Meanwhile, fallout continues from the Justice Department's scathing report detailing how two state-run veterans homes failed its residents during the pandemic, where more than 200 people died as the virus was allowed to tear through the homes virtually unchecked.

Republicans are blaming the Murphy administration for the lack of oversight and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are proposing legislative fixes to problems pointed out in the report, including dismantling the state department that currently oversees the nursing homes.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz reports.

In the waning days of an election year summer that has not been kind to Democrats.

More bad news in a report last week from the Department of Justice blasting conditions at state run veterans homes in Menlo Park and Paramus.

Republicans have pounced and are calling for the legislature to reconvene to deal with the issue.

Kristin Corrado is the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

To me this is a crisis situation that needs to be addressed.

I don't know that we can wait the full time for them to file their response or say what they're going to do.

And I think along those lines, as well as the fact that clearly there were people interfering with the Department of Justice doing their job and doing their investigation, following them around, trying to control the questioning, calling people back in and asking what they were asked.

And that's not the way they should have been handled at all by the state.

But as has been the case with other contentious issues in this political season.

Offshore wind schools, etc..

Some Democrats are joining their GOP counterparts in calling for more answers, including military and Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Joe Cryan, who was not mincing words today.

It's offensive.

It's appalling.

We need to do, frankly, more than we've done on a host of options that I think are important to follow through.

The committee will be back at work and in November, I'm sure, to address this issue.

That's not soon enough says Republican Assembly member Aura Dunn.

The Republicans were calling for investigative hearings all throughout the pandemic.

And they never came to be so And I venture to say we should even meet for an emergency purpose if we if we are here right now in agreement, let's act on it.

One of my my favorite expressions is show me.

Don't tell me.

Governor Murphy, in whose lap the reaction to this DOJ report has landed.

Gets some credit from his party for proposing some reforms over the past two years.

But the DOJ says things have not improved and have in some cases gotten worse.

Murphy said this week that there have been improvements, but that there's still a ways to go.

It is something that I think that the Democrats have not fully come to terms with, and the Republicans rightfully have taken them to task for it and continue to take them steps where it's just the latest example of of Republicans being on the offense in the cycle.

Cryan says there is widespread agreement on what actions can be taken.

Reality of it is David is out.

It's well past time for a change in DMAVA, the Military and Veterans Affairs.

I think there needs to be changes at the top.

I think there needs to be wholesale changes.

I think the governor's office needs to take a strong look at what's that the folks that are leading it and make a decision.

I also think the legislature needs to propose and we need to pass I absolutely separate division of veterans services that takes nursing homes out of DMAVA.

What's not widely agreed upon is the time frame.

No official word on whether the legislature will convene before November's elections, but nobody is betting that it'll happen.

As Republicans continue to claim the high ground from the minority party position, as they've been doing repeatedly all summer, long.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News