Latest news with #JeffVanDrew
The National
3 days ago
- Politics
- The National
Republican removes post criticising Sikh congressional prayer
Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller is facing criticism after she said it was 'troubling' that a Muslim led the morning prayer in US Congress, and then changed her social media post once she learnt that it was actually a Sikh man who had spoken. 'America was founded as a Christian nation, and I believe our government should reflect that truth,' she wrote in her social media post on X on Friday. The representative later removed her post after being admonished by both her Democratic and Republican colleagues. 'Mary, you're a racist, bigoted, disgusting, and shameful person, you don't deserve to represent anyone in public office,' wrote Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost. The man who led the prayer, Giani Surinder Singh of the Gurdwara South Jersey Sikh Society, was invited to be the morning guest chaplain by Republican Representative Jeff Van Drew according to Politico. Republican Representative David Valadao took Ms Miller to task for her post. 'I'm troubled by my colleague's remarks about this morning's Sikh prayer, which have since been deleted,' he wrote on X. 'Religious freedom is one of our nation's founding principles, and I started the American Sikh Congressional Caucus to draw attention to this very issue and work towards religious tolerance for all.' Representative Miller's comments, which were also widely considered to be Islamophobic, came on the first day of Eid Al Adha, one of the most important holidays of Islam. Morning invocations are not unusual in the US Congress, and are often given by religious leaders and figures.
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
'THE PRESIDENT WANTS IT DONE TONIGHT': Rep. Jeff Van Drew Brings the Latest on Trump's Big Beautiful Bill
Congressman Jeff Van Drew, Republican representative for New Jersey's 2nd district, joined The Guy Benson Show today with updates on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' and why final passage in the coming days is a critical priority. Van Drew explained why President Trump is pushing to get the bill done tonight , especially as it includes permanent extensions of the Trump tax cuts, which will prevent tax hikes on all tax brackets. He also debunked Democratic claims that the bill cuts Medicare, clarifying that it simply includes new work requirements for certain able-bodied individuals. Plus, Van Drew defended Acting NJ AG Alina Habba's decision to file charges against a Democratic lawmaker who allegedly participated in an illegal raid on an ICE facility. Listen to the full interview below! Listen to the full interview below: Listen to the full podcast below:
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Charges against House Dem sets up clash at immigration hearing
Members of Congress are poised for a potentially dramatic clash at a hearing Tuesday after the Department of Justice brought criminal charges against a House Democrat who protested outside a federal immigration facility. The charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) for allegedly 'assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement' at that May 9 event will sharpen talking points for Republicans serving on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight as it 'examines threats to ICE Operations.' Subcommittee chair Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican, vowed in an interview Monday that 'We're going to go into … the actual scuffle itself.' Van Drew made these remarks shortly before New Jersey interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced the charge against McIver. 'What happened in that scuffle?" Van Drew asked. "What was the behavior of the individuals who were involved? Was it appropriate or not?' For Democrats, the episode at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center has become a flashpoint around oversight of President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration agenda. The DOJ's Monday announcement intensifies their accusations that the administration is intent on punishing its critics. 'Charging Members of Congress for doing our jobs is a dangerous precedent to set,' said the top Democrat on the oversight subcommittee, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, in a joint statement with the ranking members of the other House Judiciary subpanels. 'It reveals the increasingly authoritarian nature of this administration and its relentless, illegal attempts to suppress any dissent or oversight, including from judges.' The standoff stems from a visit McIver and fellow New Jersey Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez made earlier this month to Delaney Hall, where they attempted to inspect the Trump administration's reopened ICE detention center that contracts with the private prison company GEO Group. Critics say the facility is unfit to house up to 1,000 undocumented immigrants. A tussle erupted amid a group of demonstrators that led to the arrest of Newark's Democratic mayor, Ras Baraka, and accusations that McIver had been physically aggressive with the law enforcement officers controlling the crowd. McIver, in a statement Monday, said she and the other members were 'fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities … and our visit should have been peaceful and short' before 'ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation.' The trespassing charge against Baraka were dropped Monday, according to Habba. Van Drew said the Tuesday hearing would focus on the conditions of the Delaney Hall detention center and the people held inside the facility. He also said he believed behavior of the House Democrats was 'inappropriate.' That sentiment is being echoed inside the larger GOP Conference, where Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has introduced a measure to strip McIver, Watson Coleman and Menendez of their committee seats. Among members of the Trump administration, former North Carolina GOP Rep. Dan Bishop — now the No. 2 at the Office of Management and Budget — likened the incident to an'insurrection,' a phrase commonly used to refer to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Bishop also said the incident was 'Worse than 9/11.' A House GOP aide also said Republicans plan to brandish the incident throughout their remarks and lines of questioning of witnesses, including former ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials. The proceedings could mark the latest escalation in Republican attempts to frame Democrats as impediments to efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, a key pillar of Trump's messaging on the campaign trail. Democrats, meanwhile, are expected to zero in on their targeted colleagues, too — but in a different way than the GOP. 'The Republicans' focus of the incident at the Delaney Hall Detention Center only raises the question surrounding Trump's intimidation campaign against Members of Congress: what is this Administration so afraid of?' a spokesperson for Judiciary Committee Democrats said in a statement. 'We've already seen that the Trump Administration is wrongfully detaining U.S. citizens, unlawfully deporting people without due process, and conducting indiscriminate enforcement actions.' Jason Houser, a former ICE chief of staff who is set to be the Democrats' witness Tuesday, said Republicans can use the Delaney Hall episode to portray Democrats as obstacles to immigration enforcement, but it doesn't change the fact that Republicans are still ignoring real problems with the U.S. immigration policy. 'You have an administration not fixing the totality of the immigration system,' said Houser in an interview. 'What you have here is a bunch of political operatives in the White House demanding certain things to be done in a certain way.'
Bloomberg
10-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
House Republican Sees SALT Deduction Limit Increasing to $30,000
Representative Jeff Van Drew said he thinks House Republicans will end up approving a $30,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, a significant boost to the valuable and politically important write-off. '$30,000 is fine for me,' the New Jersey Republican said Thursday, referring to the SALT cap for individuals. 'That's where I think it ends up, by the way.'
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
House, Senate reintroduce trucker overtime pay bill
WASHINGTON — Legislation that would give truck drivers the right to overtime pay was reintroduced in both the House and Senate on Thursday. The Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act would eliminate an exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 that gives employers the right to exempt their drivers from overtime compensation – meaning they're excluded from guaranteed time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours a week due to traffic congestion, weather or delays at loading docks. A bipartisan House version of legislation was reintroduced by U.S. Reps. Mark Takano, D-Calif., and Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J. A Senate companion bill was reintroduced by Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Ed Markey, D-Mass. Similar bills introduced in 2022 and 2023 in the House and Senate did not advance out of committee.'America's truck drivers are on the frontlines of our economy, enduring long hours away from home, and all too often, unpaid wait times at congested ports and warehouses,' said Padilla in a statement. 'Unfortunately, truck drivers have been excluded from overtime pay protections for decades. If truckers are forced to wait while on the job, they should be paid. This is not just a matter of fairness; it's a matter of public safety. Experienced truckers are safer truckers, and better compensation and overtime pay will help more of them stay in the profession.' Overtime pay has been a top issue for owner-operators and independent drivers for years, along with increasing truck parking spaces and more transparency in freight billing with truck brokers. 'It's long past time the hard work of the men and women behind the wheel are fairly compensated,' said Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer in a statement.'By discounting a trucker's time, 'big trucking' has driven wages downward, treating truckers as disposable rather than the skilled professionals they are.' OOIDA pointed out that while President Donald Trump in his address to Congress on Tuesday proposed eliminating income tax on overtime pay, this would not benefit most truck drivers. 'Incredibly, truck drivers are one of the only blue-collar occupations exempt from overtime requirements,' the group stated. The Teamsters union also supports the bill, 'which will right the decades-long wrong that serves only to harm drivers to the benefit of their employers,' Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien commented on Thursday. The American Trucking Associations, which represents large carriers with employee drivers, has opposed removing the FLSA exemption for overtime pay, arguing it would 'decimate trucking jobs by upending pay models' that have provided family-sustainable wages, ATA President Chris Spear commented after the bill was introduced in 2023. Advisers to FMCSA waver on support for trucker overtime pay DOT vulnerability report highlights truck driver pay Is $69,000 a year enough for driving a truck? Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher. The post House, Senate reintroduce trucker overtime pay bill appeared first on FreightWaves.
