NL Industries’ Toxic Legacy
New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and I sent a letter to NL Industries demanding immediate and comprehensive action to clean up toxic pollution left behind in the Raritan River near the company’s former titanium dioxide facility in Sayreville. Our letter comes in response to the company’s recent sediment analysis, which showed high levels of arsenic, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc in riverbed samples— levels that exceed safety thresholds established by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
It is unacceptable that, more than 40 years after ceasing operations at the Sayreville plant, NL Industries has still not remediated its toxic legacy. Generations of New Jersey families have paid the price for NL Industries’ pollution. It is long past time the company clean up what it left behind. I will keep pushing for NL Industries to finally do what's right and clean up the toxic waste they left behind in the Raritan River. The people in Central Jersey deserve nothing less.
First Responders are Flying Blind
As the Pine Barrens burn, the Trump Administration is no longer providing accurate weather forecasts. Thanks to Trump’s Commerce Secretary, NOAA research labs are being forced to slash vital forecasting operations. This is designed to kill off the federal agency tasked with trying to understand and respond to our changing environment and preserve our natural resources.
The reality is that the people who protect us are being starved of the data they need to act – including seasonal forecasts that are used to predict drought, temperature, and rainfall. Due to the Trump Administration’s restrictions, new data will now only be available once per quarter, instead of each month. Emergency planners, including the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, were expecting to receive new data on May 1, but won’t receive it until July at the earliest. These reports help public safety agencies, and first responders prepare for drought conditions that can spark fires like the one engulfing New Jersey right now. Without them, communities are flying blind.
Read my full letter here.
New Report on Medicaid
This week, I released a new report from my Energy and Commerce Committee on the devastating consequences Americans will face if President Trump and Congressional Republicans move forward with their plan to impose national red tape requirements on Medicaid—the nation’s largest health care program.
Here’s what we found:
The so-called ‘work requirements’ that Republican want to impose are not about work at all—the reality is the vast majority of people on Medicaid who can work already do. In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found these burdensome red tape requirements do not increase employment at all. This report underscores what we know from experience: these requirements are not about jobs but are a cruel way for Republicans to take health care away from millions of people to give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations.
Republicans love to talk about ‘waste, fraud, and abuse,’ but these red tape requirements on Medicaid are leading to massive amounts of money being spent on wasteful administrative costs rather than health care. Only two states have the red tape requirements House Republicans are pushing.
Our report finds Georgia spent way more money administering their program to kick people off Medicaid than providing health care. This isn’t about efficiency and cost-cutting. Medicaid is the leanest health care program in the country, spending less per-person than either Medicare or private health insurance. Red tape requirements are a Republican scam to take health care away from people.
Read the full report HERE.
The Congressional App Challenge is now LIVE!
Calling all middle and high school students interested in coding!
The 2025 Congressional App Competition is now open for middle and high school students in New Jersey's 6th Congressional District! Interested students are encouraged to apply and register online here.
