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Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), a long-serving member of the House, died Wednesday morning, according to a statement posted on his social media account.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that Bill Pascrell Jr., our beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away this morning,” the statement posted on X said.

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“As our United States Representative, Bill fought to his last breath to return to the job he cherished and to the people he loved. Bill lived his entire life in Paterson and had an unwavering love for the city he grew up in and served. He is now at peace after a lifetime devoted to our great nation America.”

Pascrell had been hospitalized in July to be treated for a respiratory infection.

He was a 14-term lawmaker and a fixture in his hometown of Paterson for more than four decades. Pascrell was the city’s mayor from 1990 to 1996, when he ran for Congress. He was set to run for a 15th term in the fall.

via Associated Press

Pascrell was a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the nation’s tax laws, and he was a leading Democratic proponent of obtaining former president Donald Trump’s tax returns. He went so far as to criticize his own party’s leadership for not demanding the returns, under a tax disclosure law granting Congress access to private tax information, as soon as they controlled the House in 2019.

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“There’s no reason to delay anymore,” Pascrell told HuffPost in February of that year. “In fact, there’s every reason to act now.”

Ways and Means Committee chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) requested the returns the following April, initiating a legal battle that Democrats eventually won. In December 2022, they released the returns, revealing shortcomings of a presidential audit program.

“Trump paid a pittance in taxes for years. He overinflated losses to shirk his duty as an American citizen,” Pascrell said at the time. “Trump’s government failed to conduct a mandatory review of his tax records. They broke the law.”

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Neal praised Pascrell in a statement on Wednesday.

“Billy was the type of fighter they don’t make anymore. For 16 years, he has been the heart of the Ways and Means Democrats, bringing vigor and tenacity to all our work,” Neal said. “He never shied away from saying what needed to be said and could just as quickly turn around to share a laugh with anyone, even those who caught his most spirited critiques.”

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