Equality

Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) released the following statement calling for the release of detainees at the Farmville Detention Center. According to the Washington Post, “As of Sunday, 61 people in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had tested positive for the novel coronavirus,” and Farmville has failed to adequately put into place social distancing procedures to protect detainees. “We are in a public health crisis and these conditions are abhorrent. We all share a commo... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) joined Congresswoman Angie Craig (D-MN) and 85 other bipartisan Members of Congress in introducing the All Dependent Children Count Act which would expand the definition of a dependent for the Recovery Rebates for Individual sections of the CARES Act to include: children younger than 19, students 24 and younger, and no age limit for dependents who are disabled. The All Dependent Children Count Act, would update the CARES Act to be reflective and supportiv... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, led 38 Members of the House in sending a letter to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, urging him to exclude COVID-19-related assistance from the public charge determination for immigrants seeking admission or an adjustment of status. On February 24, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) implemented the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds final rule, which requires... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Chairman of the House Government Operations subcommittee, led 62 members of the House in sending a letter to President Trump urging him to issue an Executive Order mandating telework for all eligible federal employees and contractors. “We write to urge you to issue an Executive Order mandating telework for all eligible federal employees and contractors,” the members wrote. “With 2.1 million federal employees across the globe, 300,000 federal employees in... Read more

Today, Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Chairman Jamie Raskin, Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, and Committee Member Rep. Katie Porter sent a letter demanding that the Republican National Committee (RNC) immediately stop sending communications by mail or online that resemble official Census documents and could mislead Americans and harm the accuracy of the Census. “We are writing to request that... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly, Chairman of the Government Operations subcommittee, released the following statement in advance of today’s House Oversight hearing “Reaching Hard-to-Count Communities in the 2020 Census:” Thank you, Chairwoman Maloney, for calling this important hearing. Census Day is less than three months away, and I am concerned that the Census Bureau is not prepared to conduct a complete and accurate count of our nation’s population, particularly among hard-to-count communi... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) joined Reps. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), J. Luis Correa (D-CA), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), and more than 50 House Members in calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) to open an investigation into recent reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials are issuing fake court notices and barring refugees from entering the United States after being granted asylum. In a letter to the DHS OIG, the congressio... Read more

Greg Iacurci More than 2 million Americans could soon have access to mandatory paid parental leave. Senior congressional members have reached a bipartisan deal that would provide federal workers with 12 weeks of guaranteed paid time off for parents following the birth, adoption or fostering of a child. The proposed policy, which would apply to the 2.1 million civilian workers employed by the federal government, is part of a broader $738 billion legislative package on defense spending for the go... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) joined Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and more than 100 House Democrats in introducing the Protect SNAP Act, legislation to prevent the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing stricter work requirements under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill follows USDA’s final rule restricting hundreds of thousands of Americans’ acce... Read more

Today, the House of Representatives adopted the conference report for the FY20 National Defense Authorization Act, which included amendments offered by Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) regarding the proposed elimination of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the government-wide backlog of security clearance adjudications, and the loopholes that still allow servicemembers who have been convicted in domestic violence cases to purchase firearms. The report also included a provision, backed b... Read more