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Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 6157, the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act of 2019, which included the authorization of for the Secretary of Defense, in the event of a government shutdown, to make military death gratuity payments to families of fallen service members. This provision was based on ... Read more

Today, during a business meeting of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Republicans blocked consideration of 11 more Democratic requests to allow Committee Members to offer, debate, and vote on subpoenas—bringing the total number of subpoena motions denied by Oversight Committee Republicans during Donald Trump’s Presidency to 64. “For the last two years, I have implored House Republicans to help us gather the facts about the crisis of corruption in the Trump Administration,” Cummin... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) joined 65 Democratic Members of Congress to send the following statement to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Once again, we are urgently requesting that Senate leadership postpone any proceedings on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court until a thorough FBI investigation into the multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct has been completed. We have heard credible allegations from three women – Dr. Christine Blasey For... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was joined by 60 members in introducing the Lady Liberty Act, legislation to reverse the Trump administration’s recent actions to severely limit refugee resettlement in the United States. “The Trump administration is once again slamming the door on refugees,” Connolly said. “Against a record high global refugee crisis, the Trump administration’s record-low refugee admissions c... Read more

Today, Rep. Elijah. E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, sent a letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy requesting that he issue a subpoena to compel Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to testify at a hearing before the Committee regarding his misleading testimony about the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. “Secretary Ross gave sworn te... Read more

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) sent letters to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy and SSA Acting Commissioner Nancy Berryhill requesting an update on the status of the fourth hearing room at the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Washington Hearing Office. SSA and GSA had been planning to construct the additional hearing room, which would expand SSA’s capacit... Read more

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

Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement on reports that President Trump diverted $10 million in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: “It’s shameful but not surprising that the President would rob FEMA to pay for his callous policy of ripping families apart. He has learned absolutely nothing from his failure in Puerto Rico and is n... 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