#us-house-of-representatives

#us-house-of-representatives

Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s (R-NJ) mysterious, months-long absence from Congress has triggered a lot of anxiety among Republicans, as the GOP fears the congressman's head-scratching disappearance could cost them their House majority. The mystery surrounding Kean's whereabouts has made headlines for weeks, as news outlets and lawmakers alike have attempted to track down the congressman.

Four of the state's congressional districts are expected to hold special primaries in August, as part of a nationwide battle over redistricting. President Donald Trump has pushed Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps in order to give the right-wing party an advantage in the November midterm elections. At stake is control over the US House of Representatives. Each congressional district represents one seat in the House, where Republicans currently hold a slim majority.

Speaker Mike Johnson said he needs Rep. Tom Kean Jr. to get back as soon as he can as scrutiny grows over his unexplained two-month absence from the House of Representatives and his reelection prospects in a key swing district. Kean has not cast a vote since March 5 because of what his campaign has described only as a personal medical issue. The 57-year-old congressman said in an April 27 statement that he expected to return to a full schedule and be at 100 percent in the near future, but remained absent when lawmakers returned to Washington this week.

"We have heard calls by members of congress to institutionalise all transgender people, comments referring to transgender people as mentally ill, and false suggestions by high-level political figures that transgender people are inherently violent and must be addressed as a national security threat," the signatories to the letter claimed. That language, along with a "rising number of legislative and administrative attacks" on the community, "is taking a real toll", they added.