U.S. House of Representatives
First elected to Congress in 1990, Andrews served for 24 years as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional district, which includes most of Camden County and parts of Burlington County and Gloucester County. In the U.S. House of Representatives, he served on the
Committee on Armed Services,
Committee on the Budget, and
Committee on Education and Labor, where he served as chairman of the
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Elections In 1990, after 15-year incumbent Democratic U.S. Congressman
James Florio resigned from the
U.S. House of Representatives to take office as
Governor of New Jersey, Andrews won the 1990 special election and simultaneous general election against Gloucester County Freeholder Daniel J. Mangini. He subsequently won re-election every two years until his retirement. Andrews had the 10th longest tenure among U.S. Representatives in New Jersey history, and the fifth longest among Democrats in the state. In November 2004, he received more votes than anyone ever elected to the U.S. House from New Jersey, a record which he broke again in 2008 and 2012.
Committee assignments •
Committee on Armed Services •
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces •
Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities •
Committee on Education and the Workforce •
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training •
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (Ranking Member) •
Co-Chairman of the Steering and Policy Committee Caucus memberships • Congressional Arts Caucus • Congressional Fire Services Caucus • Hunger Caucus
Tenure The New York Times characterized Andrews as "fiscally conservative but socially moderate." He has a lifetime rating of 17.24 from the
American Conservative Union and a 2007 rating of 100 from
Americans for Democratic Action. According to
President Barack Obama, he was an original author of the
Affordable Care Act.
Alleged misuse of campaign funds On December 2, 2008, the
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint against Andrews and four other politicians to the
Federal Election Commission (FEC) for allegedly violating the
Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). In the complaint, CREW stated that Andrews's campaign committee spent $952.04 of campaign funds on clothing, which FECA classified as personal spending. A spokesman for Andrews responded that the clothing was intended to replace
lost luggage from a flight, and that Andrews deposited $952.04 into his campaign account after the airline reimbursed him. The FEC dismissed the complaint on July 16, 2009, but affirmed in the dismissal that the purchases violated campaign finance laws.
The Star-Ledger reported on November 20, 2011, that Andrews financed a family vacation to
Edinburgh,
Scotland, and other European destinations with over $9,000 of campaign funds. The report claimed that Andrews "mixed personal and political expenses in an unorthodox way" on multiple occasions. These expenses included a $10,000
house party celebrating both his career anniversary and his daughter's
graduation, a $12,500 donation to the
Walnut Street Theatre – where his daughter performed, and trips to California that overlapped with his daughter's auditions. Andrews and his chief of staff replied that the vacation involved attending an adviser's wedding, the party was primarily for "political associates", the theater donation was in support of its
outreach program, and his daughter assisted him with fundraising during their trips. CREW filed another compliant with the FEC on November 30, 2011, based on
The Star-Ledgers article. Andrews described the complaint as "baseless" and stated, "The campaign has fully complied with all laws with respect to the proper expenditure and disclosure of campaign funds. All personal aspects of any expenditures or activities have always been paid in full from our family's personal funds." The
Associated Press elaborated on March 28, 2012, that Andrews's 18 trips to California from 2007 to 2012 resulted in over $97,000 of campaign expenses and $260,000 of donations, short of the 3:1 ratio of donations to expenses that is expected from political fundraising trips. The
United States House Committee on Ethics started researching the complaint on July 17, 2012, and decided on August 31 that it would proceed with an investigation. On March 19, 2013, the Committee declared that a special panel would examine whether Andrews's travel expenses from the Edinburgh and California trips complied with campaign finance laws. Andrews resigned from Congress on February 4, 2014. He said that the campaign finance probe had "no role at all" in his resignation, and that he was departing for a position at the Dilworth Paxson law firm. The FEC dismissed the complaint on June 3, 2014, with "
prosecutorial discretion", noting that Andrews reimbursed his campaign for the Edinburgh trip before he received the complaint, and that any violations in the California trips were "relatively small". The complaint was dismissed in June 2014. ==Other political activities==