Responding to Developments in Syria and at Home

      Over the last week Senator Menendez has been involved with the developments in Syria. The prospect of a diplomatic solution to the question of Syria's chemical weapons, and the response to their use, has changed how Congress will approach the situation.

     On  Tuesday Menendez stated that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has begun on a new resolution taking into consideration the possibility of a diplomatic solution (Lesniewski). Menendez was the lead author of the previous Syria resolution which passed the committee before diplomacy seemed a viable option. However Menendez qualified the halt on a U.S military strike with the statement

"Under the proposal, which is still in the conceptual stages, the United Nations would need to agree to a resolution acknowledging that the Syrian government was responsible for gassing its own people. Then, the United Nations would need to act to secure Syria’s remaining weapons to prevent future use, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Otherwise, the measure would authorize the use of force" (Ibid). Senator Menendez also made a number of media appearances on the Syria question. On Tuesday he appeared on CNN's "Crossfire" with Senator Rand Paul to debate intervention in Syria, with Menendez supporting intervention and Paul dissenting. Menendez stated in response to a question on his opinion on Russia's proposal that he was "cautiously looking at what the Russians are proposing" and that his caution stemmed from Russia's repeated obstruction in the U.N against any intervention in Syria (Crossfire). Later that night Senator Menendez appeared on "CNN's Piers Morgan Live" following the Presidents address, here. In the interview Menendez supported the President stating that the speech addressed many of the concerns Americans had the situation in Syria, and the President's response to it (Kurtz). On Thursday Senator Menendez responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed, here, stating that "...to be honest with you, I was at dinner, and I almost wanted to vomit," he went on to question the sincerity of the Russian's diplomatic efforts stating "...it [Putin's op-ed] really raises the questions of how serious this Russian proposal is" (Goyette).

      Two developments in the state of  New Jersey have also garnered Menendez's attention in the last week. Over the span of ten days ten murders were committed in the city of Newark, this prompted Menendez to ask the Department of Justice to award funds to Newark in order to hire more police (Queally). "In a letter written to Attorney General Eric Holder, Menendez (D-N.J) said the federal government should give Newark the money to hire 15 additional police officers through the Community-Oriented Police Services grant, better known as COPS" (ibid). The second development was the settlement of the Ryne Dougherty Lawsuit. Ryne Dougherty was a high school athlete who died after sustaining a concussion during a school sporting event (Farikant). This event prompted Menendez to introduce the Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act, which would set national concussion prevention, diagnosis, and treatment standards in school sports. Menendez responded to the settlement by expressing condolences for the family and wishing them some measure of closure (ibid).

Sources:

Lesniewski, Niels. Senate Syria 'Gang' Discussing New Resolution "blog". RollCall. Posted September 10th, 2013. http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/senate-syria-gang-discussing-new-resolution/

Paul and Menendez on Syria Intervention. CNN. Posted September 10th, 2013. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/09/10/crossfire-a-block-syria-menendez-paul-091013.cnn.html

Kurtz, Jason. Robert Menendez reacts to Obama's speech. CNN. Posted September 10th, 2013. http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/10/robert-menendez-on-obamas-speech-hes-made-the-case-that-we-are-stronger-as-a-nation-in-our-resolve-when-we-have-the-support-of-the-congress-behind-the-president/?iref=allsearch

Goyette, Braden. Bob Menendez: Putin Op-Ed Almost Made Me Want to Vomit. Huffington Post. Posted September 12th, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/12/menendez-putin-vomit_n_3910927.html

Queally, James. Menendez calls on feds to award funds to Newark police after 10-day homicide surge. The Star-Ledger. Posted September 10th, 2013. http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2013/09/menendez_calls_on_feds_to_award_funds_to_newark_police_after_ten-day_homicide_surge.html

Fabrikant, Mel. Pascrell, Menendez Release Joint Statement in Reaction to Ryne Dougherty Lawsuit Settlement. The Paramus Post. Posted September 11th, 2013. http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20130911182106188