Economy

Earlier this week, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Congressman Paul Mitchell (R-MI), Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced H.R. 2847, the No Passport Fees for Heroes’ Families Act, which waives passport fees for family members obtaining a passport to visit an injured servicemember overseas. It mirrors a provision in existing law that waives passport fees for family… Read more »

Today, Virginia Reps. Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, and Jennifer Wexton sent a letter urging the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to issue guidance to federal agencies expanding telework options during the upcoming Metro shutdown. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) Platform Improvement Project will close six Yellow and Blue Line stations in Northern Virginia… Read more »

Andrea Worker Thousands of furloughed government employees suffered during the shutdown. Many were forced to seek public and and/or private assistance to meet basic needs and financial obligations. But during their ordeals, those government employees knew that when they returned to work they would eventually receive back… Read more »

Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Federal Agency Customer Experience (FACE) Act to improve the efficiency and favorability of government services. “Improving customer service at federal agencies is not a partisan issue. Federal employees are dedicated civil servants who want to deliver services to taxpayers as best they can,” said Connolly.… Read more »

Jessie Bur The Merit Systems Protection Board, which hears appeals on federal employee personnel actions, has gone without a quorum since January 2017 and without a single member since March 1, 2019. But Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., are seeking to make sure that a vacant board doesn’t prevent… Read more »

Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, and Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, introduced the Interim Stay Authority to Protect Whistleblowers Act. In the event there are no members on the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) as is currently the case, this legislation would… Read more »

Today, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) joined Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Anthony Brown (D-MD) today in leading a letter to House appropriators requesting language in the fiscal year 2020 transportation appropriations bill that would make grants to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) contingent upon Metro’s certification that it will not award any contract or… Read more »

Mark Rockwell Even though the six-week partial government shutdown ended in February, its impact is still being felt, contractors told a congressional panel on May 6. Several federal contractors at a field hearing convened by the House Oversight and Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Government Operations testified their… Read more »

Nick Iannelli About three months after the longest government shutdown in history came to an end, leaders of companies and unions representing federal contract workers are speaking out, asking for legislative changes to ensure that their employees are guaranteed back pay if another shutdown occurs. “We should harness the pain… Read more »

Today, all members of the National Capital House Congressional Delegation, led by Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), reintroduced the Metro Accountability and Investment Act. The legislation reauthorizes an existing federal capital funding source for WMATA for ten years and provides new federal capital and operating funds contingent on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority… Read more »