Friday, March 1, 2013
The March 1 deadline for sequestration is here.
Northern Virginia Congressmen Gerry Connolly (D-11th) and Jim Moran (D-8th) said Friday Congress is "dysfunctional," as the midnight deadline on sequestration steadily approached. "It's a dysfunctional Congress," said Moran, who spoke with Patch at a ribbon-cutting Friday in Lorton. "I think it ill-serves the people of the United States today. It's very frustrating, very disappointing. It's an institution that is not serving its functions." Connolly does not expect a last-minute compromise on $1.2 trillion in debt reduction, and the U.S. military will be forced to cut $46 billion and domestic defense spending will be cut by $85 billion this year alone. "It is the consequence of a dysfunctional Congress," he said. "It's the consequence …
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Connolly writes letter to Postmaster General, asking for legal justification; cites study that says reducing mail volume will lead to revenue loss of $5.2 billion in first year.
Stopping the mail on Saturdays? Not so fast, say two members of the Northern Virginia congressional delegation. Northern Virginia's U.S. Rep. James P. Moran (D-8th) and U.S. Rep Gerald Connolly (D-11th) expressed concern Wednesday afternoon about the U.S. Postal Service's announcement that it plans to suspend delivery of first-class mail service on Saturdays beginning in August. The USPS released a fact sheet Wednesday. “I have great concerns about eliminating Saturday mail delivery," Moran wrote in an email to Patch. "The Postal Service is grappling with major forces outside of its control: an economy increasingly relying on email and the Internet for communication, and a Congress that refuses to address the redundant pension pre-funding …
Friday, February 8, 2013
What will Congress do?
The threat of sequestration - $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts to defense and civilian programs over the next decade - looms large for Northern Virginia. U.S. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) had grim news Tuesday evening for constituents in his telephone town hall meeting, and said that the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives refuses to come to the table to find a solution before the cuts kick in on March 1. "The Republican leadership in the House has shown almost no willingness to work with us (Democrats) to avert it," said Connolly. "Until recently, the House Majority solution has been to shift all of the cuts from defense to the domestic investment side of the ledger, cutting education, transportation and …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Officials from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties met in Arlington to discuss six potential sites Thursday.
Local, state and congressional leaders met Thursday in Arlington to discuss six potential sites for a new FBI headquarters and to present a unified front in their commitment to landing the new federal complex somewhere in Northern Virginia. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who called the meeting, said leaders from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties had a "singular focus" in bringing the FBI headquarters to the Old Dominion. One of the six locations being considered is the Fairfax County's preferred location, a federal warehouse near the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station. Elected officials were also briefed on five other potential sites — in Herndon, at Dulles Airport, at Fort Belvoir, in Dumfries, at Quantico and at. "…
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Congressman says measure puts Northern Virginia 'on the chopping block.'
The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night passed HR 8, the Tax Relief Extension Act, a permanent extension of many Bush-era tax cuts by a vote of 257 to 167. The late-night vote was taken at 10:57 p.m. The legislation keeps the Bush era tax cuts for individuals making less than $400,000 and couples making less that $450,000. It also makes permanent the fixes for the Alternative Minimum Tax and delays government spending cuts for two months. Here's the breakdown of Northern Virginia's votes Tuesday on the so-called "fiscal cliff" legislation, which the Senate passed early Tuesday morning: The legislation came to a vote in the House Tuesday night after it was passed by the Senate in the early hours Tuesday morning. Webb and Warner …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Lawmakers ask GSA to consider the area, noting that many FBI employees already live in Northern Virginia.
Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th) along with several other lawmakers sent a letter to the administrator of the General Services Administration urging him to consider Northern Virginia as a possible home for a new FBI headquarters location. Moran, whose district includes Alexandria, was joined by Reps. Frank Wolf, Gerry Connolly and Rob Wittman as well as Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner in signing the letter. Their letter follows GSA’s request for information seeking input on a new location for a consolidated FBI headquarters in the Washington, DC region. In their letter to GSA Acting Administrator Daniel Tangherlini, the lawmakers asked GSA to undertake a qualitative “source selection” procurement, rather than cost-only process, noting that Northern …
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Republican 11th District candidate Chris Perkins spoke to residents Tuesday about tax reform and other issues.
Federal budget sequestration will cripple Northern Virginia's economy, and Chris Perkins, the Republican 11th District Congressional candidate, wants to stop it. Perkins, who spoke to about 50 members of the Greenspring Retirement Community Republican Club on Tuesday, said that his Democratic opponent Rep. Gerry Connolly is not considering the interests of his constituents regarding the impending cuts to federal defense contracts. "The 11th Congressional District will be the second hardest hit district in the country because of this," said Perkins. "I understand that a Congressman may find himself in a situation when the greater good for America might be in conflict with the greater good of his constituents, but in this case, it's going …
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Democrats, Republicans and hundreds of private sector government contractors gathered at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott on Monday afternoon to protest sequestration, which would cut $500 billion of federal defense spending.
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly on Monday called on Congress to cancel its upcoming five-week recess in order to solve looming $500 billion defense cuts that could cost Northern Virginia thousands of jobs. That sentiment was echoed by Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce President Jim Corcoran, who said the federal government shouldn't balance its budget on the backs of the defense industry. And Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who arrived late to the "Stop Sequestration" rally thanks to a flight delay, said afterward he supported Connolly's idea. "Sequestration" is the name given to $1 trillion federal budget cuts that will happen in January if Congress doesn't reach a compromise. Half of that would affect the defense industry, which some estimates…
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Hayfield Secondary School hosted 700 new Americans.
Congressman Gerald Connolly (D-11th) led 700 new Americans from 98 countries in the Pledge of Allegiance Tuesday morning at Hayfield Secondary School. The naturalization ceremony was sponsored by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS).
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Seven hundred new Americans will be honored at Hayfield Secondary on Tuesday.
At 11 a.m. today, Rep. Gerry Connolly will speak to 700 new American citizens at a naturalization ceremony at Hayfield Secondary School hosted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS). Rep. Connolly will recite the Pledge of Allegiance with the new Americans and then speak about the importance of being an American. As a frequent participant of naturalization ceremonies, he thinks every American should attend a ceremony. “It is a wonderful ceremony that reinforces one’s patriotism,” said Connolly in a news release about the ceremony.
John Farrell
9:08 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
Moran got it exactly right. Republicans won again and our President demonstrated a spine more like his hero's predeccesor in the White house than Honest Abe. more ›