prolong the suffering he’s witnessed in Gaza, so his vote did not come as a surprise.
But Booker’s yes vote, coming from a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a longtime Israel ally, was more unexpected. Booker said that his vote stemmed from his concerns that any weapons Israel receives could serve to prolong hostilities in Iran.
“I am using every tool available to me to stop this war, and do not support more weapons to continue the combat, whether it is to our own government or to one of our closest allies,” he said. “I will always support America having the globe’s preeminent military and defense capabilities, and I will always steadfastly support Israel’s defense and deterrence capabilities. I will not, however, support Trump’s war, and I will continue to take every action to bring it to a swift conclusion.”
Fee FISA Fo Fum
A complicated debate over a key U.S. surveillance law became an enormous headache for House leaders this week, one that divides both parties and that has yet to come to a clear resolution.
Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government can surveil the communications of foreign nationals without a warrant, even when they’re communicating with Americans. Defenders of the policy say it’s necessary for national security; opponents say it’s a violation of civil liberties; and both sides get the chance to hash out those debates every couple of years, when the provision expires and needs to be renewed.
“I don’t think we can afford to have a lapse in the ability of the administration to protect us, to protect the homeland,” said Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran), who supports extending Section 702, though he said he wishes there was more room for negotiations on reforms. “I think people would say, should foreign nationals in our country be surveilled – I think they would say yes, and I agree with them!”
“How we have been doing things does not make us safer – it’s invasive,” said Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), an opponent of extending the provision without reforms.
But thanks to a revolt from a handful of Republicans, one of them a New Jerseyan, the House wasn’t able to agree on a straightforward extension this week. One proposal, extending Section 702 for five years, was sunk thanks to Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) and 11 other Republicans voting no (Rep. Josh Gottheimer was one of three Democrats to vote yes); another, extending it for 18 months, died in a procedural vote. The House then passed a two-week extension by voice vote, punting the issue into the future.
Unfrazed
Robert Frazer’s ascension from obscure career prosecutor to U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey may have come as a surprise to most, but it was also perfectly legal, a judge ruled this week.
Frazer’s appointment by New Jersey’s District Court judges, in consultation with the White House, drew a challenge from a New Jersey defendant who argued that the proper steps had not taken place. That same defendant had previously argued, successfully, that the Trump administration’s earlier workaround to a longstanding U.S. Attorney dispute was unlawful.
But as first reported by the New Jersey Monitor, Pennsylvania District Judge Matthew Brann ruled that Frazer’s appointment did indeed follow the law and is valid. That’s not a surprise – few doubted that the judges had the power to choose Frazer as they did – but it does provide more stability for an office that has been through a year of turmoil.
“Mr. Frazer’s appointment as United States Attorney complied with the requirements of section 546(d), and he is lawfully serving in that Office,” Brann wrote in a 25-page opinion.
Go fish
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a hybrid body co-chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), held a hearing this week on China’s “illegal, unreported and unregulated” fishing industry, which Smith said involves human rights abuses like forced labor.
Last month, the Senate passed the Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests (FISH) Act to combat such practices, and Smith said getting the House to pass the same bill is a top priority.
“China’s cruel and unethical fishing practices not only harm their laborers, who are tortured, beaten, and exploited during the cultivation and processing processes – they also harm U.S. economic interests by taking away jobs, paychecks, and resources from American and New Jersey commercial fisheries,” Smith said.
Howard’s end
Under legislation that passed the House on a voice vote this week, a post office in Monmouth County could soon be named after a late local congressman.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), alongside the rest of the New Jersey delegation, is spearheading a bill that would rename the post office in Spring Lake after former Rep. James Howard (D-Spring Lake Heights); Howard’s death in 1988 paved the way for Pallone to join Congress.
“Being a Democrat from a conservative New Jersey district, he listened to anyone’s opinion, always sought common ground, and never stopped fighting for working class people,” Pallone said of Howard. “It is only right that Jim’s important and lasting legacy to New Jersey and the rest of the country be recognized at his local post office.”
Other Garden State plots
• A bill extending temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the U.S. passed the House on Monday in defiance of President Trump and top Republicans; ten Republicans broke with their party to support it, though none were from New Jersey.
“This is a massive victory for 350,000 Haitian families who call our country home, and shows what we can achieve when we work together,” Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) said. “I will always fight in Congress to ensure our communities are protected from Trump’s attacks. Now, on to the Senate!”
• Senator Booker held what he termed a “shadow hearing” on the proposed merger between Paramount-Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, which he said may not be “in the interest of the American people.”
“This hearing is about ensuring the American people know the damaging and far-reaching impacts of the proposed Paramount merger: higher costs, potential job losses, and a media landscape where access to information is further restricted and controlled by a single powerful corporation with outsized control over news and entertainment markets,” Booker said.
• Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) announced this week that the Atlantic City Housing Authority, a troubled agency that was taken over by the federal government last year, will receive $12.4 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“The people living in these buildings have been through a lot, and they deserve stability,” Van Drew said. “This funding helps set the ACHA up for success, so the residents have safe, reliable housing. It will help cover basic operating costs to allow the housing authority to continue serving residents and stabilize day-to-day operations.”
• A year after the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap was hiked from $10,000 to $40,000, Rep. Gottheimer introduced a bill this week to remove the so-called “marriage penalty” and double the cap for married couples filing their taxes jointly.
“Two people who get married can actually end up worse off than if they filed separately,” Gottheimer said. “It’s ridiculous. It defies common sense. Why would two people who happen to get married get the same SALT deduction as one person gets?”
• Rep. Pallone sent a letter to top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning of a potential cancer hotspot near a landfill in the town of Keyport.
“A suspected cancer cluster in our community is a sensitive matter that requires the full force of our public health and environmental protection agencies,” Pallone wrote. “I sincerely urge you and your agencies to collaborate, take meaningful action and inform the community of your work. The residents of Keyport are entitled to clarity, accountability, and protection from potential environmental harm.”