My blog is moving to a new platform at http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/capitalgames/ and this will be my last post at this site.
Thanks for taking the time to read this stuff, and please update your bookmarks to the new site.
My blog is moving to a new platform at http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/capitalgames/ and this will be my last post at this site.
Thanks for taking the time to read this stuff, and please update your bookmarks to the new site.
Sharing reminiscences with a foreign ambassador, a jet ride with the president and dinner with the secretary of state were all part of the week Rep. Steve Rothman just had.
Normally, much of the work of Congress is far from [...]
Freshman Rep. John Adler, a Democrat from Cherry Hill who captured what had been a Republican-held seat last year and is on the GOP's early hit list for 2010, has socked away more than $1 million for re-election already, new Federal Election Commission reports show.
But that's only one-quarter the bankroll [...]
Rep. Steve Rothman blazed a new trail with the Federal Election Commission when his campaign credit card number was used by someone this summer to run up more than $2,200 in fraudulent [...]
Rep. Scott Garrett is trying again to extend the life of a citizens advisory commission that has worked with the National Park Service since 1988 on issues near the Delaware Water Gap.
The federal government used eminent domain powers to buy the land along the river in the mid-1900s to [...]
Actress Sigourney Weaver and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., discussed the importance of curbing the rising acidity of ocean water at an event in the Capitol today. The two, joined by Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, spoke before [...]
Sen. Bob Menendez argued today that voters next year would see Democrats were trying to solve problems while Republicans were just hurling criticism.
Speaking to reporters about his party’s prospects in next year’s Senate elections, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee conceded he faces a tough job.
History has [...]
Sen. Frank Lautenberg and wife Bonnie Englebardt had a net worth at the end of last year worth of $47 million to $101 million, according to disclosure forms released this month.
Congressional Quarterly says that ranks Lautenberg the eighth richest member of Congress.
Most of the money is Englebardt’s, the [...]
The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said it would be wrong to see today’s postponement of Paul Fishman’s nomination for United States Attorney as any effort to block him.
“Mr. Fishman’s a capable prosecutor,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. “I think he has the experience and ability to be [...]
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the delay in consideration of the nomination of Paul Fishman to be New Jersey's next United States attorney this morning was the result of what's become a standard procedure by Republicans.
Fishman, a Bergen County native and former federal prosecutor whose work as a private sector attorney included [...]
It's terrible that so many Americans drown each year, and it would be better if more minorities had access to swimming classes, the House declared Monday in a unanimous voice vote approving a resolution sponsored by Rep. Albio Sires, D-West New York.
The resolution cites how drowining is the second [...]
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, will hold town hall meetings later this month and early next month.
The meetings are:
Saturday, Sept. 26, 9-11 a.m. Montville Township High School Auditorium, 100 Horseneck Road, Montville, NJ Saturday, Oct. 3, 9-11 a.m., Mount Olive Middle School Auditorium, 160 Wolfe Road, Budd Lake, NJSeating may [...]
Reps. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, and Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, faced off on CNN last night over health reform.
Among the highlights [aside from Rothman being ID'd at one point as from Connecticut and New Jersey]:
Garrett: As the president walked down [...]
Sen. Bob Menendez has a book coming out next month.
“Growing American Roots: Why Our Nation with Thrive As Our Largest Minority Flourishes,” looks at the influence of the Hispanic population, according to a news release from publisher Penguin Group.
The [...]
“President Obama showed great leadership tonight and made the case for why health care reform is so important to our economy and of course, the well-being of our families.
"We need to make quality, affordable and stable health care available to every American so that no individual or family drowns [...]
Sen. Bob Menendez's take on President Obama's speech:
“President Obama stood before Congress and the nation tonight with the true leadership, vision and honesty that the American people respect. It was important for him to explain why the status quo is unhealthy for our loved ones, our family finances and our [...]
When 30-year-old Adira Riben of Monmouth Junction called Rep. Rush Holt to talk about her health insurance problems, he invited her to Washington to hear President Obama's speech as his guest in the House gallery.
According to Holt's office, Riben had to move back to New Jersey to live with family [...]
Had a good view of two North Jersey lawmakers from the gallery tonight, Reps. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, and Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. And when one was up, the other was sitting down almost throughout the night.
When President Obama said health reform would include a provision requiring spending cuts if promised [...]
Had a good view of two North Jersey lawmakers from the gallery tonight, Reps. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, and Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. And when one was up, the other was sitting down almost throughout the night.
When President Obama said health reform would include a provision requiring spending cuts if promised [...]
Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, discussed the impact of town hall meetings during the August recess on how members of Congress feel about moving forward with health reform:
“I was pleasantly surprised to hear from many of the freshmen and front-line members who just barely got elected in their districts [...]
Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, said health care costs are a major concern:
“I agree with the president that meaningful health care reform legislation is necessary to protect our nation’s long-term fiscal stability, and I stand ready to work with him on a plan that is portable, affordable, sustainable, effective, and innovative. Unfortunately, [...]
In advance of President Obama's speech, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, took aim at health insurance companies in explaining his support for new laws.
“Private insurance companies are for-profit businesses. So I can’t blame them for being in the business of denying access to needed care, avoiding and dumping the sick, [...]
The House gave unanimous voice approval today to a bill Rep Scott Garrett co-sponsored to revise regulation of specialty insurance policies.
HR 2571, deals with reinsurance, which is coverage insurers buy on their own risks, and surplus lines, which are policies that cater to unique or hard to place risks.
For surplus [...]
Like a baseball game when a player sets a major milestone, the Senate stopped its business for a few minutes tonight to recognize that Sen. Frank Lautenberg has cast more votes than any other senator from New Jersey in history.
After Lautenberg, the only person ever elected to five Senate [...]
Is a White House invite losing its luster with Democrats in Congress?
Rep. Rush Holt, D-Hopewell Township, was on the guest list for last night's Ramadan celebration at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and even got out shout out from President Obama on the podium. But you know people from New Jersey [...]
Today's paper carries the first part of an occasional series looking at where stimulus money is going in New Jersey. It looks at how Congress increased funding for Pell Grants, and how some of that money is going to a variety of trade schools including beauty academies and [...]
Jay Webber, the chairman of the Republican State Committee, issued this response to Rep. Frank Pallone's challenge to Chris Christie:
"Representative Pallone's assertions stretch believability to the breaking point and approach the territory of a paranoid conspiracy theory. Congressman Pallone has politicized the legislative process, and now he's impugned the [...]
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-Long Branch, questioned how much overlap there is between the prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark and the campaign of their former boss, Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie.
In a news release on his official Congressional letterhead, Pallone repeated several talking points of [...]
A former federal prosecutor and top Justice Department official from New Jersey said today it was “a stretch” to say that a federal prosecutor discussing why corruption happens was an ethical violation designed to help Republican Chris Christie’s anti-corruption campaign for governor.
Michael Chertoff, who [...]
As expected, the Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court this afternoon. For those interested, here's what New Jersey's two senators had to say about her on the floor.
Bob Menendez on Monday: [www.c-span.org]
Frank Lautenberg on Wednesday: [www.c-span.org]
In a short article in today's paper, I quoted some [...]
New county-level data released today by the Census Bureau shows the percentage of people without health insurance grew sharply throughout New Jersey between 2000 and 2006.
Comparing 2006 to 2000 shows the biggest increase in the uninsured in New Jersey came in Union County, followed by [...]
Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, is holding a series of "listening sessions" next week throughout his district where residents may express their views and hear his take on issues.
For directions, call 201-646-0808. Changes to the schedule will be posted online to Rothman's web site
Monday, Aug. 10
1-3 p.m.: North [...]
Anyone who doubts officials in Hudson County are skittish following the July 23 corruption arrests should consider this exchange.
With a story I wrote for Thursday’s paper about the many politicians and committees that received campaign contributions from Solomon Dwek, the government’s star witness in the corruption probe that broke [...]
Just filed an advance on the news conference I'm covering this morning, where Sen. Bob Menendez and two colleagues will call for a ban on driving while sending text messages.
The bill is a reaction to a new study about the increased risk of accidents. That study, by researchers at Virginia' [...]
As the Senate began considering a cap-and-trade climate bill in committee today, Sen. Bob Menendez complained at a different hearing that mass transit needs to be part of the solution.
Menendez pointed to the development that has grown up around the light rail system in Hudson County as an example [...]
The political heat is bearing down on the three New Jersey Republicans – Reps. Leonard Lance of Clinton Township, Frank LoBiondo of Millville and Chris Smith of Robbinsville -- who voted for the House bill to combat climate change by imposing a cap and trade system on carbon emissions. [...]
Another year’s worth of winners of the 28th Annual Congressional Art Compeition for high school students is lining a wall of the tunnel that runs under Independence Avenue from the Cannon House Office Building to the Capitol.
The three winners from congressional districts [...]
Today's paper carries my story on a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fund-raiser tonight in Englewood where one of the hosts is former Sen. Bob Torricelli and the special guest is DSCC chairman Bob Menendez, who -- like many others -- once feuded with Torricelli.
Here's the invitation.
[...]
Cevasco, left, coached the pitchers;
Pascrell gave batting tips and
coached first base
(Photos courtesy of Rothman's office)
Democrats beat Republicans for the first time in nearly a decade last night in the annual Congressional Baseball Game, and two New Jerseyans were part [...]
Residents of Rep. Steve Rothman’s district who wonder where stimulus money is going can find out with a clickable Google map that is linked from the House home page of the Fair Lawn Democrat, rothman.house.gov.
Among the features on the map:
amounts that went to numerous school districts, who [...]
The House expressed its sympathy today to the victims of a deadly earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region of Italy on April 6.
The quake killed 250 people, destroyed up to 15,000 buildings and left tens of thousands of people homeless.
A resolution sponsored by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, praised [...]
My story looking at some of the budget cuts President Obama recommended and how members of Congress reacted when questioned about them is being posted on northjersey.com.
For details on the proposed cuts, and excerpts from interviews with several members of Congress representing North Jersey, click below.
Your comments and questions [...]
At some point this week, chiefs of staff to New Jersey members of Congress probably sent a memo around to their interns telling them not to drop the boss’ name in line at the bakery.
The new “Spotted: DC Summer Interns” blog launched June 1 invites Capitol Hill habitues [...]
This morning's Quinnipiac University poll shows one thing: It's good to be in Washington if you're a Democrat.
While Governor Corzine's low numbers continue, the survey of 2,500 registered voters found voters approve of the job being done by the state's two Senators, and they really approve of the job [...]
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, the former New Jersey environmental commissioner and aide to Governor Corzine, was on Jon Stewart's Show last night.
Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, voted today for funding to continue the war in Iraq, along with a large majority of House colleagues, and issued this explanation why.
“In the past, I voted against the Iraq war supplemental funding bills because we should not have funded ongoing operations in Iraq without an [...]
Sen. Bob Menendez was voted down in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday as he tried to strip an eminent domain provision from legislation to make it easier for power companies to build new transmission lines.
Menendez, D-N.J., said New Jersey property owners and protected lands could be [...]
Rep. Scott Garrett gives an interview on the Human Events web site [Headquarters of the Conservative Underground] about the "sovereignty caucus" he and two House colleages have created to battle any efforts to give a way United States control.
President Obama's nomination of Harold H. Koh, the outgoing dean of [...]
Newark Mayor Cory Booker writes on Huffington Post today about education.
"I have no loyalty to charter schools, traditional public schools, magnet schools, small school models, publicly funded scholarships (vouchers) or private schools. I have loyalty to results."
[...]Rep. Rush Holt, D-Hopewell Township, is traveling in the Middle East with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Pelosi's office said in a news release they were greeted upon arrival by King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan yesterday and were headed to Qatar today.
[...]Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, got 98 points out of 100 for his House actions last year from the Club for Growth, a group committed to lower taxes, deregulation, personal retirement accounts for Social Security and limits on tort lawsuits.
The next-highest score in the New Jersey delegation was the 58 [...]
Rep. Rob Andrews does not believe banks are doing enough to lend out the government money they got to loosen up credit markets from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program that Congress and then-President Bush approved last year.
Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, said he’s heard from several people with strong credit histories, [...]
New Jersey ranked near the bottom of a ranking of violent deaths from guns in a report released this week by a group committed to tougher gun control.
The Violence Policy Center concluded that states with high gun ownership and weak gun laws have the highest rates of gun deaths.
New [...]
The House unanimously approved Rep. Scott Garrett's resolution recognizing the 61st anniversary of the founding of Israel.
“Israel has become one of our strongest allies, and our two countries have so very much in common,” Garrett said on the House floor before the vote. “Israel and America have both [...]
Jennifer Rothman joined 150 other spouses of members of Congress this week in filling weekend food packages for children in danger of going hungry. The spouses answered an invitation from First Lady Michelle Obama, who participated with Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president.
“Each of us … have an [...]
Rutgers University students made their annual lobbying pilgrimage to the Capitol on Tuesday, with a slightly different message from previous years: “Thank you.”
In the past, the students organized by Rutgers’ Washington office came down by train and fanned out to the offices of the [...]
Rep. Scott Garrett continued his streak of being named a “Taxpayer Friend” by the National Taxpayers Union, and once again he’s the only one from New Jersey.
The NTU says it is a non-partisan citizen group whose guiding principle is, “This is your money and the government should return it to [...]
My column on Sunday will highlight some of the more interesting [to me, at least] aspects of the latest campaign finance reports filed by the NJ House delegation, but here's a rundown of how much fund-raising members of Congress have been doing since the won their last election.
Needless to say, most of them have [...]
How would you spend $2.5 billion?
That's the total value of the earmarks requested by five North Jersey congressmen for earmarks in next year's budget. For the first time, Congress is requiring members to disclose the funding they are requesting that the appropriations committees include in the 2010 spending bills. Here's [...]
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., is siding with the Teamsters Union, independent truckers and motorists worried about accidents in a looming battle with big trucking companies over increasing the legal size and weight of trucks on the road.
Earlier this week, Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, introduced a bill that would lift the 80,000-pound maximum weight [...]
The House approved Rep. Bill Pascrell's resolution today creating National Brain Injury Awareness Month. The resolution also urged President Obama to raise public awareness about what Pascrell called a "deadly but silent epidemic" that afflicts many veterans of the war in Iraq.
Pascrell, D-Paterson, is a co-founder of the Congressional [...]
Yeas
Nays
Dem.
243
6
Rep.
85
87
Totals
328
93
Adler
D-Cherry Hill
Y
Andrews
D-Hadd Heights
Y
Frelinghuysen
R-Harding
Y
Holt
D-Hopewell Tsp.
Y
Lance
R-Clinton Tsp.
Y
LoBiondo
R-Millville
Y
Pallone
D-Long Branch
Y
Pascrell
D-Paterson
Y
Payne
D-Newark
Y
Rothman
D-Fair Lawn
Y
Sires
D-West New York
Y
Smith
R-Robbinsville
Y
Garrett
R-Wantage
N
The entire New Jersey delegation voted for a bill today to impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses received by employees of AIG and other companies that have been bailed out by the government. except Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage. [...]
Federal funding would back comprehensive sexual education that includes discussions of condoms, contraceptives and AIDS prevention to children of appropriate ages under a bill introduced today by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
Lautenberg said the Responsible Education About Life, or REAL, act would counter 12 years of federal support for abstinence-based programs that [...]
Now that it's all over, Sen. Bob Menendez says he was willing to vote last Thursday to end debate on the $410 billion omnibus spending package, but Majority Leader Harry Reid didn't have the needed Republican votes.
Menendez publicly dropped his opposition to the bill on Tuesday, citing assurances from the Obama [...]
In my story today, there was no explanation why Rep. Scott Garrett was the only member of the New Jersey delegation to oppose a massive public lands bill that included a provison making the Paterson Great Falls a national park.
The bill lost by two votes.
This afternoon, Garrett's [...]
Two of Sen. Frank Lautenberg's top policy aides are going to the Obama administration.
David Matsuda, who has been with Lautenberg for six years and was his point man on transportation and commerce, will be deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Transportation.
Arvin Ganesan, an aide for two [...]
Sen. Bob Menendez joined former Secretary of State and Army Gen. Colin Powell yesterday to tout the benefits of "smart power," the use of development aid, foreign assistance and diplomacy to complement military force in promoting United States interests.
Menendez, D-N.J., chairs a [...]
OK, so it's a federal holiday, and I'm taking care of things I've meant to do for a long time. And in the course of doing that, I found some old notes about C-Span's video search service.
It's not updated immediately [Senate clips seem to take longer to appear [...]
Since the bill was not even published before late last night, details were coming out from many sources.
The Center for American Progress posted a map today estimating New Jersey's total from the $792 billion bill, including payments to public agencies and individuals, was about $17.4 billion. It did not detail how much [...]
The House approved the massive stimulus bill, now priced at $792 billion after a last minute Congressional Budget Office report, a few minutes ago.
The vote was 246-183, with seven Democrats joining all House Republicans in voting 'no'.
Here's what North Jersey representatives had to say about the bill:
Rep. Scott [...]
New Jersey's two senators urged President Obama today to make Paul J. Fishman of Montclair the state's next United States Attorney.
Fishman worked as a federal prosecutor from the mid-80s through 1994, and was head of the office's criminal division when the U.S. Attorney was Samuel [...]
The Senate just voted, 61-36, to approve an important procedural measure related to the $827 billion economic stimulus measure. Three Republicans -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania -- voted with Democrats for ending debate.
The vote clears the way for the full package [...]
Just posted a story about Rep. Bill Pascrell calling for an investigation into Ticketmaster's handling of Springsteen tickets yesterday.
Pascrell's full letter is below:
For Immediate Release For Information Contact:
February 3, 2009 Caley Gray (973) 523-5152
PASCRELL SEEKS INVESTIGATION INTO TICKETMASTER BUSINESS PRACTICE WITH SUBSIDIARY, TICKETNOW
WASHINGTON— U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. [...]
The $825 billion House package of tax cuts and spending programs called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 passed this evening on a 244-188 vote, with 11 Democrats joining all Republicans in voting "no."
A detailed description of many things in the bill and what they mean for New [...]
Rep. Scott Garrett thanked President Obama for meeting today with House Republicans to talk about economic stimulus, but Garrett said an $825 billion bill before the House this week includes many major spending projects "that are not at all stimulative."
He specifically ctied $200 million to re-sod the National Mall in [...]
Follow the action today on our special inaugural blog.
Throughout the day, a team of Record and Herald News reporters will be sending news about this historic day. You can add your thoughts too if you want by emailing me at jackson@northjersey.com.
Include your name and home town.
[...]Today's coverage is on northjersey.com
[...]The next-to-last number was Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen leading the crowd in Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," and folks in my section were happy to join in.
Those who didn't know the words could follow along with the jumbo tron.
[...]|
|
Turns out Jennifer Kramer of Hoboken and some old pals from the Trenton State House were in the same neighborhood as I was and she said the crowd near her [...]
A who's who of movie and musical stars joined President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday for an "opening celebration" of the three-day run-up to Inauguration Day. But along with singing "American Pie" with Garth Brooks, and "Lean on Me," with Mary J. Blige, the hundreds of thousands of people gathered on [...]
Bruce singing The Rising with chorus backup.
[...]Invocation began and no one where I am -- closer to the Washington Monument than the Lincoln Memorial -- could hear.
Big cheer when volume went up.
[...]Crowds are gathering near the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington for a star-studded "opening celebration" of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration that kicks off this afternoon.
Performers include New Jersey natives Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi and celebrities reading historical passages include Newark-born Queen Latifah. The program, expected [...]
Signs that single-digit wind chills made DC start seriously thinking about being outside for Inauguration events:
A) The crush of people at Hudson Trail Outfitters buying gloves, Capilene undershirts (bottoms are sold out), Smartwool sox and ski masks. B) Walking people pulling suitcases up New Hampshire Avenue and hearing one say, [...]
A top aide to Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, will be part of the President-elect Barack Obama's team lobbying Congress.
Shelly O'Neill Stoneman's appointment to the White House legislative affairs office was announced this afternoon. Stoneman has worked for Rothman for five years, and leaves the post of deputy chief of staff. [...]
PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES TALENT LINEUP FOR REGIONAL BALLS AND OTHER OFFICIAL EVENTS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced today a slate of top recording artists performing at several official events for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural celebration.
"The talent we have selected reflects the diverse musical traditions of [...]
Digital News Group, Herb Jackson
