Today, Representatives Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) led 95 members of Congress in urging Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to oppose any further cuts to federal employee pay and benefits to offset increased discretionary spending. “Enough is enough. The federal workforce should be thanked for their honorable service, not treated like a piggy bank,” said Connolly, Raskin and...
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Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) led 15 members of Congress in sending a letter to Secretary Tillerson concerning his recent comments regarding a new mission statement for the State Department. The letter was signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel, and Representatives Bera, Bass, Boyle, Castro, Cicilline, Deutch, Frankel, Keating, Kelly, Lieu, Meeks, Sires, Titus and Torres. “We write to express our profound concern regarding the State Department’s new missi...
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Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) released the following statement on the GOP tax plan: “The tax plan before us today would be a disaster for Northern Virginia. The GOP plan caps the state and local income deduction. It caps the mortgage interest deduction. And it phases out the medical cost deduction. Our district, where 50 percent of tax filers claim a SALT deduction, is one of the top congressional districts in the nation affected by this change, and 75 percent of our district’s SALT claimant...
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Today, Representatives Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and John Katko (R-NY) introduced the Education Assistance to Realign New Eligibilities for Dependents (EARNED) Act, bipartisan legislation that would add an additional category of servicemembers eligible to transfer entitlement to post-9/11 educational assistance. Currently, the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 allows certain servicemembers to transfer all or some of their unused education benefits to their spouse or dependent chi...
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Today, Virginia Congressmen Gerry Connolly, Bobby Scott, Don Beyer and A. Donald McEachin sent a letter to congressional leadership urging them to immediately bring up bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The CHIP program, which historically has been a bipartisan effort, provides insurance to more than 66,000 children and 1,100 pregnant women in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Earlier this week, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffee began to notify fam...
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Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-11) joined Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, Congressman Tom Garrett (VA-5), and other bipartisan members of the Virginia delegation in sending a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Eric Hargan asking him to extend the open enrollment period for consumers buying health insurance through the Affordable Care Act individual market in light of premium increases in Charlottesville and across Virginia. Earlier this year, the Trump Administ...
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Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement on President Trump’s Jerusalem announcement today: “When President Jimmy Carter sat down at the negotiating table with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David in 1978, he reiterated that Jerusalem’s final status would not be decided unilaterally. Every successive U.S. administration since then has upheld that approach. With Pre...
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Today, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA) led a bipartisan group of 12 Members of Congress in sending a letter to President Trump urging him to match the 2018 pay increase for civilian federal employees to the raise given to service men and women in the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. Currently, members of the military are set to receive a 2.4 percent pay increase, compared to the 1.9 percent increase for civilian federal workers detailed in President Trump’s August, 2017...
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Claudia Grisales As the threat of a federal government shutdown rises, Gold Star families could be among those who pay the price. During a shutdown, a death benefit program for servicemembers that includes an immediate $100,000 payment to each military family could come to a halt. Other payments also could stop in a shutdown: funds that cover funeral, burial and related travel expenses as well as a temporary housing allowance in cases involving active-duty servicemembers. It happened four years...
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Virginia’s two Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, along with U.S. Reps. Don Beyer and Gerry Connolly and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) , today announced that after years of effort by the Senators and House members, the National Park Service (NPS) has approved $227 million to initiate a long-awaited contract to fully repair and rehabilitate Arlington Memorial Bridge. The 85-year-old bridge, owned and maintained by NPS, is a vital daily route connecting Arlington, Virginia and the District of C...
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