Sitting.

Senator George Helmy is ready to end his temporary term, announcing he'll step down from the role he took after embattled former Senator Bob Menendez left the position.

How his resignation paves the way for Senator elect Andy Kim to be sworn in next week.

But there's a lot going on in Washington and jersey.

Lawmakers are in the thick of it.

For more on the latest on the Hill, I'm joined by Washington correspondent Ben Tulloch.

Thanks for joining me, Ben.

All right, Ben, a lot of moving and shaking going on in Washington.

Let's start off with George Helmy resigning after a short stint.

He replaced Bob Menendez.

You spent some time with him.

What was his biggest contribution?

Project while in the seat?

The biggest contribution and sort of a boring thing.

But voting for judges to fill out the federal bench.

That was easily his biggest contribution.

You also served sort of a functional role.

This again, sounds mundane, but it's really important overseeing the Senate.

When you're in the majority, you need someone to oversee the basically the balls and strikes of the Senate to use the baseball term and manage the flow of what happens there.

So those are his two obvious accomplishments.

Yeah, he's really a caretaker for the Senate.

Essentially.

Yes.

And Andy Kim will be sworn in on Monday.

Right.

That's Monday.

And he will make this transition from the House to the Senate.

He's been in the House on this side of the dome and as we say in D.C. for three terms.

And I'm really curious to see what happens in this next chapter for him.

What sort of senator does he become?

Is he more of a legislative leader?

What policy positions as he stake out?

How does he work with Senator Cory Booker and how do they complement each other?

I'm curious.

Yeah, speaking of Booker, there are big changes for Senator Democratic leadership.

A promotion of sorts for Senator Cory Booker.

Tell me about that.

Right.

So he is now in the in the new Senate, rather, in the new year.

He will be the fourth ranking Democrat within their party conference.

So that's a role that comes with more responsibility for the national Party.

It will be more of a national messenger and help contribute to Democratic Party strategy nationwide, not just within New Jersey.

Ben, let's turn to Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a big Donald Trump supporter.

He is saying he turned down multiple positions with the incoming Trump administration.

What are you hearing?

Right.

I saw snags in a few weeks ago after the election.

I votes.

And he I had asked him really what sort of role are you going to fill as perhaps a go between with new Jersey and the incoming Trump administration?

And he told me in a previous interview that he is close with the president.

He talks once a week with the president, president elect, that is.

And he will sort of be this conciliatory, this messenger between the state, certainly within Republican Party and the 47th president.

He didn't tell me what positions he turned down, but of course, that would be a really complicate the house math in the new house.

And the new Congress.

Republicans at this point will have 217 seats versus Democrats 215.

There is a seat just closed in California today for a Democrat.

So they're going to have essentially zero breathing room Republicans.

That is to pass really anything.

It could get bumpy and really hotly contested.

By the way, as as Congress returns to wrap in session before the end of the year, what bills need to be passed in the next month before Trump is inaugurated.

Right there, really?

There are two bills we have to fund the government.

The Congress does.

That is, I don't have a vote as much as I might sometimes want to vote.

I have zero votes.

They have to pass a funding bill to keep the government running through December 20.

And there's another key bill that has no money in it but sets the policy priorities for the military.

That's called the NDAA in order to speak here.

Basically that authorizes the military for another year and sets all sorts of programs and targets objectives for the Pentagon.

All right, Ben, thanks for joining me.

I'm happy to talk.