On his first day as freshman representative from New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District, Josh Gottheimer, the first Democrat sent to Congress from Sussex County in decades, broke with the party and became one of four Democrats to approve a measure allowing Congress to dismantle recent Obama administration regulations.

Gottheimer was the only New Jersey Democrat to approve the Midnight Rules Relief Act, which allows Congress to pass a joint resolution (both houses, both currently under Republican control) to disapprove en masse federal regulations submitted for approval during the last 60 days of a president’s term. There would be no need to look at the regulations individually.

Gottheimer explained his vote in a statement by citing his campaigning as a fiscal “moderate” and declaring, “For too long, unnecessary and out-of-date regulations have been able to pile up on the books, burdening businesses large and small, and passing hidden costs along to families.” He did not refer to the fact that the regulations covered by the Act would be less than two months old.