Olivia Beavers Rep. Gerry Connolly is calling for the head of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to denounce the politicized speech President Trump gave at the National Scout Jamboree, remarks the Virginia Democrat said "directly contradicted the spirit of Scouting and the tenets of Boy Scout Law.” “I hope you and other national leaders of the Boy Scouts of America will respond to the President’s inappropriate remarks in a way that teaches Scouts the valuable lesson that all of us are created equa...
Read more
Today, the House of Representatives adopted Congressman Gerry Connolly's (D-VA) amendment to the Minibus funding bill that would waive the fee for homeless veterans applying for a veteran identification card. The Veterans Identification Card Act of 2015 directs the Veterans Administration (VA) to produce universal identification cards. Connolly's amendment prohibits the VA from charging a homeless veteran a fee for this service. "We have a responsibility to take care of our veterans, especially ...
Read more
Today, the House passed unanimously the SECRET Act, legislation introduced by Representatives Steve Knight (R-CA) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA), which will help reduce the current security background check backlog. The legislation requires a quarterly report on the size of the security clearance investigation backlog and the average length of time it takes to carry out security clearance investigations. The information gathered on the average time for investigations to be completed will be separated...
Read more
On July 24, 2017, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) introduced the Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2017 to develop evidence-based policies to cut child poverty by half in 10 years. Far more children in the U.S. grow up and remain trapped in poverty compared to other industrialized countries. In America, approximately 20 percent of our children – or 14.7 million – live below the...
Read more
Members of Congress from Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia today excoriated a newly-filed amendment to the “Minibus” appropriations bills. The amendment would use the Holman Rule to target federal employees in the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which delivers projections on proposed legislation. In a joint statement, Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA), Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Anthon...
Read more
Jessie Bur Congress will likely be putting bipartisan pressure on the White House to fill critical IT positions in Federal agencies and prioritize modernization efforts, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., predicted at the ServiceNow Town Hall on July 24. “We have worked so hard to try to elevate these issues in priority lists for senior management,” said Connolly. “If you have a White House that’s not even barely talking about this subject, it automatically starts to fall down again in the list of pri...
Read more
Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee advanced the Securely Expediting Clearances through Reporting Transparency (SECRET) Act. The legislation, introduced by Congressman Steve Knight (R-CA) and Congressman Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), requires a quarterly report on the size of the security clearance investigation backlog and the average length of time it takes to carry out security clearance investigations. The information gathered on the average time for investigations to...
Read more
Chase Gunter The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 19 passed a bipartisan bill aimed at expediting the security clearance approval process. The Securely Expediting Clearance through Reporting Transparency (SECRET) Act, introduced by Reps. Steve Knight (R-Calif.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), would require the National Background Investigations Bureau to submit a quarterly report on the size of the security clearance backlog. The report also would include the average time to ...
Read more
Max Greenwood Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) accused President Trump on Thursday of threatening special counsel Robert Mueller by saying that the former FBI director would cross a line if his investigation into Russian election meddling delves into the Trump family's finances. "He was basically saying, 'I'll fire you if you go beyond this limit,' and he has no legal right to set that limit," Connolly told CNN's Jake Tapper. "Yes, it's within his constitutional purview to fire the special counsel, ...
Read more
Today, Representatives Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), Peter King (R-NY), and Jim Langevin (D-RI) introduced the First Responder Fair RETIRE Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure federal firefighters, law enforcement officials, Border Patrol officers, and other federal first responders qualify for full retirement benefits if they are injured on the job. Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Given the hazardous nature the job re...
Read more
