Congress’s biggest mission this week, as it has been several times over the last few months, was to keep the lights on, and it did. Phew.
In addition to passing a stopgap funding bill, New Jersey’s congressional representatives proposed new steps to protect IVF, hosted top House Democratic leaders in their districts, issued calls to save the whales, and more. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s 14 members of Congress did this week.
They’re funding the government in weeklong increments now
For the fourth time since the new fiscal year began last October, the government faced a threat of an imminent shutdown this week, and for the fourth time, Congress passed a continuing resolution (a stopgap funding bill) to temporarily fund the government until they pass a full set of appropriations bills.
This week’s continuing resolution was even more temporary than usual; it pushes the funding deadline for parts of the government from today until March 8, and for the rest of the government until March 22. As with every previous stopgap bill, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) voted against it, while the other 13 New Jersey members of the House and Senate supported it – though not without some serious grumbling.
“I voted for today’s continuing resolution because a shutdown would hurt South Jersey working families, damage the economy, and jeopardize government services that millions of Americans rely on,” Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) said. “However, this is no way to run our government.”
Congressional leaders announced earlier this week that they’ve reached a deal on a long-term funding agreement; the question now is whether Congress can pull itself together enough to approve that deal before the new partial shutdown deadline of next Friday.
The IVF League
A ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court last week that granted personhood to embryos, and thus upended in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in the state, has prompted New Jersey politicians of both parties to come out in strong support of IVF.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) introduced a new bill, the Securing Access to Fertility Everywhere (SAFE) Act, which would shield medical practitioners from wrongful death liability when transporting embryonic cells.
“What Alabama is doing, what many states are doing – what extremists in Congress, unfortunately, are doing – is conducting a war on women’s healthcare, and a war on women’s reproductive freedom,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “Today, with new legislation in Congress, we are making one thing clear to them: not so fast. We will protect reproductive freedom. We will protect IVF. We will protect moms and dads and modern medicine and health care.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), meanwhile, became a co-sponsor on a colleague’s bill codifying the right to IVF access nationwide. And Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), like many other members of his party, made it clear that the Alabama Supreme Court’s conservative majority does not speak for him.
“As a leader in healthcare policy for over two decades, I find the recent court decision in Alabama outlawing IVF deeply concerning,” Kean said. “My longstanding commitment to ensuring access to and coverage of medical treatments, including IVF, underscores the importance of individuals having the ability to seek proper care, and I will continue advocating for policies that protect IVF.”
Not all Republicans are evidently on board, though; an effort in the Senate to pass a bill protecting IVF was prevented from passing on unanimous consent by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi).
Clark of the Covenant
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Massachusetts) probably isn’t a household name in most of New Jersey, but as the House Minority Whip, she’s among the top ranking Democrats in Congress – and this week, she took a swing through New Jersey.
On Monday, Clark joined Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) and New Jersey Department of Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman at the Princeton YMCA to hold a listening session on child care. Then, on Tuesday, Clark came to Jersey City with a more political purpose in mind: supporting Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) in his fight for re-election.
“New Jersey’s 8th district sent a fighter to Washington – he’s lowering costs, defending reproductive freedom, and delivering critical resources to bolster the state’s transportation infrastructure,” Clark said in a statement. “His no-nonsense leadership is shutting down MAGA extremism and ensuring that we deliver results for working families. That’s why New Jersey will send him back to Washington in November and why we will take back the majority in 2024.”
If Democrats do indeed take back the majority, Clark is set to become the second-highest-ranking member of the House, behind only prospective House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York).
The whale housewives of New Jersey
The protection of whales off the Jersey Shore has been in the news a lot in recent years, mostly in reference to offshore wind development. But Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) is warning of a new threat to endangered whales: congressional legislation that he says would prevent the U.S. from properly protecting North Atlantic right whales (NARW).
The NARW is a critically endangered species, with only around 360 remaining across the Atlantic. In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, Pallone said that a House-passed funding bill would prevent the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from updating its rules regarding NARW strikes until new technology that doesn’t currently exist is implemented.
Pallone’s letter urges congressional appropriators to drop that language and allow NOAA to update its rules to protect the NARW without any new mandates or stipulations.
“We must not let the North Atlantic right whale become the first baleen whale on Earth to go extinct on our watch,” wrote Pallone, whose district includes much of the Jersey Shore. “Time is of the essence.”
House fire
Reps. Kean and Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), alongside 137 of their House colleagues, sent a letter to House leadership this week calling on them to pass the Fire Grants and Safety Act as part of the upcoming package of government funding bills.
The bill – on which Kean is the lead sponsor and Pascrell is an original cosponsor – would reauthorize the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Program, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant (SAFER) for five years.
“All across our country, firefighters and EMS personnel work every day to keep their communities safe,” Kean and Pascrell said in a joint statement. “The AFG and SAFER grant programs are a critical pillar supporting this life-saving work. These grants are indispensable to our local fire departments, providing essential funding for equipment, training and resources that ensure the safety of our communities. It is our duty in Congress to support our firefighters and first responders.”
Other Garden State plots
• Sherrill, alongside Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Arizona), introduced legislation this week – the Head Start Education and Development Workforce Advancement and Yield (HEADWAY) Act – that would let Early Head Start teachers continue teaching while earning Child Development Associate (CDA) credentials, which she said would make Head Start hiring more flexible.
“For generations, Head Start programming has provided crucial services that set New Jersey’s children up for success while making life more affordable for families,” Sherrill said in a statement. “This bill is an important step in the right direction as we continue to work to address the child care crisis, support providers in our communities, and expand economic opportunities for Garden State families.”
• The House Financial Services Committee passed a Gottheimer-authored amendment yesterday that would require the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary to testify before Congress on the effects of the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap on homeownership.
“Homeownership has long been a cornerstone of the American Dream,” Gottheimer said. “HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities, and quality affordable homes for all. Assessing and testifying about the impacts that the SALT cap has had on the American residential housing market is well within that mission.”
• Senator Cory Booker joined a number of his colleagues this week in reintroducing the John R. Lewis Voting Advancement Act, a major piece of voting rights legislation that would restore parts of the original Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court and increase federal oversight of state-level voting laws.
“A decade ago when it gutted critical components of the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to concerted efforts to deny voting rights,” Booker said. “These efforts have relentlessly targeted Black voters and marginalized communities… The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act honors the legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis and so many civil rights activists by protecting and expanding voting rights in our country to help ensure that every vote counts.”
• Rep. Menendez may still be a freshman in the House, but this week he got to “borrow the big chair” on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, standing in as the committee’s Democratic ranking member for a day.
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Original story HERE.