Van Drew: Impeachment Would Divide Nation

RIO GRANDE – U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-2nd) was sworn in Jan. 3, during a government shutdown, “and from that point on, it’s been, in all essence, a rocky road.”
The freshman congressman, during a Sept. 30 meeting with the Herald and Cape Issues members, said, “It’s not one of the quieter times in history. It’s a time where there’s a tremendous amount of challenge.”
He said that as a freshman congressman, he was told that he was not going to get much done, and that he was going to have to sit there for a while and watch what’s going on. “That’s just not my nature,” said Van Drew. “It’s never been my nature.”
Against Impeachment
Van Drew made national headlines for his stance against impeaching President Donald Trump.
He said Trump “has the ability to engender some of the strongest feelings of any individual human being I’ve ever met in my life. It’s extraordinary and exceptional on how upset people can get, and I understand, but at the same time, my job is not to say I like or dislike a president.”
He said he read the Mueller report, and there were things in the report “that we would all disagree with or find distasteful. Do they really reach the bar of treason? I don’t believe so.”
Van Drew said he didn’t believe there was evidence needed for impeachment. He also said it would divide the country.
“I just don’t believe this rose to the level of literally impeaching him and removing him, and it will split the country, I guarantee that. We literally could have civil unrest. It isn’t worth it. Let it happen the natural way,” he said.
He also said that impeachment proceedings would halt attempts to get things done. “Nobody’s going to work with anybody,” said Van Drew. “Do you think the president is going to want to sign bills when you’re impeaching him? He’s going to be too busy defending himself. Do you think the Senate is going to want to? They’re not.
“I want to be proud of the country and be able to say that the Congress I served in accomplished something and did something rather than our only accomplishment is literally an impeachment that was failed. I don’t want that.”
Van Drew said his position has resulted in positive reactions, including a tweet from Trump, as well as negative reactions, which ranged from “you should be embarrassed in your position” to “you’re a coward.”
“Believe me, I’m not,” Van Drew said. “It would have been a lot easier just to be quiet and go along and get along.”
Van Drew said he’s been told that he’s not as good a Democrat as he should be. “I didn’t go to Congress to be a good Democrat. I didn’t go to Congress to be a good Republican. I went to Congress to be a good American.”
Join Caucuses
When asked if he had any ideas as to how to create comity between Republicans and Democrats in Congress, Van Drew said, “It’s so big and so bad, that it’s not easy to do.” He said the way that he does it, is to walk across the aisle.
He said that he has numerous bipartisan bills, “that we work together.” He also suggested more people join caucuses.
Van Drew is a member of the Blue Dog Caucus, which, according to him, is more moderate, and the Problem Solvers Caucus, which is bicameral and bipartisan. There can only be an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, said Van Drew, “so no one overpowers anybody.”
“I love it, because it’s exactly what I believe in government,” said Van Drew. “You’d be surprised how many of the other governmental agencies or governments or businesses want to talk to this caucus, because they want that mix, and they want people able to rise above, and partisanship is not their only desire in life. They really want to get stuff done.”
He cited a Senate bill providing aid to the Mexican border, which ultimately passed the House thanks to the urging of the Problem Solvers Caucus. The bill was then signed by the president.
“That was a moment I was proud of. That’s the way government should work. That’s the way politics should work. You talk to people, you get it done, and everybody gives a little bit. That was one of my prouder days, actually, to be there, and to know that we were doing something effective,” Van Drew said.
Route 55
Regarding funding the extension of Route 55, Van Drew said an infrastructure bill was supposed to be done already, “but, of course, we’re busy doing what?” He said infrastructure looks like it’s not going anywhere, but he hoped that would change. 
Impediments to the project are money and the environmental coalition, according to Van Drew. “It is not only folks that are in Cape May County, by any means, or in South Jersey, or New Jersey. This has the eye of everybody around the country, and even to some degree, crazy to say, but true, around the world, because there’s some unique species there, etc.
“In Florida, they’re able to do these highways that are above grade. I don’t know why we can’t do that in New Jersey, and then move forward without harming the environment,” he added.
  He said the following needed to happen in order to move forward:
* Get the bill done
* Get a piece of it for the concept phase
* During the concept phase, do it so that the roads are not at ground level
“It’s so much easier for me to say than do,” he added.
When asked if he could put pressure on the governor’s office to make it work for South Jersey, Van Drew said, he could, but it would be hard to do.
“This governor is very environmental in his outlook, and my sense would be, as we would put pressure, that pressure would be mitigated by the fact that he would talk to these environmental groups that will go out of their mind,” he said.
He also noted “there are definitely real problems between North and South Jersey, between the governor and the senate president, and that splashes over onto everything we’re doing.” He cited the bill to restore the Wildwoods Boardwalk, which was vetoed by Gov. Murphy, as part of the South Jersey-North Jersey issue.
When asked if the move to make the boardwalk eligible for highway funds stood a chance, Van Drew replied, “I personally do not think so, but I could be wrong. I’m certainly willing to try and look into it and work on it. I’m willing to try anything. I think that would be a heavy lift, but you never know.”
Bridges
In response to a question about county bridges, Van Drew said they were in bad shape when he was a freeholder (1994-1997). “Everybody’s going to be at the trough,” he said, “but we’re going to have to make either one of three decisions eventually in our lifetime with those bridges.”
According to Van Drew, those decisions are:
* Close the worst ones
* Pay for them locally
* Get “significant” amounts of money from Washington and Trenton
“The structure and the way that it was set up as county bridges, as the county having the possession of them, is one that has hurt us,” said Van Drew. “If those were state bridges, that wouldn’t have happened.
“Maybe someday we’ll get a governor that’ll say ‘we’ll take the bridges over.’ It all depends on the governors that you get,” he continued.
When asked if local officials should go ahead and do something or wait for federal and state funds, Van Drew said, “I think we’re going to know soon because I think a lot is going to happen in the next few years. Right now they’re repairing them, they’re keeping them up, but within the next number of years, if nothing’s working out, then I think that’s going to be an option, but hopefully we can.”
He said he would like the state to take over the bridges, like what was done with the Beesley’s Point Bridge.
“You got to get a governor that says ‘this is more than any one county can handle,’ and it really is. Especially that we’re not a county of half a million people year round,” he added.
Coast Guard
There are no anticipated changes to Coast Guard facilities and activities in Cape May County related to recruit training programs or units based in Cape May, according to Van Drew.
He said it’s important to keep an eye on it, “because everybody’s always looking to grab what you’ve got.”
“Politics can be a nasty business. Somebody else is really connected to somebody else who’s the chairman of a committee or just in a committee or whatever. Next thing you know, some facility that you have is under siege, so you do have to watch it,” he added.
Beach Replenishment
Van Drew said he felt that beach replenishment is a sustainable program for beach maintenance. He said there are standards between the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “and sometimes the problem is when DEP and the Army Corps don’t get along, and you have to kind of get in the middle of it and work it out.”
He noted that work was being done in Cape May “because they have particular problems where people get hurt because of the way the water takes the sand, and you get those real high cliffs and some people had neck injuries and others, so we’ve gotten DEP and the Army Corps real aware of that.”
When asked about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s ruling, which prevents Stone Harbor, Avalon, and North Wildwood from using federal dollars to borrow sand from Hereford Inlet, Van Drew said, “We’re working on it.”
287(g) Agreement
When asked if he agreed with Attorney General Grewal’s directive ending the use of 287(g) agreements, Van Drew said he would’ve rather seen Grewal sit down with law enforcement agencies and lay out more specific guidelines “rather than just say ‘you can’t do this anymore.’”
“I love immigrants,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of bills to help them, both documented and undocumented, but I don’t understand when the standards that we use for our own Americans are not the standards that we use for folks that are undocumented. We all have to have the same standards.”
He concluded that if there are issues with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “we should really study it with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats that take a look at it in Congress, and then find out if there really are issues that are unacceptable, then let’s fix that, and then move on.”