I've been pushing hard to ensure our Transportation funding bill supports New Jersey infrastructure. The bill we passed today prohibits @SecElaineChao from hiring any more political appointees at DOT till she spends the money we've approved for the #Gateway project.
The bill also permanently enacts my first initiative in Congress - ensuring that if New Jersey takes out federal transportation loans to help pay for infrastructure like the Gateway Tunnel, they will count towards our share of the projects.
We also boosted funding for Amtrak's NE Corridor, changed the formula the federal gov't uses to rate projects like Gateway to make it harder to deny funding, and moved money to the Transportation Dept's Inspector General to beef up oversight of politicized grant making there.
New Jersey helped elect a new House of Representatives last year, and we are delivering for New Jersey!
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To my friends in Congress (on both sides of the isle):
Take a moment to be angry about this statement that Trump seems to have plagiarized from Putin.
Then remember you have power and do something.
Here are some options. 1/
In 2017, Trump signed a law that says if the president wants to lift Russia sanctions or return embassy properties, he must seek Congressional approval.
Make clear now that you'll vote to block approval if Trump's "deal" betrays our values and allies. 2/congress.gov/bill/115th-con…
Put a provision in the next gov't funding bill that prohibits spending funds to withdraw US troops from Poland & the Baltic States unless Russia is no longer a threat.
Congress passed a version of this to stop first term Trump from withdrawing troops from Korea. 3/
So the DOGE bros are bragging today that they got "DEI scholarships for Burma" canceled.
These are USAID's Lincoln Scholarships, which help young people struggling for freedom in Burma's dictatorship - a cause America has supported under Republican & Democratic presidents. 1/
What could be "woke" or "DEI" about these scholarships? The only clue is that USAID says they're for students "of diverse backgrounds" (oh no, diversity!). This is essential for Burma, where the military has exploited ethnic and religious divisions to stay in power. 2/
As a Senator, Marco Rubio strongly supported human rights in Burma. He urged the Biden administration to do even more to help its people, including specifically the persecuted Rohingya ethnic minority - which I guess now would count as DEI. 3/ foreign.senate.gov/press/rep/rele…
This was Biden's deal, but as much as I hate to say it, he couldn't have done it without Trump -- not so much Trump's performative threats to Hamas, but his willingness to tell Bibi bluntly that the war had to end by Jan. 20.
Biden was the best president I've ever seen at building our alliances w/European & Asian democracies, and mobilizing them against Russia and China.
Our interests will suffer from a successor who threatens economic war with Canada while inviting China to his inauguration. 2/
But Biden was lousy at dealing with leaders who only speak "thug" - repeatedly signaling fear of what they might do if we asserted our power (that they might escalate a war, or jilt us for China, or walk away from negotiations), rather than making them fear what we might do. 3/
In my last campaign, I knocked the door of a retired firefighter. He said he rarely voted for Democrats, but we had a long, good talk.
His #1 issue was that he was paying $5K a year for a single prescription drug.
And he understandably doubted I could do anything about it. 1/
Most seniors on Medicare don't have out of pocket costs quite that high, but in my time in Congress I heard from many who did, for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and many others. For them, the burden could be crushing. 2/
I'm thinking about this because yesterday, Medicare's $2000 annual cap on out of pocket drug costs for seniors - which we passed in the Inflation Reduction Act - finally kicked in.
It will save the retired firefighter I met around $3,000 a year. 3/
Trump's tariffs may prove performative (and corrupt) - he may relent when countries hire lobbyists & promise to buy more US wheat, weapons or Trump bitcoin, exempt connected industries, etc. But if he means it, our economy will take multiple hits. 1/cnb.cx/40S9e7y
First, most obviously, a 20% tax on all imports from all countries will spike inflation. 98% of clothes sold in America are imported. So are over 40% of fruits and vegetables, and 90% of consumer electronics. All these things and more will instantly become more expensive. 2/
Second, goods produced in the USA will also become more expensive because even domestic manufacturers import parts and materials - aluminum for cars, chips for electronics, ingredients for pharmaceuticals - for which they'll have to pay 20% more. 3/
When you get beat, you've got to listen to people who weren't sold on your arguments, so I listened to this from Dave Portnoy with an open mind. I'm sure a lot of folks who view themselves as moderates and voted for Trump feel this way. But I have some questions. 1/
First, Harris never once called Trump backers "Nazis," "fascists" or anything similar. Trump's Marine general former chief of staff did say Trump admired Hitler and many of us cited that (how could we ignore it?), but that was not about his supporters. 2/
Meanwhile, at multiple rallies, Trump referred to people like me - whether Democrats or his Republican critics - as "scum" and "vermin" and "domestic enemies" who are worse than our foreign enemies. Are we going to talk about Dems offending Trump supporters and ignore that? 3/