LD26 Senate Candidate Christine Clarke First to use Campaign Funds for Child Care bill in New Jersey
Jefferson Twp., NJ: 26th Legislative District State Senate candidate Christine Clarke has filed a campaign report including a child care provider as an expense of running for office. New Jersey bill S698 passed in 2020 legitimized child care as a need of running for office for parents of young children, clearing the way for politically-inclined parents to raise funds in their races for child care as one of the many needs of campaigning.
“Child care is the number one reason politically-interested women give for choosing not to run for office at all, or choosing to delay a run until their children are grown,” said Clarke. “Now that Senator Ruiz’s and Assemblywoman Pintor Marin’s important bill has passed, it’s time to use it to normalize its use and welcome more mothers into politics where their voices are so needed.”
As the first legislative candidate endorsed by Vote Mama PAC in New Jersey in 2019, Clarke was instrumental in the peer-to-peer fight for passage of this legislation, often using her own campaign in articles and public communications as an example in support of the bill. It was an opportunity to actively highlight the need for equity toward working mothers in running campaigns, and how difficult it is to run for office as a mother of young children. In the time after her first run for office, she called members of the Legislature asking for support of the bill, testified on its behalf and organized grassroots calls to action in support.
Inspired by Founder and CEO Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama Foundation is involved in fighting for campaign funds for childcare in all 50 states, like New Jersey’s bill S698 that passed in 2020. Vote Mama’s May 2021 Campaign Funds for Childcare Report details the ways in which campaign funds for childcare actively invite more women into government and improve policy. Research that examined the work of elected women serving between 1973 and 2013 found that working mothers who are elected while their children are under age 18 are more inclined to support legislation that helps children and families.
After the historic FEC ruling won by Liuba Grechen Shirley during her 2018 run for Congress, in which she petitioned for and won the right to use campaign funds for childcare for federal candidates, parents in federal races started using their raised campaign funds for child care. More than 73% of the people who used campaign funds for childcare in federal races in 2018 and 2020 were women, and 45% were people of color.
At the state level, 66 candidates in 28 states have used campaign funds for child care. However in New Jersey, even after bill S698 passed, it wasn’t used right away.
“We have too few women in government as it is,” said Clarke. “In the New Jersey Senate, only 11 of 40 Senators are women and one is stepping down this year. So many issues in front of legislators need the perspectives of women toward fair and equitable discussions. This bill leveled the playing field a bit more for moms. I’m proud to have supported it and proud now to use it.”
“Christine Clarke has filed the first request, of what will soon be many, to use Campaign Funds for Childcare in New Jersey. I applaud her for taking this monumental step, and thank Senators Ruiz, Scutari, and Cunningham for introducing the legislation that forged this path forward. By tearing down a significant structural and financial barrier that often keeps working parents out of politics altogether, Campaign Funds for Childcare brings diverse voices and experiences to the ballot. Only when we change who is sitting at the decision-making table can we ensure that the needs of working families are met, and that our representatives truly reflect us. This is a bright day in New Jersey, and an indication of an even brighter future in which more mothers will run for office and more of our nation’s representatives will understand the struggles of working families because they have also faced them. Vote Mama is proud to support Christine Clarke in her election for New Jersey State Senate District 26, and confident that she will use her lived experience as a mother to create a brighter future for her community.” said Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama Founder and CEO.
“I’m so happy I got to be a part of such an important and influential cause, and that I got to have fun with the kids,” said Elizabeth Katz, Jefferson Township High School student and Clarke’s babysitter during the summer months of the campaign. “It was a wonderful experience and I’m proud of the impact we’ve made through this.”
“My husband Aaron and I are honored that Elizabeth is the first babysitter hired with the babysitter bill. She got to be a part of the right side of history,” said Michele Katz, Elizabeth’s mother.
Clarke is an environmental advocate, a grassroots organizer and a mother-of-four running to build the clean energy economy, improve healthcare and lower costs, protect clean air and water, and lead with empathy and fiscal sense. Learn more about her at ClarkeForSenate.com.
The 26th District includes 13 communities in Essex, Morris, and Passaic counties: Butler, Fairfield, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Montville, Morris Plains, North Caldwell, Parsippany, Rockaway Township, Verona, West Caldwell, and West Milford.
She will take part in a roundtable discussion shortly before noon at Montclair State University about the proposed federal investment in child care, which is part of the administration’s economic agenda.
In Essex County, the South Orange/Maplewood district is offering new hires $35 per hour, throwing in $1,000 signing bonuses and offering $500 for successful referrals.
That’s a higher rate than any of the 25 school bus companies and school districts spotted two weeks ago by NJ Advance Media advertising for bus drivers on Indeed.com.
South Orange/Maplewood, at that time, was offering $30 per hour — the highest of the sampled school districts but slightly behind The Beloved Charter School in Jersey City, which was offering $33 per hour and $1,000 signing bonuses.
By comparison, the pay rate for public bus drivers in New York City via the Metropolitan Transit Authority starts at $23.84 per hour.
South Orange/Maplewood boosted its incentive package after the K-12 district found itself without any substitute drivers and was forced to reassign transportation employees to cover for absences and other gaps, among other problems.
The school district Business Administrator Eric Burnside told NJ Advance Media that six applications had been received since the new benefits were advertised about a week and a half ago, but that it would take a while to review the candidates.
“We are going to continue our recruitment efforts in hopes of getting more high-quality applicants to fill the roles,” Burnside said on Tuesday.
Referencing routing problems outlined to parents in a Sept. 23 letter, Burnside said that “delays in pickups and drop-offs, for the most part, have been resolved.”
South Orange/Maplewood is the latest school district making an aggressive push for new school bus drivers amid the shortage impacting many schools in New Jersey and across the nation.
In Passaic County, the Wayne school district publicized last month a starting rate of between $26 to $28 per hour after losing about a dozen drivers, including some who are at least 70 years old and had cited COVID-19 concerns in deciding to leave.
School district officials in Toms River, in Ocean County, on Monday extended until Nov. 30 a $3,000 retention bonus for new hires who stay on the job for at least one year. The offer had been set to expire Sept. 30.
The school district in Camden also recently announced it would pay parents $1,000 to drive their own children, or pay for NJ Transit bus passes.
Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, was asked by NJ Advance Media whether the rising demand for bus drivers could create a “bidding war” among school districts.
“That certainly will occur. The question is to what degree. A lot of these people live locally, and probably don’t want to go too far from home to work,” Bozza said.
Bozza added that school districts also face challenges from private companies, most notably Amazon, for drivers.
“We’re in competition with a lot of people,” he said.
If you are a parent, student or work in an N.J. school district, we’d like to hear your thoughts and concerns about schools and COVID-19 this year byfilling out this form.
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Newark, NJ (WABC)-New Jersey is taking noticeable enhancements on Friday, encouraging more residents to vaccinate with COVID.
Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling while the tri-state area prepares for the imminent expansion of the vaccine eligibility pool.
The Vice-President will go to the Vaccination Center at Essex County College on Friday afternoon to keep up with the latest efforts to get people vaccinated.
She also plans to visit Montclair State University to promote the President’s Early Childhood Education Program.
In the meantime, infants may be immediately eligible for the vaccine. Pfizer formally requested the FDA To approve the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 years. The dose is one-third of the potency given to adults given in two injections.
A ruling is expected sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving. This means that children in that age group can be shot within a few weeks.
This decision affects more than 28 million children nationwide.
In New Jersey, the governor says vaccines and boosters are encouraged as we head for the winter months.
“This will happen in some way. I don’t know how to avoid it. But I think running against it is a positive move against it. It’s a continuously high vaccination rate. It’s a booster. We need to work with the federal government again to make sure the message is clear. “
State school staff must be vaccinated or randomly tested by October 18.
NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) — New Jersey is getting a high-profile reinforcement Friday in its push to encourage more residents to get vaccinated against COVID.
Vice President Kamala Harris is making the trip as the Tri-State area prepares for the impending expansion of the vaccine eligibility pool.
The vice president will be at a vaccination center at Essex County College Friday afternoon in the latest push to get people vaccinated.
She is also planning to visit Montclair State University to push the president’s early childhood education plans.
Meanwhile, young children could soon be eligible for the vaccine. Pfizer has officially asked the FDA to authorize its COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 5 and 11. The dosage will be one-third the potency given to adults, given in two shots.
A ruling is expected sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving, meaning kids in that age group could be getting their shots within weeks.
The decision will impact more than 28-million children across the country.
In New Jersey, the governor says vaccines and boosters are encouraged as we head into the winter months.
“This thing is going to kick up in some form, I don’t know how we avoid that. But running against that, and I think these are positive currents that run against that, are our continually high vaccination rate, boosters, which by the way we need to again work with the federal government to make sure the messaging on that is crystal clear,” Governor Phil Murphy said.
School staff in the state must be vaccinated by October 18 or submit to random testing.
BREAKING OVERNIGHT — A shouting match erupted on the Senate floor after the vote to delay the debt limit crisis for two months. Sens. JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) and MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah) confronted Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER after he lambasted Republicans in a floor speech immediately following the vote. They thought Schumer should have been more gracious after they threw him a small lifeline. (Though Romney voted to filibuster the extension.) Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.), appearing to sympathize with Republicans, put his head in his hands as he listened to Schumer’s tirade (scroll down for that image). Afterward, Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) chased the Democratic leader into the cloakroom to chew him out. Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) told Playbook it’s all sour grapes: “Listen, they kicked our ass and we have no one to blame but ourselves.” As for Schumer, a source who knows him well said, “He’s not gracious, he’s from Brooklyn!”
SPOTTED: Caddy-turned-senior Trump White House official DAN SCAVINO, surrounded by hundreds of law enforcement officers and ERIC TRUMP on Wednesday at the funeral for Dutchess County, N.Y., Sheriff BUTCH ANDERSON. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot has struggled to locate Scavino for over a week to serve him a subpoena.
FUNDRAISER CRASHER — As fundraising season approaches at DONALD TRUMP’s Palm Beach club Mar-a-Lago, expect the former president to crash the events for 2024 candidates and let donors know that he’s also planning to run. “He’s going to have a more careful eye about who is going to raise money on his front porch,” an aide said. The club was the de facto hub of Republican fundraising in 2021 and will likely be again in 2022.
OOPS, HE DID IT AGAIN — It’s no secret that Trump’s endorsements have been impulsive, and it looks like he jumped the gun again by giving an early nod to SEAN PARNELL in the open Pennsylvania Senate race. Republicans we talked to in Washington and Trump-world are clearly worried since the news broke this week that Parnell requested a gag order on his estranged wife LAURIE and her lawyer during their custody battle. Shortly after Trump endorsed Parnell in September, rival JEFF BARTOS revealed that Parnell’s wife filed two protective orders against him in 2017 and 2018. Both were expunged, but some Republicans worry that there may be more shoes to drop.
It’s happened over and over: Trump endorses a seriously flawed candidate early in the primary race, even though he’s been accused of domestic abuse already — in the case of HERSCHEL WALKERin Georgia — or faces such allegations soon after, in the case of MAX MILLERin Ohio. Miller and Walker deny the accusations. There’s also ERIC GREITENSin Missouri, who Trump hasn’t endorsed but has a team stacked with former Trump staffers and loyalists, including KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE.
But Parnell may be in a tighter spot than Walker or Miller, whose opponent, Rep. ANTHONY GONZALEZ (R-Ohio), recently dropped out. JOE BIDEN won Pennsylvania by just over a percentage point. Parnell has some tough competition in the primary — not only Bartos but fundraiser and former ambassador CARLA SANDS. And he lacks the star power of Walker, an NFL legend.
“Sean Parnell can’t score touchdowns, so this is a little different,” said one Republican operative.
Parnell, 40, was recently endorsed by Rep.DAN CRENSHAW (R-Texas) and Sen. JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.). He raised $1.1 million in the past quarter. He was also dubbed one of the top House Republican recruits in 2020, and the NRCC named him one of their “Young Guns.”
Trump endorsed Parnell, a former Army Ranger, last month in the midst of the Afghanistan withdrawal, when Parnell was a regular on Fox News. It also helped that DONALD TRUMP JR. was pushing for him.
“Sean Parnell is one of the most impressive candidates of the entire cycle and is above all else a bonafide American hero,” said Trump Jr. in a statement.
People close to Trump say the problem is two-fold: He’s not putting enough money into his vetting operation, and he ultimately does whatever he wants. Trump also seems to think that other politicians share his “Teflon Don” ability to shed scandal.
Trump’s team said they did a full vetting of Parnell, including a criminal background check, but added that divorce issues wouldn’t surface in such a check because of the privacy of those records. An operative on an opponent’s team, however, said they discovered the protective orders within three days.
“They make hasty decisions that are not thought out or well researched,” said a source in Trump-world. “All it does is confirm lessons that we’ve known all along: that no one is in control.”
IN OTHER TRUMP NEWS —There’s a new book out next week by TED OSIUS, the former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, recounting his experiences in the job. He tells one story about preparations for Trump’s 2017 trip to Vietnam for an APEC meeting. The planning included an upcoming White House meeting with Vietnamese PM NGUYEN XUAN PHUC. When Trump heard the name, he responded with a racist joke.
“You mean like FOOK YOO?” the former president said, according to Osius. “I knew a guy named Fook Yoo. Really. I rented him a restaurant. When he picked up the phone, he answered ‘Fook Yoo.’ His business went badly. People didn’t like that. He lost the restaurant.”
On Thursday night, Trump made another racist remark, telling Fox News that there are “hundreds of thousands of people flowing in from Haiti” and “many of those people will probably have AIDS.” This is something of an obsession for Trump dating to the 1980s. And lest we forget, the president in 2018 infamously referred to Haiti as a “shithole country.”
PUSH IT TO THE (DEBT) LIMIT — What actually happens if the nation defaults on its debt? Planes fall out of the sky, the streets run red with blood — OK, not literally. But the reality could be economic catastrophe: “Market chaos, economic chaos, all for absolutely no good reason,” explains POLITICO’s Ben White. After a week of debt-ceiling drama in D.C., Ben joins Eugene to unpack the partisan fights, the doomsday hypotheticals and one of the most absurd twists so far: a trillion-dollar coin. Listen and subscribe to Playbook Deep Dive
BIDEN’S FRIDAY:
— 9:30 a.m.: The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief.
— 10 a.m.: Biden will sign the HAVANA Act of 2021 and K-12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021 into law.
— 11:30 a.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on the September jobs report.
— 1:45 p.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on restoring protections for national monuments and conservation.
— 2:30 p.m.: Biden will receive the weekly economic briefing.
— 6:15 p.m.: Biden will depart the White House for Wilmington, Del., where he is scheduled to arrive at 7:10 p.m.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ FRIDAY:
— 9:35 a.m.: The vice president will depart D.C. en route to Newark, N.J.
— 11:45 a.m.: Harris will participate in a roundtable conversation on the importance of federal investment in child care at the Ben Samuels Children’s Center at Montclair State University.
— 2:40 p.m.: Harris will tour a vaccination site at Essex County College.
— 4:35 p.m.: Harris will depart Newark to return to D.C.
Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 2:30 p.m.
The SENATE is in. The HOUSE is out.
CONGRESS
BENEATH THE SURFACE —Burgess Everett writes that an actual default on the country’s debt was never going to happen — it was simply the scrim for a power struggle between Schumer and Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL to determine who has more power in the evenly divided chamber. Schumer came out slightly ahead Thursday, but senators are exhausted and the leaders’ relationship is threadbare. “As the final agreement took shape, Schumer and McConnell appear to have held no personal conversations. Aides and emissaries handled the details.”
DONALD VS. MITCH —WaPo’s Felicia Sonmez and Mike DeBonis write “Thursday’s debt-limit deal has prompted a new round of attacks on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by former president Donald Trump and his supporters, highlighting McConnell’s beleaguered role in a party where Trump remains the most powerful force. … The attacks reflect McConnell’s contradictory, difficult role in the Republican Party.”
PRAMILA’S PRICE TAG — In an interview with the AP, Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) “said she has pushed Biden to hold the line and keep his ambitious social spending plan closer to $3 trillion instead of the $2 trillion range that he has floated to Democrats in recent days.”
FEUDING FOR HOUSING FUNDS — The White House is considering cutting $300 billion in housing aid in the proposed $3.5 trillion spending plan, and Rep. MAXINE WATERS (D-Calif.) has vowed to fight for the full figure, Katy O’Donnell reports. The debate comes as the White House works to cut down the funding proposal’s top line to move the bill through Congress.
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
TOUR DE CONGRESS — French Ambassador PHILIPPE ETIENNE returned to D.C. last week after being recalled to France amid the Australian submarine debacle with a mandate from President EMMANUEL MACRON: reengage with the U.S. — not just with the Biden administration, but with Republicans and Democrats on the Hill. So Etienne immediately lined up back-to-back meetings with lawmakers on the Hill from both parties.
His first round of meetings were on Sept. 30, with national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN and Sens. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), TIM KAINE (D-Va.) and RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.). The following days of his diplomacy marathon included huddles with Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN, USTR KATHERINE TAI, Rep. ELAINE LURIA (D-Va.) and Sens. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.), JAMES RISCH (R-Idaho), BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.) and JOHN BOOZMAN (R-Ark). Etienne’s spokesperson explained his féroce charm offensive like this: “There is a crisis and it will take a long time to heal. We don’t want to be aggressive, we don’t want to underestimate, but the way forward is to see what concrete acts can be made by this administration and to have good relations with Congress.”
CUTTING THE TENSION — After this week’s meeting between senior Chinese foreign policy adviser YANG JIECHI and Sullivan, AP’s Ken Moritsugu writes that the U.S. and China “finally appear to be trying to ease tensions that date from the Trump administration — though U.S. complaints about Chinese policies on trade, Taiwan and other issues are little diminished.”
ALL POLITICS
YOUNGKIN’S TRUMP DILEMMA — In the closing weeks of Virginia’s close gubernatorial election, AP’s Sarah Rankin writes that Republican GLENN YOUNGKIN’s “murky answers” on Trump’s false election claims “underscore [his] dilemma. … False claims and misinformation about the results are so widely believed by Republican voters that disputing the lies can be politically risky. For months, while running for his party’s nomination, Youngkin declined to say whether Biden was legitimately elected.
“Now, in a general election, vying for votes in a tight race in left-leaning Virginia, Youngkin has tried to resist being branded as an election denier or letting Democrats tie him to Trump’s false claims.”
THE WHITE HOUSE
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: PROGRESSIVES TO WHITE HOUSE: RELEASE THE MEMO — Earlier this year, White House chief of staff RON KLAINtold us that within “weeks” the Biden administration would make a decision about the president’s authority to cancel student debt. Biden was just waiting for a legal memo from the Department of Education to help guide him.
More than six months later, the administration has yet to announce a decision.
The lack of clarity has annoyed progressives agitating for Biden to cancel all student debt, and today a group of 15 House members, led by Rep. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.), will be sending the White House a letter demanding “the release to the public by October 22, 2021 the memo that the President requested from the Department of Education to determine the extent of the administration’s authority to broadly cancel student debt through administrative action.” Full memo and 15 signatories here
BIDEN PUBLIC LANDS ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY — Biden is expected to announce today the restoration of two Utah parks — Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante — as well as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts of the New England coast, NYT’s Coral Davenport reports: “Trump had sharply reduced the size of all three national monuments at the urging of ranchers, the fishing industry and many Republican leaders, opening them to mining, drilling and development.”
TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Katie Benner, Nancy Cordes, Cecilia Kang, Marianna Sotomayor and Eamon Javers.
SUNDAY SO FAR …
CBS
“Face the Nation”: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Fiona Hill … Scott Gottlieb … Chris Krebs.
Gray TV
“Full Court Press”: Anthony Fauci … Jeanne Marrazzo.
FOX
“Fox News Sunday”: Panel: Jason Riley, Jacqueline Alemany and Harold Ford Jr. Power Player: Alec Lace.
ABC
“This Week”:Panel: Donna Brazile, Chris Christie, Julie Pace and Maggie Haberman.
NBC
“Meet the Press”:Panel: Donna Edwards, Yamiche Alcindor and David French.
MSNBC
“The Sunday Show,” guest-hosted by Tiffany Cross: Michael Li … Phillip Atiba Goff … Jacqueline Charles … Yvonne Kwan … Versha Sharma.
CNN
“Inside Politics”:Panel: Tamara Keith, Eva McKend, Lauren Fox, Jeff Stein, Michael Warren and Leana Wen.
Kamala Harriswill be rooting for her San Francisco Giants as they take on the L.A. Dodgers in the NLDS, which starts tonight. But the Naval Observatory will be a house divided: Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is a true-blue member of Dodgers nation.
Comedy Central announced the cast for its upcoming animated feature “Washingtonia,” executive produced by Stephen Colbert, which includes new “SNL” addition James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump. There are too many characters for us to list here, but they include everyone from Pete Buttigieg to Madison Cawthorn to Hunter Biden to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Ron DeSantis to Kristen Welker.
SPOTTED: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in Manhattan to fundraise with former New York Gov. George Pataki, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Adam Weiss and Jeff Miller.
OUT AND ABOUT — Friends of American University in Afghanistan held Leslie Schweitzer’s annual fundraiser for the school at the Four Seasons in Georgetown on Thursday night with honorary chair Laura Bush, who sent a letter to be read, followed by a VIP reception. SPOTTED:Hillary Clinton, Tom Freston, Carey Lowell, Qatari Ambassador Sheikh Meshal Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Susanna and Jack Quinn, Jamie Dorros, Adrienne Elrod, Elizabeth Thorp, Kelly and Roy Schwartz,Melanne Verveer, Huma Abedin, Gayle Lemmon, Katherine and David Bradley, Rick Klein, Jon Karl, Jennifer Griffin, Gen. John Nicholson Jr., Peter Bergen and Autumn Hanna VandeHei.
— SPOTTED at a screening of the first episode of “Dopesick,” a new Hulu series about the origins of the opioid epidemic in America, at the Aspen Institute on Thursday night with writer and executive producer Danny Strong,Warren Littlefield,Beth Macy and cast members Michael Keaton, Rosario Dawson, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hoogenakker and Will Poulter:John Brownlee, Rick Mountcastle, Randy Ramseyer, Alison Kodjak, Dana Bash, Mike Isikoff and David Corn.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Stew Boss is joining Sen. Jacky Rosen’s (D-Nev.) office as deputy chief of staff. He previously was a senior comms strategist at DSCC, where he will be succeeded by Patrick Burgwinkle. Burwinkle was previously an account director at Sunshine Sachs and is an alum of End Citizens United, the DCCC and Hillary for America.
TRANSITIONS — Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone is joining Browne George Ross as a name partner and a member of the executive committee. Announcement … Matt VanHyfte is now press secretary for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). He most recently did opposition and comms research for the RGA and is a Trump 2020 campaign alum. … Jordan Colvin is now legislative director for Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.). She most recently was a VP at Platinum Advisors, was involved with the Veterans and Military Families for Biden movement and is a former undercover D.C. police officer.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) and Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) … Adrienne Watson of the DNC … Rev. Jesse Jackson (8-0) … Steve Coll of the Columbia Journalism School and The New Yorker … Bill Schneider … National Journal’s Mackenzie Weinger … Dan Dunham … Dan Gallo of MSNBC … Kirk Monroe … Brianne Gorod of the Constitutional Accountability Center … Caroline Nonna Holland … Aaron Hiller of the House Judiciary Committee … David Burstein … Shripal Shah of Left Hook … Sean Kennedy … Larry Calhoun of Rep. Kat Cammack’s (R-Fla.) office … Kirk Schwarzbach … Joe Gilson of Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office (3-0) … Nicole Schlinger … Bully Pulpit Interactive’s Ivanka Farrell … Blain Rethmeier of 76 Group … Tom Sheridan … Abdul Dosunmu … Micah Morris … Facebook’s Riki Parikh … Dennis Alpert … Jennifer Allen of the League of Conservation Voters … former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) … Quinn Nii … former HHS Secretary Tom Price … Anna Levin
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Send Playbookers tips to [email protected]. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.
BREAKING OVERNIGHT — A shouting match erupted on the Senate floor after the vote to delay the debt limit crisis for two months. Sens. JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) and MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah) confronted Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER after he lambasted Republicans in a floor speech immediately following the vote. They thought Schumer should have been more gracious after they threw him a small lifeline. (Though Romney voted to filibuster the extension.) Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.), appearing to sympathize with Republicans, put his head in his hands as he listened to Schumer’s tirade (scroll down for that image). Afterward, Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) chased the Democratic leader into the cloakroom to chew him out. Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) told Playbook it’s all sour grapes: “Listen, they kicked our ass and we have no one to blame but ourselves.” As for Schumer, a source who knows him well said, “He’s not gracious, he’s from Brooklyn!”
SPOTTED: Caddy-turned-senior Trump White House official DAN SCAVINO, surrounded by hundreds of law enforcement officers and ERIC TRUMP on Wednesday at the funeral for Dutchess County, N.Y., Sheriff BUTCH ANDERSON. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot has struggled to locate Scavino for over a week to serve him a subpoena.
FUNDRAISER CRASHER — As fundraising season approaches at DONALD TRUMP’s Palm Beach club Mar-a-Lago, expect the former president to crash the events for 2024 candidates and let donors know that he’s also planning to run. “He’s going to have a more careful eye about who is going to raise money on his front porch,” an aide said. The club was the de facto hub of Republican fundraising in 2021 and will likely be again in 2022.
OOPS, HE DID IT AGAIN — It’s no secret that Trump’s endorsements have been impulsive, and it looks like he jumped the gun again by giving an early nod to SEAN PARNELL in the open Pennsylvania Senate race. Republicans we talked to in Washington and Trump-world are clearly worried since the news broke this week that Parnell requested a gag order on his estranged wife LAURIE and her lawyer during their custody battle. Shortly after Trump endorsed Parnell in September, rival JEFF BARTOS revealed that Parnell’s wife filed two protective orders against him in 2017 and 2018. Both were expunged, but some Republicans worry that there may be more shoes to drop.
It’s happened over and over: Trump endorses a seriously flawed candidate early in the primary race, even though he’s been accused of domestic abuse already — in the case of HERSCHEL WALKERin Georgia — or faces such allegations soon after, in the case of MAX MILLERin Ohio. Miller and Walker deny the accusations. There’s also ERIC GREITENSin Missouri, who Trump hasn’t endorsed but has a team stacked with former Trump staffers and loyalists, including KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE.
But Parnell may be in a tighter spot than Walker or Miller, whose opponent, Rep. ANTHONY GONZALEZ (R-Ohio), recently dropped out. JOE BIDEN won Pennsylvania by just over a percentage point. Parnell has some tough competition in the primary — not only Bartos but fundraiser and former ambassador CARLA SANDS. And he lacks the star power of Walker, an NFL legend.
“Sean Parnell can’t score touchdowns, so this is a little different,” said one Republican operative.
Parnell, 40, was recently endorsed by Rep.DAN CRENSHAW (R-Texas) and Sen. JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.). He raised $1.1 million in the past quarter. He was also dubbed one of the top House Republican recruits in 2020, and the NRCC named him one of their “Young Guns.”
Trump endorsed Parnell, a former Army Ranger, last month in the midst of the Afghanistan withdrawal, when Parnell was a regular on Fox News. It also helped that DONALD TRUMP JR. was pushing for him.
“Sean Parnell is one of the most impressive candidates of the entire cycle and is above all else a bonafide American hero,” said Trump Jr. in a statement.
People close to Trump say the problem is two-fold: He’s not putting enough money into his vetting operation, and he ultimately does whatever he wants. Trump also seems to think that other politicians share his “Teflon Don” ability to shed scandal.
Trump’s team said they did a full vetting of Parnell, including a criminal background check, but added that divorce issues wouldn’t surface in such a check because of the privacy of those records. An operative on an opponent’s team, however, said they discovered the protective orders within three days.
“They make hasty decisions that are not thought out or well researched,” said a source in Trump-world. “All it does is confirm lessons that we’ve known all along: that no one is in control.”
IN OTHER TRUMP NEWS —There’s a new book out next week by TED OSIUS, the former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, recounting his experiences in the job. He tells one story about preparations for Trump’s 2017 trip to Vietnam for an APEC meeting. The planning included an upcoming White House meeting with Vietnamese PM NGUYEN XUAN PHUC. When Trump heard the name, he responded with a racist joke.
“You mean like FOOK YOO?” the former president said, according to Osius. “I knew a guy named Fook Yoo. Really. I rented him a restaurant. When he picked up the phone, he answered ‘Fook Yoo.’ His business went badly. People didn’t like that. He lost the restaurant.”
On Thursday night, Trump made another racist remark, telling Fox News that there are “hundreds of thousands of people flowing in from Haiti” and “many of those people will probably have AIDS.” This is something of an obsession for Trump dating to the 1980s. And lest we forget, the president in 2018 infamously referred to Haiti as a “shithole country.”
PUSH IT TO THE (DEBT) LIMIT — What actually happens if the nation defaults on its debt? Planes fall out of the sky, the streets run red with blood — OK, not literally. But the reality could be economic catastrophe: “Market chaos, economic chaos, all for absolutely no good reason,” explains POLITICO’s Ben White. After a week of debt-ceiling drama in D.C., Ben joins Eugene to unpack the partisan fights, the doomsday hypotheticals and one of the most absurd twists so far: a trillion-dollar coin. Listen and subscribe to Playbook Deep Dive
BIDEN’S FRIDAY:
— 9:30 a.m.: The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief.
— 10 a.m.: Biden will sign the HAVANA Act of 2021 and K-12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021 into law.
— 11:30 a.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on the September jobs report.
— 1:45 p.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on restoring protections for national monuments and conservation.
— 2:30 p.m.: Biden will receive the weekly economic briefing.
— 6:15 p.m.: Biden will depart the White House for Wilmington, Del., where he is scheduled to arrive at 7:10 p.m.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ FRIDAY:
— 9:35 a.m.: The vice president will depart D.C. en route to Newark, N.J.
— 11:45 a.m.: Harris will participate in a roundtable conversation on the importance of federal investment in child care at the Ben Samuels Children’s Center at Montclair State University.
— 2:40 p.m.: Harris will tour a vaccination site at Essex County College.
— 4:35 p.m.: Harris will depart Newark to return to D.C.
Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 2:30 p.m.
The SENATE is in. The HOUSE is out.
CONGRESS
BENEATH THE SURFACE —Burgess Everett writes that an actual default on the country’s debt was never going to happen — it was simply the scrim for a power struggle between Schumer and Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL to determine who has more power in the evenly divided chamber. Schumer came out slightly ahead Thursday, but senators are exhausted and the leaders’ relationship is threadbare. “As the final agreement took shape, Schumer and McConnell appear to have held no personal conversations. Aides and emissaries handled the details.”
DONALD VS. MITCH —WaPo’s Felicia Sonmez and Mike DeBonis write “Thursday’s debt-limit deal has prompted a new round of attacks on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by former president Donald Trump and his supporters, highlighting McConnell’s beleaguered role in a party where Trump remains the most powerful force. … The attacks reflect McConnell’s contradictory, difficult role in the Republican Party.”
PRAMILA’S PRICE TAG — In an interview with the AP, Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) “said she has pushed Biden to hold the line and keep his ambitious social spending plan closer to $3 trillion instead of the $2 trillion range that he has floated to Democrats in recent days.”
FEUDING FOR HOUSING FUNDS — The White House is considering cutting $300 billion in housing aid in the proposed $3.5 trillion spending plan, and Rep. MAXINE WATERS (D-Calif.) has vowed to fight for the full figure, Katy O’Donnell reports. The debate comes as the White House works to cut down the funding proposal’s top line to move the bill through Congress.
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
TOUR DE CONGRESS — French Ambassador PHILIPPE ETIENNE returned to D.C. last week after being recalled to France amid the Australian submarine debacle with a mandate from President EMMANUEL MACRON: reengage with the U.S. — not just with the Biden administration, but with Republicans and Democrats on the Hill. So Etienne immediately lined up back-to-back meetings with lawmakers on the Hill from both parties.
His first round of meetings were on Sept. 30, with national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN and Sens. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), TIM KAINE (D-Va.) and RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.). The following days of his diplomacy marathon included huddles with Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN, USTR KATHERINE TAI, Rep. ELAINE LURIA (D-Va.) and Sens. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-N.H.), JAMES RISCH (R-Idaho), BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.) and JOHN BOOZMAN (R-Ark). Etienne’s spokesperson explained his féroce charm offensive like this: “There is a crisis and it will take a long time to heal. We don’t want to be aggressive, we don’t want to underestimate, but the way forward is to see what concrete acts can be made by this administration and to have good relations with Congress.”
CUTTING THE TENSION — After this week’s meeting between senior Chinese foreign policy adviser YANG JIECHI and Sullivan, AP’s Ken Moritsugu writes that the U.S. and China “finally appear to be trying to ease tensions that date from the Trump administration — though U.S. complaints about Chinese policies on trade, Taiwan and other issues are little diminished.”
ALL POLITICS
YOUNGKIN’S TRUMP DILEMMA — In the closing weeks of Virginia’s close gubernatorial election, AP’s Sarah Rankin writes that Republican GLENN YOUNGKIN’s “murky answers” on Trump’s false election claims “underscore [his] dilemma. … False claims and misinformation about the results are so widely believed by Republican voters that disputing the lies can be politically risky. For months, while running for his party’s nomination, Youngkin declined to say whether Biden was legitimately elected.
“Now, in a general election, vying for votes in a tight race in left-leaning Virginia, Youngkin has tried to resist being branded as an election denier or letting Democrats tie him to Trump’s false claims.”
THE WHITE HOUSE
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: PROGRESSIVES TO WHITE HOUSE: RELEASE THE MEMO — Earlier this year, White House chief of staff RON KLAINtold us that within “weeks” the Biden administration would make a decision about the president’s authority to cancel student debt. Biden was just waiting for a legal memo from the Department of Education to help guide him.
More than six months later, the administration has yet to announce a decision.
The lack of clarity has annoyed progressives agitating for Biden to cancel all student debt, and today a group of 15 House members, led by Rep. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.), will be sending the White House a letter demanding “the release to the public by October 22, 2021 the memo that the President requested from the Department of Education to determine the extent of the administration’s authority to broadly cancel student debt through administrative action.” Full memo and 15 signatories here
BIDEN PUBLIC LANDS ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY — Biden is expected to announce today the restoration of two Utah parks — Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante — as well as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts of the New England coast, NYT’s Coral Davenport reports: “Trump had sharply reduced the size of all three national monuments at the urging of ranchers, the fishing industry and many Republican leaders, opening them to mining, drilling and development.”
TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Katie Benner, Nancy Cordes, Cecilia Kang, Marianna Sotomayor and Eamon Javers.
SUNDAY SO FAR …
CBS
“Face the Nation”: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Fiona Hill … Scott Gottlieb … Chris Krebs.
Gray TV
“Full Court Press”: Anthony Fauci … Jeanne Marrazzo.
FOX
“Fox News Sunday”: Panel: Jason Riley, Jacqueline Alemany and Harold Ford Jr. Power Player: Alec Lace.
ABC
“This Week”:Panel: Donna Brazile, Chris Christie, Julie Pace and Maggie Haberman.
NBC
“Meet the Press”:Panel: Donna Edwards, Yamiche Alcindor and David French.
MSNBC
“The Sunday Show,” guest-hosted by Tiffany Cross: Michael Li … Phillip Atiba Goff … Jacqueline Charles … Yvonne Kwan … Versha Sharma.
CNN
“Inside Politics”:Panel: Tamara Keith, Eva McKend, Lauren Fox, Jeff Stein, Michael Warren and Leana Wen.
Kamala Harriswill be rooting for her San Francisco Giants as they take on the L.A. Dodgers in the NLDS, which starts tonight. But the Naval Observatory will be a house divided: Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is a true-blue member of Dodgers nation.
Comedy Central announced the cast for its upcoming animated feature “Washingtonia,” executive produced by Stephen Colbert, which includes new “SNL” addition James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump. There are too many characters for us to list here, but they include everyone from Pete Buttigieg to Madison Cawthorn to Hunter Biden to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Ron DeSantis to Kristen Welker.
SPOTTED: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in Manhattan to fundraise with former New York Gov. George Pataki, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Adam Weiss and Jeff Miller.
OUT AND ABOUT — Friends of American University in Afghanistan held Leslie Schweitzer’s annual fundraiser for the school at the Four Seasons in Georgetown on Thursday night with honorary chair Laura Bush, who sent a letter to be read, followed by a VIP reception. SPOTTED:Hillary Clinton, Tom Freston, Carey Lowell, Qatari Ambassador Sheikh Meshal Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Susanna and Jack Quinn, Jamie Dorros, Adrienne Elrod, Elizabeth Thorp, Kelly and Roy Schwartz,Melanne Verveer, Huma Abedin, Gayle Lemmon, Katherine and David Bradley, Rick Klein, Jon Karl, Jennifer Griffin, Gen. John Nicholson Jr., Peter Bergen and Autumn Hanna VandeHei.
— SPOTTED at a screening of the first episode of “Dopesick,” a new Hulu series about the origins of the opioid epidemic in America, at the Aspen Institute on Thursday night with writer and executive producer Danny Strong,Warren Littlefield,Beth Macy and cast members Michael Keaton, Rosario Dawson, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hoogenakker and Will Poulter:John Brownlee, Rick Mountcastle, Randy Ramseyer, Alison Kodjak, Dana Bash, Mike Isikoff and David Corn.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Stew Boss is joining Sen. Jacky Rosen’s (D-Nev.) office as deputy chief of staff. He previously was a senior comms strategist at DSCC, where he will be succeeded by Patrick Burgwinkle. Burwinkle was previously an account director at Sunshine Sachs and is an alum of End Citizens United, the DCCC and Hillary for America.
TRANSITIONS — Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone is joining Browne George Ross as a name partner and a member of the executive committee. Announcement … Matt VanHyfte is now press secretary for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). He most recently did opposition and comms research for the RGA and is a Trump 2020 campaign alum. … Jordan Colvin is now legislative director for Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.). She most recently was a VP at Platinum Advisors, was involved with the Veterans and Military Families for Biden movement and is a former undercover D.C. police officer.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) and Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) … Adrienne Watson of the DNC … Rev. Jesse Jackson (8-0) … Steve Coll of the Columbia Journalism School and The New Yorker … Bill Schneider … National Journal’s Mackenzie Weinger … Dan Dunham … Dan Gallo of MSNBC … Kirk Monroe … Brianne Gorod of the Constitutional Accountability Center … Caroline Nonna Holland … Aaron Hiller of the House Judiciary Committee … David Burstein … Shripal Shah of Left Hook … Sean Kennedy … Larry Calhoun of Rep. Kat Cammack’s (R-Fla.) office … Kirk Schwarzbach … Joe Gilson of Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office (3-0) … Nicole Schlinger … Bully Pulpit Interactive’s Ivanka Farrell … Blain Rethmeier of 76 Group … Tom Sheridan … Abdul Dosunmu … Micah Morris … Facebook’s Riki Parikh … Dennis Alpert … Jennifer Allen of the League of Conservation Voters … former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) … Quinn Nii … former HHS Secretary Tom Price … Anna Levin
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NEW JERSEY — Below you will find the most up-to-date information on coronavirus news impacting New Jersey. You can find additional resources and coverage on our coronavirus page.
US hits 700,000 COVID deaths just as cases begin to fall
The United States reached its latest heartbreaking pandemic milestone Friday, Oct. 1, eclipsing 700,000 deaths from COVID-19 just as the surge from the delta variant is starting to slow down and give overwhelmed hospitals some relief.
NJ leaders take on ‘Mayors Vaccine Challenge’
Two New Jersey mayors are going head-to-head in an effort to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19. It’s all part of the ongoing vaccination campaign in the Garden State that has already propelled it as one of the nation’s leaders in the fight against COVID-19. Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh is squaring off with Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora in what the state is calling the “Mayors Vaccine Challenge.”
New Jersey surpasses 1 million COVID-19 cases
As of Tuesday, Sept. 28, more than 1 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in New Jersey since the pandemic reached the state in 2020.
Pfizer submits data to FDA
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced they have submitted initial data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from the Phase 2/3 trial of their COVID-19 vaccine in children 5 to 11.
In the trial, which included 2,268 participants 5 to 11 years of age, the vaccine demonstrated a favorable safety profile and elicited robust neutralizing antibody responses using a two-dose regimen of 10 μg doses.
NJ offers $500 ‘return to work bonus’ to unemployed residents
Unemployed New Jersey residents could earn a $500 bonus to return to the workforce as part of a new program announced by Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday, Sept. 27. The “Return and Earn” initiative will offer the one-time bonus to folks who secure a job through the program, including positions that require on-the-job training.
Is it safe to trick-or-treat this Halloween? CDC weighs in
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Face the Nation that kids can trick-or-treat safely this year, adding, “If you’re able to be outdoors, absolutely.”
CDC director overrules panel, backs booster for all adults in high-risk jobs
The panel had voted against saying that people ages 18 to 64 can get a booster if they are health-care workers or have another job that puts them at increased risk of being exposed to the virus.
Walensky disagreed and put that recommendation back in, noting that such a move aligns with an FDA booster authorization decision earlier this week.
FDA OKs Pfizer COVID-19 boosters for 65 and older, high-risk Americans
The FDA authorized booster doses for Americans who are 65 and older, younger people with underlying health conditions and those in jobs that put them at high-risk for COVID-19. The ruling represents a drastically scaled back version of the Biden administration’s sweeping plan to give third doses to nearly all American adults to shore up their protection amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
J&J booster shot 94% effective 2 months after 1st dose
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday, Sept. 21, said new data shows a second dose — or a booster shot — of their one-shot COVID vaccine was found to be 94% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 when given two months after the initial dose.
Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine works in kids ages 5 to 11
Pfizer said Monday, Sept. 20, its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11 and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon — a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters.
Child care facilities
Gov. Phil Murphy said all child care workers and facility employees need to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1 or face regular weekly testing. As of Sept. 24, all employees, students and children in a facility’s care ages two and up will need to wear masks indoors, with limited exceptions.
Moderna vaccine is most effective against hospitalization from COVID-19: study
A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared how effective each of the three COVID-19 vaccines are in preventing hospitalization from the virus. The CDC reported that effectiveness was higher for the Moderna vaccine (93%) than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (88%) and the J&J vaccine (71%).
New Jersey surpassed as state with highest rate of COVID deaths
Mississippi has surpassed New Jersey as the state with the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., with roughly 1 of every 320 Mississippians having succumbed to the coronavirus.
COVID-19 is ‘getting better’ at becoming airborne virus
Recent COVID-19 variants are much more adept at airborne transmission than the original version of the coronavirus, according to a new study. University of Maryland researchers analyzed the Alpha variant first identified in the United Kingdom and discovered that carriers breathe out 43 to 100 times more infectious viral aerosols than those infected with the original strain.
U.S. panel backs Pfizer COVID-19 boosters only for 65 and over, high-risk
An influential federal advisory panel overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots to most Americans, but it endorsed the extra shots for those who are 65 or older or run a high risk of severe disease.
COVID outbreaks in NJ schools
As of Wednesday, Sept. 15, there were six outbreaks in New Jersey schools, according to Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli. An outbreak is defined as at least three cases that are epidemiologically connected and not from the same household.
The cases are a mix of students and staff, Persichilli said. More information will be released on the state Health Department website in the coming days.
COVID-19 variants significantly reduce protection of vaccines, prior infection: study
A new study confirms that vaccinations and even prior COVID-19 infection provide significantly less protection against newer variants. Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University say in order to protect against the Alpha, Beta, and now Delta variants, these findings stress the importance of doubling down on both vaccinations and public health measures during the pandemic.
Mask debate moves from school boards to courtrooms
The rancorous debate over whether returning students should wear masks in the classroom has moved from school boards to courtrooms. In at least 14 states, lawsuits have been filed either for or against masks in schools. In some cases, normally rule-enforcing school administrators are finding themselves fighting state leaders in the name of keeping kids safe.
Supreme Court allows evictions to resume during pandemic
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is allowing evictions to resume across the United States, blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. New Jersey’s statewide rent moratorium expires at the end of the year.
These foods are extra hard to find right now because of shortages, supply chain issues
Notice your grocery store shelves looking a little bare lately? You’re definitely not the only one. Supply chain issues have created shortages of highly specific ingredients.
‘It’s up to us’: Fauci says pandemic could possibly end by spring 2022
The nation’s top infectious disease expert believes the pandemic’s end is near as long as the U.S. follows the right protocols to contain COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci said he sees the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s only open if the country’s 80 million to 90 million unvaccinated people are convinced to get the shot.
Comirnaty: What’s the story behind the new Pfizer vaccine name?
Comirnaty, who? It’s the same exact mRNA vaccine Pfizer has been producing through the emergency use authorization, but now it’s being marketed under a new name.
Is an earache a new COVID-19 symptom?
Doctors say they’re seeing a new COVID-19 symptom in some patients. According to experts, an earache has been reported more frequently by those testing positive for COVID. Earaches can cause pain, a feeling of blockage and sometimes muffled hearing.
NJ COVID hospitalizations top 1,000 for the first time since May: Gov. Murphy
For the first time since May, more than 1,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in New Jersey on Wednesday, Aug. 25, Gov. Phil Murphy said. There were 1,012 people hospitalized with COVID, 92 of whom were on ventilators, according to state Health Department data. The last time the state had more than 1,000 COVID hospitalizations was over three months ago on May 11, Murphy said.
Johnson & Johnson: Vaccine booster provides ‘rapid, robust’ response
Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday, Aug. 25, announced new data the company said supports the use of its COVID vaccine as a booster shot for people previously vaccinated with their single-shot vaccine.
J&J said the new data showed that a booster shot of their vaccine generated a “rapid and robust increase in spike-binding antibodies, nine-fold higher than 28 days after the primary single-dose vaccination.”
NJ to require teachers, state workers be fully vaccinated
All school personnel and state workers in New Jersey will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday, Aug. 23.
Will COVID booster shot have the same side effects as the first two shots?
The Biden administration said Wednesday, Aug. 18, that COVID booster shots will soon be available, but how will the Sept. 20 rollout work, and what side effects should Americans expect?
Lambda and B.1.621: New COVID variants could be the worst yet, doctor warns
At least two new COVID-19 variants have hit the United States and they could be worse than the delta variant in their infectiousness and ability to stand up to vaccines, according to a top medical authority.
U.S. health officials call for booster shots for all to battle COVID-19
U.S. health officials recommended all Americans get COVID-19 booster shots to shore up their protection amid the surging delta variant and evidence that the vaccines’ effectiveness is falling. The announcement was made on Aug. 18.
August child tax credit payments issued: Here’s why yours might be delayed
The second installment of expanded child tax credits was issued on Aug. 13 to millions of eligible families, but some payments will likely be delayed due to a technical glitch, the U.S. Department of Treasury said.
Schumer calls for federal crackdown on fake vaccine cards
COVID claims more young victims as deaths climb yet again
The COVID-19 death toll has started soaring again as the delta variant tears through the nation’s unvaccinated population and fills up hospitals with patients, many of whom are younger than during earlier phases of the pandemic.
NJ county opens COVID booster shot appointments
Health care officials in a northern New Jersey county began offering COVID-19 booster shots to qualified residents on Aug. 14. Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. said appointments for a third shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine were open at vaccination centers at Kmart in West Orange and Essex County College in Newark.
Concerts, outdoor events still risky as delta variant surges, experts say
Concerts and outdoor events are returning, and many are requiring proof of vaccination as part of new safety protocols designed to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19. But while experts say being outdoors is less risky in general, they continue to recommend additional precautions for those visiting crowded outdoor venues.
Biden weighs stiffer vaccine rules as delta variant spreads rapidly across U.S.
When the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. first began to slow, President Joe Biden backed incentives like million-dollar cash lotteries if that’s what it took to get shots in arms. But as new COVID infections soar, he’s testing a tougher approach.
Who doesn’t need the COVID-19 vaccine?
It has been eight months since the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered to health care workers nationwide. Since then, the vaccine has become available to anyone over the age of 12. Experts explain the few instances in which a person would not qualify for, or should delay getting vaccinated.
Extra COVID shot OK’d for immunocompromised individuals
With more than 600 colleges and universities now requiring proof of COVID-19 inoculations, an online industry has sprung up offering fake vaccine cards.
COVID vaccines would be required for military under new plan
Members of the U.S. military would be required to have the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Sept. 15, under a plan announced by the Pentagon on Aug. 9 and endorsed by President Joe Biden.
What to do if you lose your COVID-19 vaccine card
Don’t worry if you’ve lost your COVID-19 vaccine card, there are several ways you can get it replaced. No matter where you got your shots, getting a replacement card is possible.
Will NJ reinstate a travel advisory?
Gov. Murphy said on Aug. 9, a new travel advisory is not off the table, but for now he encouraged mask wearing, which is mandatory in all airports and on flights, and other COVID safety protocols. “You gotta use your head,” he added.
Will NJ mandate masks indoors?
Despite CDC data showing New Jersey falls under its guidance to wear masks indoors, Gov. Murphy said he will not yet mandate face coverings but added, “we leave all options on the table.”
COVID transmission levels call for indoor masking under CDC guidelines
Indoor masking is advised in areas with COVID transmission rates considered “substantial” or “high” under recently updated guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Aug. 8, all of New Jersey falls under those categories.
How do you know if you have the delta variant of COVID-19?
So you’ve tested positive for COVID – but which COVID exactly? Is there a way to tell if you have the highly transmissible delta variant? There is a way to tell, but there’s not really a way for you to tell.
COVID breakthrough cases: Is one vaccine better than others?
Are kids more vulnerable to the delta variant of COVID-19?
Hospitals around the United States, especially in the South, are starting to fill back up again as the delta variant tears though the country. With previous waves of infection, we’ve been most worried about the elderly being vulnerable. Now, it’s younger people – even children – starting to show up in hospital beds.
U.S. averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day as delta surges
The United States is now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge in yet another bleak reminder of how quickly the delta variant has spread through the country. The U.S. was averaging about 11,000 cases a day in late June. Now the number is 107,143.
NJ schools mask mandate: Teachers’ union backs, Republicans slam Murphy decision
New Jersey Republicans have largely trashed Gov. Phil Murphy’s announcement on Aug 6 that masks will be required in all schools in the upcoming academic year.
NJ health care workers must be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19
Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order on Aug. 6 mandating that all workers in state and private health care facilities either be vaccinated for COVID-19 or tested for it twice a week.
50% of U.S. population is fully vaccinated, White House says
The United States reached a vaccination milestone on Aug. 6: 50% of the population, all ages, were fully vaccinated, the White House COVID-19 data director confirmed.
CDC says people who’ve had COVID should get shot or risk reinfection
Even people who have recovered from COVID-19 are urged to get vaccinated, especially as the extra-contagious delta variant surges — and a new study shows survivors who ignored that advice were more than twice as likely to get reinfected.
‘You have lost your minds’: Murphy lashes out at anti-vax protesters
Warning of more delta mutations, Fauci urges vaccinations
The White House COVID-19 response team said the delta variant continues to surge across the country. During a briefing on Aug. 5, Dr. Anthony Fauci called on Americans to take precautions to stop the virus from mutating. “The ultimate end game of all this is vaccination,” he said.
The latest surge in COVID-19 infections is fueled by the highly contagious delta variant first identified in India late last year. Now, a variation of that variant is beginning to generate headlines. Here’s what we know about the COVID sub-strain being called delta plus.
Vaccine mandate for state colleges?
Currently, some state colleges in New Jersey are mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for students and staff and some have made it optional. Murphy said a universal mandate “is certainly an option,” but for now individual universities can make their own call.
More ‘pain and suffering’ ahead as COVID cases rise, Fauci says
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on Aug. 1 that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their shots.
Walmart requiring COVID vaccination, masks for many employees
In a memo, Walmart announced that associates who work in multiple facilities, and associates of its campus office, will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4. Walmart also required associates, including those fully vaccinated, to wear masks in its stores.
Iconic NJ restaurant The Fireplace closes after 65 years
The Fireplace, like many other restaurants across the country, was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and temporarily shuttered its doors before reopening in May, when they implemented drive-thru, takeout and curbside pickup followed by indoor dining in October.
New delta variant research makes strong case for vaccination
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized the delta variant is more dangerous and fast-spreading than first thought. The findings also made clear why efforts to get more people vaccinated are vital.
CDC data shows delta variant spreads as easily as chickenpox
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new information on July 30, saying the coronavirus delta variant can spread as easily as chickenpox.
Pfizer: COVID vaccine protective for at least 6 months
The effectiveness of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine wanes slightly over time but it remains strongly protective for at least six months after the second dose, according to company data released on July 28.
Disney World requires masks indoors regardless of vaccination status
Beginning July 30, Disney World required all visitors ages 2 and older to wear a face covering while indoors as well as in Disney buses, the monorail and the Disney Skyliner, regardless of vaccination status.
CDC mask guidance: Vaccinated people should wear face coverings in public indoor settings
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed course on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging.
U.S. headed in ‘wrong direction’ on COVID-19, Fauci says
Doctors warn about slightly different symptoms with delta variant of COVID
As concern grows regarding the COVID-19 delta variant, health leaders are warning about somewhat different symptoms that come with it.
Most unvaccinated Americans unlikely to get COVID-19 shots, new AP poll finds
A new poll shows that most Americans who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 say they are unlikely to get the shots. About 16% say they probably will get the vaccine.
Is asking about someone’s COVID vaccine status a HIPAA violation?
HIPAA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996 during a time when medical records were being computerized. It was created to simplify the administration of health insurance and to prevent unauthorized access to peoples’ medical histories.
In fact, HIPAA doesn’t block anyone from asking another person about their health status, according to Alan Meisel, law professor and bioethics expert at the University of Pittsburgh.
Gov. Murphy holds off on reinstating mask mandate
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says he’s not ready to reinstitute mask requirements, now or when schools are back in session in September. Murphy says he “is comfortable where we are” on mask mandates but is also closely monitoring developments.
Child tax credit checks: Will they become permanent?
The parents of an estimated 60 million American children began receiving child tax credit payments from the IRS in a move expected to lift millions of families above the poverty baseline for the remainder of 2021. Should they become permanent?
Biden grapples with ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’
President Joe Biden is confronting the worrying reality of rising cases and deaths — and the limitations of his ability to combat the persistent vaccine hesitance responsible for the summer backslide.
Child tax credit: When to expect payments, how it may impact tax returns
Common cholesterol drugs may significantly reduce risk of death from COVID-19: study
Statins, a common medication for lowering cholesterol, may be saving lives among patients with COVID-19. A new study reveals hospitalized coronavirus patients who take statins are much less likely to die from the illness.
WHO chief says it was ‘premature’ to rule out COVID lab leak
The head of the World Health Organization acknowledged it was premature to rule out a potential link between the COVID-19 pandemic and a laboratory leak, and he said he is asking China to be more transparent as scientists search for the origins of the coronavirus.
Wildfire smoke linked to increased COVID-19 risk, study says
A new study suggests that exposure to wildfire smoke is linked to an increased risk of contracting COVID-19.
What can I do if I didn’t get my child tax credit payment?
The official disbursement date for the first child tax credit payments from the Internal Revenue Service was July 15, but parents may not see the cash right away.
Delta now dominant COVID variant in New Jersey
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Free health insurance included in stimulus benefits for unemployment recipients
Along with $1,400 stimulus checks and monthly child tax credit payments, the American Rescue Plan has another important benefit available to people who qualified for unemployment assistance this year: free health care.
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Yes, but not nearly as much as if you had both doses. Experts recommend getting fully vaccinated, especially with the emergence of worrisome coronavirus mutations such as the delta variant first identified in India.
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As of Wednesday, there have been 1,013,445 total positive PCR tests in the state since March 2020, and there have been 24,754 lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths, according to the state Health Department.
Griner said she feared she would be blamed for his injuries.
She also admitted that she struck the child after he refused to eat his breakfast, according to her criminal complaint, and that she struck him hard enough to leave bruises on his face.
The child’s burned and dismembered remains were found at the family’s home hours after Griner reported the abduction.
She appeared in court Friday for a pre-trial conference during which the allegations were summarized and the prosecution described its plea offer in which Griner would serve 30 years in prison in return for a guilty plea on the murder charge.
She declined that plea offer in favor of trial.
Griner, who appeared by video from jail, offered brief responses to questions posed by Superior Court Judge George H. Gangloff Jr.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Vogelsong-Parvin outlined the allegations against Griner, who was indicted in 2019 on charges of first-degree murder, disturbing or desecrating human remains (second-degree), tampering with evidence (fourth-degree), endangering the welfare of a child (second-degree) and false public alarm (second-degree).
Daniel Griner Jr.
Griner called 911 around 6:30 p.m. on Feb 8, 2019, reporting that she was attacked and knocked to the ground while walking to the store with Daniel in a stroller and her infant child strapped to her chest, authorities have said.
She claimed her assailants took Daniel, authorities said. Police quickly launched a search, but the woman’s story soon changed, ultimately leading them to search the Griner property and make the grisly discovery of remains.
An autopsy concluded that Daniel died of blunt force trauma and that he suffered multiple bone fractures. The death was ruled a homicide.
The prosecution offered details Friday about what Griner’s husband knew of the situation.
Daniel Griner Sr. works as a registered nurse at a hospital and told police he returned home at 7:30 p.m. the day before his wife reported the disappearance.
His wife told him the kids were already asleep and that she didn’t want him to go into their room and risk waking them, Vogelsong-Parvin stated during Friday’s hearing. He told police this was earlier than Daniel Jr.’s usual bedtime.
The next day, the day his son was reported missing, he spoke with his wife via FaceTime during his lunch break and she told him the kids were napping, the prosecutor said.
In phone calls Griner made from jail, she allegedly claimed Daniel fell down steps and that she “did what she did to him” to cover up bruising on his body, Vogelsong-Parvin said.
The prosecution plans to present those calls at trial.
Those assertions were made in a motion seeking to try the murder charge separately from the other counts, but that motion was later withdrawn.
The judge set a trial date of Jan. 10, 2022.
A peaceful protest is held outside the Cumberland County Superior Courthouse following the detention hearing of Nakira Griner, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. Griner is charged with murder in the death of her 23-month-old son, Daniel Griner Jr.Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media
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ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Vice President Kamala Harris came to New Jersey on Friday with two things on her mind: child care and coronavirus vaccines.
Just days after endorsing fellow Democratic Party member Gov. Phil Murphy in his bid for re-election, Harris arrived in Essex County to speak about President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion federal spending plan, including its child care provisions. She also visited a local COVID-19 vaccine center to support the administration’s six-point pandemic recovery plan.
Find out what’s happening in Montclair with free, real-time updates from Patch.
Harris’ trip to New Jersey kicked off with a flight from Washington D.C. to Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday morning.
Her first public appearance of the day took place at the Ben Samuels Children’s Center at Montclair State University. During a roundtable discussion, Harris highlighted the Biden Administration’s proposed spending plan, the Build Better Act, which Congressional Democrats are hoping to pass through the reconciliation process to avoid a Republican filibuster.
Find out what’s happening in Montclair with free, real-time updates from Patch.
The plan includes rolling out “universal preschool” for all 3- and 4-year-old children, as well as reducing the cost of child care for low- and middle-income families.
“Our nation is strongest when everyone is able to participate,” Harris said. “This is fundamentally what the issue is about when it comes to working parents.”
“In New Jersey, the average family spends 15 percent of their income on childcare,” Harris continued. “One of the issues that the President and I have been working on with the support of Congress is to say, ‘No one should spend more than 5 to 7 percent of their income on childcare,’ especially when you look at the other obligations that families have, such as putting food on the table and paying rent.”
“Nearly half of New Jersey lives in childcare deserts,” Harris said. “And we are seeing across the country these numbers.”
Sherrill said that as a working mother with four kids, child care is an issue that hits home on a personal level.
“We know the pandemic drove more than a million parents out of the workforce and strained a childcare system that was already unaffordable and unavailable to too many families,” Sherrill said. “We have an opportunity to make those key investments, and I appreciate that Vice President Harris and the White House share this critical priority.”
The struggle to make ends meet is getting worse for families and child care providers alike, according to a recent report from the U.S. Department of the Treasury:
“Currently, the average family with at least one child under age 5 would need to devote about 13 percent of family income to pay for child care, a number that is unaffordable for most families. Less than 20 percent of children eligible for one of the largest federal assistance programs for low-income families, the Child Care and Development Fund, actually receives funding. Notwithstanding the high costs borne by parents, margins for child care providers are low and many struggle to make ends meet. They survive by keeping costs low. Labor, the main input, is overwhelmingly provided by women, many of whom are nonwhite, who earn low wages leading to high turnover. Many child care workers are paid so little that they rely on public services for their own economic needs.”
Here’s what the Biden Administration plans to do about it, treasury officials said:
“The president proposes to increase funding in the sector by offering universal preschool to all 3- and 4-year-old children and providing access to high-quality child care for low- and middle-income children. His child care plan will cut spending in half for most American families so that families do not have to spend more than 7 percent of their income on child care for young children by creating subsidized care and extending the expanded Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. These steps would directly address the revenue shortfalls created by the market failures we identify: liquidity constraints and the positive externalities associated with child care.”
Honored to join
@VP, @RepSherrill, child care workers, and families today for a discussion on the Build Back Better Agenda’s bold investments in child care. By investing in child care, this plan will uplift working families, create jobs, and strengthen our future. pic.twitter.com/ryay4vb0Nm — Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) October 8, 2021
TOURING A VACCINE SITE
On Friday afternoon, Harris continued her North Jersey tour with a visit to a COVID-19 vaccine center in Newark.
Located at Essex County College, the county-run site was one of the first operational vaccine centers in the state when it launched at the pandemic’s onset.
Essex County has been among the hardest-hit areas of New Jersey when it comes to COVID-19. Newark, the state’s most-populated city, has seen 40,539 cumulative cases and 1,054 deaths linked to the disease as of Thursday, according to data from county health officials. Read More:Essex County COVID Update (Case Totals, How To Get Vaccine)
The Biden-Harris Administration’s six-point “COVID-19 Action Plan,” which was released in September, includes:
Vaccinating the unvaccinated
Further protecting the vaccinated
Keeping schools safely open
Increasing testing and requiring masking
Protecting our economic recovery
Improving care for those with COVID-19
Rep. Payne, who accompanied Harris to the vaccination site in Newark, said it was an honor to welcome the vice president to the district.
“Essex County has suffered terribly during this global pandemic,” Payne said. “But I have been proud of how the county has been quick to get this vaccine site operational and provide vaccines for thousands of residents.”
The congressman noted that he recently received a booster shot, as he is over 65 and has a pre-existing medical condition.
“I received the vaccine and a booster shot to prevent COVID-19 infections for me and my family,” Payne said. “I encourage everyone to get vaccinated, so they can keep themselves and their loved ones safe.”
Today I got my booster shot. I am amongst those over 65 years and with a pre-existing health condition. I have not had a problem with my first or second shot and now the booster. This is the best way to obtain protection from the virus.
The vice president concluded her visit to New Jersey on Friday evening, departing back to Washington D.C. via a Newark flight.
Harris’ visit to the Garden State came just days after she and Biden endorsed Gov. Murphy’s 2021 gubernatorial bid.
The vice president touted Murphy’s accomplishments during his first term, including raising the minimum wage, and investing in public schools and clean energy jobs.
“He is the partner [that] President Joe Biden and I need in Trenton,” Harris said.
Murphy greeted the vice president in New Jersey, joining Harris on her tour throughout Essex County. Harris was also met by Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who represents the state’s 11th Congressional District, and Rep. Donald Payne Jr., who represents the 10th District.
Many people greeted the news of Harris’ arrival in New Jersey with excitement.
VP Kamala Harris
@VP is expected to visit nearby Montclair, NJ tomorrow and I would love to catch a glimpse. No details as yet as to the location. I definitely believe I would plotz and/or cry joyful tears if I see her. #khive 🐝💛 — Vaneela Olay 🍩⚖️🏳️🌈💜🐝 (@vaneelaolay2) October 7, 2021
Others were less thrilled to hear about the vice president’s visit, with several people referencing the controversial treatment of Haitian refugees at the Texas border and asking why Harris wasn’t spending her time there, instead.
@GovMurphy The last thing NJ needs is Kamala here. She belong at the border as she has nothing to offer except laugh. Or maybe she will do what Biden did to VA. Vote Republican. — Marilyn Fetcishin (@MFetcishin) October 7, 2021
So Kamala Harris is going to Newark, NJ today to brainwash and lie to people there. The Dems realize they are loosing their status as more people see the games they are playing so she is desperately going to try and hold on to those votes. — SS (@2019tweeting)
Meanwhile, a coalition of advocacy groups used Harris’ New Jersey visit to call for a “pathway to citizenship” for millions of undocumented immigrants through the reconciliation package.
“As an essential health care worker during the pandemic, I put my life at risk every day to help keep a health clinic open,” said Mariana Velasquez, a member of Make the Road New Jersey.
“But still, I fear being separated from my children,” Velasquez said. “I call on Vice President Kamala Harris to commit to using her independent authority to ensure essential workers like me who are undocumented, and millions of other undocumented immigrants in New Jersey have a pathway to citizenship through reconciliation.”
Several immigration advocacy groups released a joint statement about their demands on Friday:
“VP Harris’ visit to New Jersey — one of the most immigrant populous states in the nation — comes after the unelected Senate Parliamentarian has issued opinions again and again to exclude citizenship from the budget reconciliation package. As negotiations continue, immigrants point to Vice President Harris’ ability to change the lives of millions by ruling in favor of including citizenship, in her role as presiding officer of the Senate.”
“A pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, farmworkers and essential workers could impact at least nine million individuals, including more than 300,000 New Jerseyans,” the groups said, also calling for Harris to stop deportations to Haiti and suspend Title 42.
Immigrant women, essential workers, TPS holders from
