Equality

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement on President Trump's misguided decision to slash the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the United States. "The Trump administration is once again slamming the door on refugees. A sad retreat on America’s values. This is not who we are as a country. Next week I will introduce legislation to reverse this. Against a record high global refu... Read more

Mitch Miller Political winds are again swirling around FEMA as the organization races to get ready for Hurricane Florence and what’s expected to be a major recovery effort after it makes landfall. FEMA Administrator Brock Long and the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday rejected a Democratic senator’s claim that nearly $10 million was diverted from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) charged that the Trump ad... Read more

By Rep. Gerry Connolly President Trump and Republicans in Congress rammed their tax scheme through Congress without a single hearing or considering any Democratic amendments. Unlike many members of Congress, I met with community stakeholders and held a public roundtable to hear firsthand how the bill would affect our region. Overwhelmingly, I was told the bill would hit most Northern Virginian taxpayers hard in their pocketbooks. On top of that, it added $1.9 trillion to the deficit, completely... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH), co-chair of the House Freedom of the Press Caucus, sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the Trump administration to call on the Chinese government to cease its repressive policies and human rights violations of Uyghurs and ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjian Uyghur Autonomous Region, including actions taken against family members of ... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), Vice Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released a new congressional report that found the Republican tax law will disproportionately hurt Northern Virginia homeowners, especially those with home equity loans. The report, prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, details how the new law’s changes to the mortgage interest deduction, home equity loan deduction and state ... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) released the following statement regarding the inclusion of his bipartisan bill, the Families of Fallen Servicemembers First Act, in the 2019 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. The Families of Fallen Servicemembers First Act, originally introduced by Connolly and Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL), ensures the immediate payment of military death benefits to survivors of fallen servicemembers during federal government shutdowns or any other circumstance when fe... Read more

Today, Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings and all Democrats on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar requesting documents on the proposed gag rule for the Title X National Family Planning Program, which would impede women’s access to critical information about their healthcare. “We are writing to request documents relating to the harmful gag rule you recently proposed for the Title X National Family Planning P... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) released the following statement on the Trump administration's shameful decision to separate children from their parents at the border: "We have all been moved by the cruelty of President Trump's decision to forcibly separate families at the border. I condemn this inhumane and morally repugnant policy. This is not who we are as Americans. It must end now. That is why I am cosponsoring legislation to end this barbaric policy. "Despite the administration’s ... Read more

Rebecca Kheel A Democratic lawmaker said Thursday that he plans to introduce an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would block the Trump administration from using military bases to house children immigrating illegally who have been forcibly separated from their parents. "It's heartless and shameful that the Trump administration is ripping families apart and even considering keeping kids who are separated from their parents at the border on U.S. military bases," Rep. Gerry Connolly... Read more

Following recent press reports that the Trump administration is considering housing children who are separated from their families at the border on U.S. military bases, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) announced he would offer an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that prohibits this cruel policy. “It’s heartless and shameful that the Trump administration is ripping families apart and even considering keeping kids who are separated from their parents at the border on U.S. milit... Read more