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Watson Coleman to retire from Congress

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Longtime Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced Monday that she is not running for reelection next year and will retire at the end of her term, saying that it is “time to pass the torch.”

The 80-year-old has served New Jersey’s 12th District since 2015, when she became the first Black woman to represent New Jersey in the House. Prior to her time in Congress, she was a member of the state Assembly, where she served as majority leader. Watson Coleman was also previously chair of the state Democratic Party.

“I made this decision with tremendous thought and reflection, and through many personal conversations with my husband Bill and my family,” Watson Coleman said in a statement. “I am confident it is the right choice for me and my family who have graciously sacrificed by my side when I placed serving our community above all else and I can truly say, I am at peace with my decision.”

Watson Coleman, a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in her retirement announcement touted her efforts to “build an economy for all, reform our criminal justice system, achieve health equity, and eliminate poverty,” and said she “pray[s] our leaders advocate for a two-state solution that paves the way for peace, prosperity, and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians.” She called for lawmakers to “continue to stand and fight against those who would target the vulnerable and attempt to harm our democracy.”

Earlier this year, Watson Coleman was one of three Democrats in the New Jersey Democratic delegation — along with Reps. Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver — who participated in a high-profile visit to Delaney Hall, an immigrant detention facility in Newark. Their visit turned into a chaotic scrum involving federal law enforcement. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge that was later dropped, and McIver was later accused of assaulting Homeland Security agents — though her trial, which was set to begin on Monday, has been delayed and she’s pleaded not guilty.

NJ-12 is a safe Democratic seat that covers parts of Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties.

Prior to Watson Coleman announcing her retirement, just one other Democratic candidate filed with the Federal Election Commission for the seat: Kyle Little, a fitness studio owner who raised just over $10,000 since getting in the race over the summer.

Other potential Democratic candidates to replace Watson Coleman include state Sen. Andrew Zwicker and Assemblymember Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello, Mercer County Commissioner Sam Frisby and East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, according to a Democratic official granted anonymity to discuss party positioning. Zwicker, who works at Princeton University’s Plasma Physics Laboratory, is a protege of Watson Coleman’s predecessor, former U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, who hired him at the lab.

“It is my fervent hope that whoever is next elected to serve the people of the 12th Congressional District will be a public servant grounded in strong moral principles and an unabashed advocate in the United States Congress on behalf of those they have the privilege to represent,” Watson Coleman said in her statement. “I hope we will see, in this district and districts across the nation, representatives who, in the words of my dear former colleague and friend, Congressman John Lewis, stand ready to, ‘Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.'”

Matt Friedman contributed to this report.

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Congress

Bill and Hillary Clinton now agree to testify before Congress

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Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an Oversight aide said Monday evening.

It’s a remarkable reversal for the former president and secretary of state, who were adamant they would defy committee-issued subpoenas and risk imprisonment by the Trump Justice Department as the House prepared to vote Wednesday to hold them both in contempt of Congress.

After both skipped their scheduled depositions earlier this year, the Oversight Committee voted on a bipartisan basis in January to approve contempt measures for each of them.

Although both have said they had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, they have maintained that the subpoenas were not tied to a legitimate legislative purpose, rendering them invalid. They also complained the GOP-led exercise was designed to embarrass and put them in jail.

It is not immediately clear when they will appear and if the House will continue to pursue the contempt votes.

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Top House Democrats split on funding vote

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Senior House Democrats are going in different directions on a massive funding bill headed to the House floor as soon as Tuesday, underscoring the sharp divisions inside the Democratic ranks on the $1.2 trillion spending package.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Monday she would vote for the funding package when it goes to the floor Tuesday — breaking with a large swath of colleagues who oppose the measure over its extension of Homeland Security funding, including immigration enforcement operations.

“I will support this package,” DeLauro said during Monday meeting of the Rules Committee. She noted it secures funding for the five-full year, bipartisan bills and extends funding at current levels for DHS for 10 days.

DeLauro said without the DHS stopgap Democrats “won’t be able to bring the kinds of pressure” necessary to make changes to the full-year DHS bill they’re negotiating with the White House.

But Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Rules Democrat, said he was dead-set against the bill due to the DHS funding.

“I will not vote for business as usual while masked agents break into people’s homes without a judicial warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” he said.

Neither leader, however, is expected to vote for a key procedural measure setting up a final debate and approval for the massive bill, which passed the Senate on Friday. That measure, known as a rule, is also expected to tee up contempt-of-Congress votes on Bill and Hillary Clinton over their decision not to fully cooperate in a Oversight Committee probe into Jeffrey Epstein. GOP leaders are scrambling to build support for that measure as some in their ranks agitate for amendments, including the attachment of a partisan elections bill.

“Republicans have a responsibility to move the rule, which, by the way, includes a wide variety of other issues that we strongly disagree with,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

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How Mike Johnson is scrambling to keep the shutdown short

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Speaker Mike Johnson is planning to meet with Rules Committee Republicans shortly before the panel convenes this afternoon to take up a massive shutdown-ending funding package, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the private plans.

The meeting is expected to include discussion of how to handle conservative hard-liners’ demands to attach a partisan elections bill to the $1.2 trillion spending package.

But any change to the bill could add days more to the three-day partial government shutdown that Johnson is hoping to end Tuesday with House approval of the Senate-passed legislation that combines five full-year funding bills with a two-week extension of Homeland Security spending.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is vowing to block any move to tee up the Senate-approved package for a final vote unless Johnson moves to attach the elections bill, known as the SAVE Act. With a razor-thin majority, Johnson can afford no more than one Republican defection on a party-line vote.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Monday that GOP leaders haven’t made any final decisions on how to handle the SAVE Act but Trump emphasized in a recent Oval Office meeting that he wanted the funding legislation quickly passed.

“The president obviously really wants this,” he said.

The SAVE Act, which passed the House with scant Democratic support last year, would require citizenship documentation to register to vote and several cut back on mail voting. A new version of the bill would also require photo ID to vote.

Tacking it on to the funding package would essentially guarantee that the government shutdown Johnson and Trump are desperately trying to end as quickly as possible would continue for days — or longer. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Monday that the SAVE Act was “dead on arrival” in the other chamber, with Democrats arguing it creates unnecessary barriers to voting.

“If House Republicans add the SAVE Act to the bipartisan appropriations package it will lead to another prolonged Trump government shutdown,” Schumer said.

Luna said in an interview Monday that her position has not changed as Johnson faces a growing pressure campaign from both his own members and an army of hard-right online influencers pressing for the election bill’s inclusion.

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