In the News

Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Trump administration “is possibly obstructing the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan so the president can use them as leverage in his failing trade war with China.”

The measures, introduced by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, sought to stymie the administration’s effort to circumvent Congress to sell munitions to the gulf nations by declaring an emergency over Iran. Mr. Menendez and other lawmakers had blocked some of those sales, but by declaring an emergency, the administration was able to blow through the blockades.

The bill was essentially killed in committee when the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), attached his own Saudi Arabia legislation as an amendment — forcing Risch to withdraw his. Menendez’s bill, which would block certain arms sales to the kingdom and in-flight refueling of Saudi Arabia’s aircraft and is considered tougher than Risch’s, instead passed the committee. But it’s unclear if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will bring the bill to the floor.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates that 2,800 people have sought emergency medical assistance for beach umbrella-related injuries from 2010-2018, according to U.S. Sen. Menendez, who called on the commission to launch the safety campaign.

Sen. Bob Menendez held a news conference Monday in Manasquan to once again call on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to improve its regulations and develop an aggressive campaign to educate beachgoers on the dangers the umbrellas can pose if they're not properly staked in the sand.

Bob Menendez held a news conference Monday in Manasquan to once again call on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to improve its regulations and develop an aggressive campaign to educate beachgoers on the dangers the umbrellas can pose if they're not properly staked in the sand.

MANASQUAN, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey’s senior U.S. senator wants federal officials to take more aggressive action to protect beachgoers from wind-swept beach umbrellas. Bob Menendez held a news conference Monday in Manasquan to once again call on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to improve its regulations and develop an aggressive campaign to educate beachgoers on the dangers the umbrellas can pose if they’re not properly staked in the sand.

“We need to have a bill that has serious consequences,” Menendez told the committee, warning that anything less would be interpreted by Saudi leadership as just “a slap on the wrist.”

By a vote of 13 to 9 , the committee approved a bill sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Todd C. Young (R-Ind.) that would suspend most U.S. military sales to the kingdom and impose sanctions on all those implicated in the killing of Khashoggi, a Post contributor who was dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last October by a hit team dispatched from Riyadh.

Menendez has put forth competing legislation.

His bill would require sanctions within 30 days on anyone involved in Khashoggi's death, including “any official of the government of Saudi Arabia or member of the royal family” determined to be involved. The measure also would suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Menendez’s bill would block certain arms sales to the kingdom and in-flight refueling of Saudi Arabia’s aircraft. GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Todd Young of Indiana joined Democrats in supporting it.

“Comity is not the mere acquiescence to the will of the majority,” Menendez said during the meeting. “Comity is a deliberative, and consultative, negotiated process in which the majority and the minority come together to form the pathway forward to consensus.”

The legislation from Harris and Nadler, it turned out, would not be the only cannabis legislation to be rolled out on Tuesday. New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez announced the introduction of a measure with Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul and North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer, again along with Merkley, that would ensure legal marijuana businesses have access to insurance products.

In a second letter, 22 Senate Democrats, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez (N.J.), said the commission is based on the erroneous idea that “there is any ‘confusion’ over what human rights are."

“I don’t like using the word historic too easily, but it is a historic hearing because we have never had a hearing specifically on how to we bank the marijuana industry in and of itself,” said Menendez, D-N.J.

Menendez’s insurance legislation, known as the Clarifying Law Around Insurance of Marijuana Act, or CLAIM Act, is designed to allow insurers to provide coverage to legal cannabis businesses in states that have legalized the drug for personal or medical use.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is introducing bipartisan legislation designed to protect insurers that offer coverage to cannabis businesses that are now legal at the state level across a growing swath of the country.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) also shared a video of his discussions with a family he said had traveled for seven months with a baby from Honduras, which they left to flee gang violence.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer led the group that included Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.

Other senators on the tour included Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Chris Coons of Delaware, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and independent Maine Sen. Angus King.