Seniors

Joe Davidson Key members of Congress want the Trump administration to address charges of a “secret” Veterans Affairs wait list that has a higher number of patients seeking medical care than information publicly available. Allegations about significantly different data regarding veterans awaiting treatment on internal and public… Read more »

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 »

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, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, led House Democrats in sending a letter urging the House Committee on Appropriations to deny funds for the implementation of President Trump’s government reorganization plan and the proposed merger of Office of… Read more »

Eric Yoder Federal employees would pay more toward their retirement benefits from salaries that generally would be frozen, under the Trump administration’s budget proposal released Monday. The budget plan repeats numerous ideas from President Trump’s prior two budget proposals that failed to gain enactment even with Congress… Read more »

Today, Representatives Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA) and James Langevin (D-RI) reintroduced the FAST Voting Act. The legislation aims to enhance voting system security, improve voter participation, and encourage automatic voter registration. Modeled after the Department of Education’s successful Race to the Top program, the FAST Voting Act would allow states to apply for funding to… Read more »

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX), and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) today acted to help save lives impacted by sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) by reintroducing H.R. 1227, the Cardiac Arrest Survival Act. This bill will help increase the survival rate from SCA through higher use of automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). Deployment of AEDs is limited due to conflicting state… Read more »

Yesterday, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management after reports of delayed back pay and other payroll inconsistencies experienced by furloughed… Read more »

Today Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, a bill that would provide federal employees with a 3.6 percent pay increase in 2020. Connolly and Schatz introduced similar legislation last Congress. “Federal employees are patriots, not pawns. Yet for 35 days the federal workforce was held hostage… Read more »