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. President Barack Obama formally enacted the $85 billion spending cuts a few hours before Friday's midnight deadline. "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 …
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 …
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.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Moran, Connolly, Wolf want the FCC to reconsider a regulation concerning backup power that the commission proposed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Northern Virginia's three congressmen called on the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to take action that will prevent future outages to the region's 911 systems. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, U.S. Reps. Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and Frank Wolf asked that the commission dust off a post-Hurricane Katrina regulation that would have required all telecommunications companies to provide at least eight hours of backup power for all cell phone towers. The regulation was subsequently struck down on a technicality related to how the commission handled public comments, according to a news release. “In the event of an emergency situation, whether it be a natural disaster or man-made threat, the public needs confidence …
Thursday, July 12, 2012
As Virginia lawmakers disagree over Affordable Care Act provision, tell us: Would participating in the expansion help or hurt the state?
As Gov. Bob McDonnell considers opting out of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, Virginia lawmakers are divided on whether the program would help or hurt the state. In a letter to McDonnell on Thursday, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican who has announced a 2013 gubernatorial bid, encouraged the governor to reject the program, saying Medicaid expansion — which he says accounts for nearly 20 percent of Virginia's total general fund spending — would place "tremendous fiscal pressure on the Commonwealth and divert funds from other state programs, such as public education, higher education, public safety, natural resource protection and even other critically important health care programs." McDonnell sent a letter to Virginia …
Thursday, June 28, 2012
High Court ruled 5-4 today to uphold what some call 'Obamacare.'
Area leaders were quick to react today to the news that the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's health reform law. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R): "Today's Supreme Court ruling is extremely disappointing for Virginia and for America. The PPACA will create a costly and cumbersome system that will impair our country's ability to recover from these challenging economic times, infringes on our citizen's liberties, will harm small businesses, and will impose dramatic unfunded mandates on Virginia and all states. Simply put, this is a blow to freedom. America needs market-based solutions that give patients more choice, not less." (For the governor's full statement, visit his Web site.) On his Twitter feed, the governor wrote: "Simply …
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Four students were chosen in Congressional competition.
Four students from West Potomac High School will have their art exhibited as part of the 2012 Congressional Art Exhibition, presented by the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton. The show runs from now through April 29 and features 162 pieces of art from 117 students in Fairfax and Prince William counties. The West Potomac students are Elise Bell, Louis Michael, Megan Panagopoulos and Emilia Blaszkiewicz, who each entered photography images created in their photography class in the visual arts department. “There’s 162 works of art that are featured in the gallery, which is more than we’ve ever had,” said Andrea Cordray, a spokeswoman for the Workhouse Arts Center.” … We’re just very happy we can provide students a space to exhibit their work in…
Saturday, March 17, 2012
It's his biggest fundraiser every year.
Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) hosted his 18th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Fete on Friday at the Kena Shriners Temple in Fairfax. The event, which is the largest annual Democratic gathering in Northern Virginia, sparked the 2012 reelection campaign for Connolly. The fete began in 1995 in Connolly's Fairfax home, but the festivities soon outgrew the venue, and the Kena function hall has been home ever since to hundreds of the party faithful. The menu: Strictly Irish—corned beef, cabbage and potatoes and beer. "President Obama, Tim Kaine and I are all on the same ticket," said Connolly as he showed off new campaign bumper stickers to the audience. "This event is my largest fundraiser of the year, and it's a very important one …
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 ›