Interviewer / Host (2:17)

To New Jersey voters and talking to voters. You hear a lot about housing affordability, but as of late you're also hearing a lot about the issue of affordability of electricity. Power prices have jumped more than 20% on a year over year basis. Part of that's good. I guess that's a sign that you're getting these data centers and other things moving to the state. But when it raises the bills for homeowners and businesses, you need something to address that. What's the plan?

Congressman Rob Menendez (2:41)

So she's made it clear that on day one of her administration she's going to declare a state of emergency on the energy price hikes. There's an immense amount of work that we have to do with our regional operator pjm, the production that we have in New Jersey. And we also have to look at how demand has changed. You mentioned data centers. It's good for New Jersey to be a leader on AI. You need those data centers to do so. But they require an immense amount of energy. There are ways and we're looking at it in Congress. It's one of the things that I'm doing on energy and commerce to think about how that increased energy demand, which could be 13% of all energy demand in the next several years, how that doesn't get pushed to our consumers, our residents. So it's going to take all hands, whole of government approach. But she's made that a clear priority of hers and that's a day one priority. So I know it's something that she's looking forward to tackling as governor.

Interviewer / Host (3:27)

Another big issue of course is taxation. The idea of addressing some of the budget issues, potentially raising the sales tax once again as well as corporate taxation. Do you think that's something a, that the governor, no matter who it is, would actually follow through on and would there be enough support at the State House to see that through?

Congressman Rob Menendez (3:45)

Well, I think you can take innovative ways, right. Like I think, yes, traditionally, money in, money out. Right. So if we need to spend to grow and build New Jersey, then we need to raise the revenue to do so. But on something like mass transit and infrastructure, there are ways to do it where you look at the assets that NJ Transit has that are underutilized and if you can make better use of them, you can actually create revenue for the state without having to raise taxes, raise the, the levy. So I think Mike is going to have an innovative approach. I don't Think she's just going to go and say we have to raise taxes because we have to pay for A, B and C. I think she's going to look about how the state has underutilized assets, how to make better use of them to reduce the tax burden on New Jerseyans because it goes into the affordability crisis, whether it's energy, whether it's taxes. These are what people are thinking about.

Interviewer / Host (4:27)

You represent Jersey City, the second most populous city in the state and really third most populous, really in the entire New York metro area. It's seen phenomenal growth over the past few years in terms of new residents and new businesses. How do you get more businesses and not just the big companies, but more small and medium sized businesses to actually set up shop here?

Congressman Rob Menendez (4:46)

Yeah, I mean, you have to have a competitive landscape. So I think New Jersey has done that well on the film industry. Right. We've seen an announcement in Bayonne where they're opening up a new studio. We have one here in Jersey City. We have one in Newark. Government needs to work with private sector, and that's things like giant studios to small and medium sized businesses. You have to have a competitive landscape. It's something that we think about at the federal level. I know municipalities think about it. And that's something the state needs to continue to lead on. We want to drive business here. We want to grow homegrown businesses that are at the center of places like Jersey City and make sure that we create an environment for them to do so.

Interviewer / Host (5:22)

I. We were missing. Not asking you about the government shutdown. We're now basically at officially at 35, the longest government shutdown, longest full government shutdown in history. Where is the discussion right now between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, particularly in the Senate? Are we any closer to actually getting this resolved?

Congressman Rob Menendez (5:38)

Yeah, I think we are inching closer, but, you know, for us, it's been a clear mission that goes back to the affordability challenge. And specifically for Democrats, health care. You know, Republicans voted to take $1 trillion out of Medicaid. That's going to make health care more expensive for everyone. We know at the end of the year, the ACA premium tax credits expire. So if you allow those to expire, premiums are going to increase for everyone on the exchange. At some point, point it has to stop. Right. We're talking about SNAP and the, the, the administration not funding it. Well, before that, they had the largest cut to SNAP in the program's history. So the pain has to stop because we see it every day when we're out with our constituents. That's what Democrats have been fighting for. The center of it has been health care. We can continue to fight for that. And Republicans look like they're interested in having a conversation specifically on the aca, and I hope we get to that conversation, get the government back open.

Interviewer / Host (6:24)

Are you comfortable, though, with the leadership by the Democrats in Congress in trying to navigate through this crisis?

Congressman Rob Menendez (6:30)

Listen, we're in the triple minority, right? And so we've drawn a line in the sand that for the American people, we have to deliver more affordable health care. That message has resonated with people. When I'm out, people say hold the line, keep fighting for us, because if we do nothing, we will not be able to afford our health care, our housing, our prescription drugs. That's what Democrats are fighting for, and they're happy to see us do so, and they are in this fight with us.

Interviewer / Host (6:51)

All right, circling back to the election here in New Jersey, I do have to ask you, we've had four years here of film Murphy, maybe potentially that legacy continues with Mikey. Sheryl, when you take a look at Murphy's legacy, what do you think he got right? And more importantly, what do you think he maybe did not take advantage of?

Congressman Rob Menendez (7:07)

So, I mean, I think he got an immense amount right on moving the state forward on a lot of things that were responsive to what was happening in the first Trump administration, codifying, you know, reproductive health care here in New Jersey. He's done an immense amount to drive the economy here from being an AI, a leader on AI, to tech, to film studio. So he's done a lot to grow New Jersey, grow New Jersey's profile. You know, I think on the energy front, I think we could have diversified our approach a little bit more to not bake so much of into offshore wind, but to really maximize solar, to look at nuclear, to look at fusion. But he still did so much, and I'm really proud that he was our governor for, for these important, important years.

Interviewer / Host (7:48)

Only about 30 seconds left, but looking ahead to the potential results that we get tonight, the polls have gotten a little bit tighter over the last few weeks. Trita rally has really closed the gap with Cheryl. You think she's still going to pull it out?

Congressman Rob Menendez (7:59)

I do. I've seen the momentum on the ground the last several days. Last night, you can say two days ago in West New York, it's palpable and people know it's on the line. I think when they're in this final moment, they have to make a decision in the ballot box. They're going to go with Mikey because she's a true leader for New Jersey.

Interviewer / Host (8:14)

All right. I really appreciate you taking time for us, Congressman.

Congressman Rob Menendez (8:16)

Appreciate it.

Interviewer / Host (8:16)

That's Congressman Rob Menendez of the 8th District here in the state of New Jersey as we keep a close eye here on the gubernatorial race.

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