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Frank Pallone, Jr. is serving his 18th full term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pallone represents New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District, which covers most of Middlesex County, as well as the Bayshore and oceanfront areas of Monmouth County.

Throughout his career, Pallone has fought to make health care more affordable and accessible, protect and strengthen Medicare and Medicaid, and make the country’s food system safer. Pallone has also fought to protect New Jersey’s environment, including protecting our coast from dangerous offshore drilling, holding corporate polluters accountable for Superfund clean ups, and bolstering coastal resiliency. He is also a champion of the state’s commercial and recreational fishing industries.

Pallone is the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee – the oldest continuous standing committee in the House that has one of the broadest jurisdictions of any congressional committee. The Committee’s jurisdiction includes, but is not limited to, issues pertaining to health care, energy, environment, commerce, food and drug safety, consumer protection, and communications and technology.

In 2010, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Pallone played a key role in authoring and passing the Affordable Care Act.

During the 117th Congress (2021-2022), as Chairman of the full Committee, Pallone was a leader in the fight to pass the Inflation Reduction Act—the most significant climate law in our nation’s history. The law will also lower prescription drug and health care costs for millions of Americans, while finally empowering Medicare to negotiate the cost of lifesaving prescription drugs for seniors, which Pallone has championed for years.

Pallone was also instrumental in the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that has delivered federal funding to New Jersey to bolster the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure, invest in safe drinking water, and deploy affordable broadband. It also tackles dangerous PFAS chemicals and funds Superfund and brownfield cleanups. In addition, he also helped usher into law the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen our economy and boost our domestic manufacturing industry.

In a federal spending bill for fiscal year 2023, Pallone fought for the inclusion of legislation that provides the Food and Drug Administration with the tools and resources it needs to oversee the cosmetics industry, which he first proposed over a decade ago. He also successfully pushed for provisions to provide continuous coverage for children and new mothers through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Pallone also continues to advocate for New Jersey, securing community projects in Middlesex and Monmouth County that will help rebuild infrastructure, promote public health, and bolster educational funding. He has also led efforts to successfully ban offshore drilling and ocean dumping to protect New Jersey’s coastline. He works constantly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete multiple beach replacement projects at the Jersey Shore.

Pallone began his political career in Long Branch, where he was born and still resides. He was elected to the Long Branch City Council in 1982. In 1983, he was elected to the state Senate, representing the Monmouth County coastline. He was re-elected in 1987.

On November 8, 1988, Pallone was elected to the House of Representatives from New Jersey’s former Third District, which included parts of Monmouth and Ocean counties. After a new Congressional district map was adopted in 1992, Pallone was elected to represent the Sixth District that included large portions of Middlesex and Monmouth Counties in November of the same year.

Pallone’s Central Jersey district is an ethnically diverse area that includes New Brunswick, Asbury Park, and Perth Amboy. It includes Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and Monmouth University.