Congressman Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly is serving his seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia’s 11th District, which includes Fairfax County, Prince William County, and the City of Fairfax in Northern Virginia.
Prior to his election to Congress, he served 14 years on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, including five years as Chairman. Throughout his career, protecting and growing Northern Virginia’s economy has been his top priority. In Congress, he has played a key role in securing federal dollars for transportation improvements in Northern Virginia, including completion of the Fairfax County Parkway, widening the Prince William County Parkway, providing ongoing support for Rail to Dulles, and securing the annual federal commitment of $150 million for the regional Metro system.
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Congressman Connolly believes health care should be a right for all Americans. He is committed to expanding access and improving the quality of care for all his constituents. In order to advance this critical priority, Congressman Connolly will fight to defend the Federal Employee Health Benefits program (FEHBP), protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and guard against misguided efforts to weaken, privatize, or overhaul our nation's most successful health care programs in history, Medicare and Medicaid. |
As a co-Chairman of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus (SEEC), Congressman Connolly plays a leadership role in efforts to protect America's environment and public health and push for investment in clean and renewable energy. He has led the call for the long-term extension and expansion of clean energy tax credits, a carbon price or a clean energy performance program, and electrification investments.
In Congress, he helped pass the largest investment in clean energy in American history and supported legislation to reduce global carbon emissions. He supports a Green New Deal and legislation investing in sustainable infrastructure.
Congressman Connolly fought President Trump's all-out assault on the environment and science. He worked with colleagues from around the region to fight proposals to eliminate Chesapeake Bay Restoration funding and supports comprehensive legislation to restore the Bay. He has also opposed efforts to slash funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. He has led efforts to oppose drilling off the coast of Virginia or in the Chesapeake Bay and fought to protect the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and to require oil companies to pay the full cost of oil spill cleanups. He will continue to oppose efforts to repeal or weaken the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Antiquities Act, the Clean Power Plan, the Paris Climate Agreement, and other important environmental legislation.
Congressman Connolly believes we must confront and dismantle the environmental racism that has forced communities of color to bear the brunt of air and water pollution and the resulting devastating health consequences. Now, these communities are on the front lines of the climate crisis as rising temperatures intensify soot and smog pollution and allergy seasons. He supports legislation that requires Federal agencies to create a working group on environmental justice compliance and enforcement; requires Federal agencies to consider cumulative health impacts under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act when making permitting decisions and helps ensure that new projects do not harm health; and invests in research that will reduce health disparities and improve public health. He fought the Trump administration's decision to maintain inadequate standards regulating soot pollution, which will needlessly subject communities of color to toxic pollution. He will continue fighting to achieve clean air and water for all.
He has also been a leader in expanding federal conservation efforts, including supporting the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and fully funding our National Park System. His legislation to designate the September 11th National Memorial trail route--a 1,300-mile system of trails and roadways that connects all three sites attacked on September 11, 2001-- was signed into law shortly after the 20th anniversary of September 11th, 2001. It serves as a natural embodiment of our pledge to never forget the heroes and victims of that day. In addition, Congressman Connolly has continued his efforts to establish powerful voluntary tax incentives to complete America's 11 National Scenic Trails.
Locally, he has worked with community stakeholders to complete missing segments of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and open Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge to the public. These efforts complement his advocacy as a local government official, where he led the effort to build the 41-mile-long Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail and helped protect 10% of Fairfax County as county-owned parkland. He helped design and implement the county's first comprehensive environmental plan which subsequently won a national award. Congressman Connolly was recently recognized as the "Protector of Potomac" by the Riverkeeper Network for his efforts on strengthening federal coal ash regulations.
Congressman Connolly believes Congress must be a partner in solving our immigration challenge. He has fought for comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a path to citizenship, keep families together, and secure our borders. Congressman Connolly supports a pragmatic and results-oriented approach to border security that protects the rights and dignity of immigrants and refugees.
He is a strong supporter of the DREAM Act and programs like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), and Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Northern Virginia is home to many talented DREAMers and TPS holders and Congressman Connolly has seen firsthand how much they contribute to the success of our community. Immigrants enrichen our community, strengthen our economy, and provide the United States with an entire generation of diverse, future leaders.
As the former Executive Director of the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Congressman Connolly firmly believes that America’s doors must remain open to those fleeing injury, violence, or persecution. He led the fight in Northern Virginia against efforts to bar refugees and has introduced legislation to establish a minimum goal for the number of refugees resettled in our country.
As a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, Congressman Connolly is a passionate and effective advocate for active and retired federal employees. In recent Congresses, federal employees have been demonized, demoralized, and politicized. Congressman Connolly is a vocal opponent of policies that seek to curtail federal employee pay, leave, and retirement benefits. A leading proponent of telework, he believes that the federal government should be investing in its most valuable resource - its talented workforce – in order to modernize the federal government.
Congressman Connolly believes the federal workforce is one of the nation’s greatest asset. During an unprecedented global pandemic, the federal workforce ramped up its efforts to ensure that the public continued to have access to critical, life-saving services. The federal government must be prepared to attract and retain an effective workforce. That is why Congressman Connolly has introduced legislation to improve the Office of Personnel Management, the center of federal human capital, so that it can efficiently serve both current and retired federal employees. Congressman Connolly has also led efforts to ensure the federal government is well positioned to recruit the next generation of federal employees, which includes helping agencies better leverage their internship programs.
Each year, Congressman Connolly introduces the FAIR Act, which provides a pay raise to federal employees. He has also led bipartisan letters urging Appropriators to increase pay for federal civilian employees commensurate with pay increases provided for members of the military. In the last several years, federal workers have endured pay freezes, wage-reducing furloughs, sequester cuts, government shutdowns, payroll tax deferrals, and incurred more than $182 billion in pay and benefit cuts. Furthermore, federal wages have continuously lagged far behind the private sector, with federal employees making roughly 20% less than their private-sector counterparts. Congressman Connolly believes that our nation’s dedicated civil servants deserve respect and fair compensation.
Finally, Congressman Connolly hosts an annual forum for federal employees to help them understand their benefits and make changes to their health plans during the federal government’s Open Season. He welcomes federal employees to contact his district office if they are experiencing problems with the administration of their benefits at 703-256-3071.
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As a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, Congressman Connolly firmly believes that vigorous oversight of the Executive Branch is among the most serious responsibilities mandated to Congress by the Constitution. |
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Congressman Connolly understands that reducing traffic congestion is critical to our quality of life in Northern Virginia. As a former county government executive, Congressman Connolly led major infrastructure investments, including the extension of Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles Airport – a $5.6 billion rail project, and pursued innovative Public Private Partnerships to add capacity to our regional transportation network. In Congress, he is fighting to fund new transportation projects and promote the use of telework in the federal government. |
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Congressman Connolly is proud to represent more than 80,000 veterans and their families in Northern Virginia. He has fought to make sure our veterans have quality health care, better pay, and access to services throughout their lives and to ensure quality and consistent services during the COVID-19 pandemic. In recognition of his efforts, Our Military Kids, an organization dedicated to helping military children, awarded him the "Friend of Military Kids" award for his work on behalf of military families. In addition, Congressman Connolly has consistently received a perfect score from the Military Officers Association of America.
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Congressman Connolly is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and previously spent 10 years as a staff member on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He believes that while a strong military is a vital tool in our security toolbox, we cannot ignore the increasingly important role diplomacy and development play in meeting our most pressing security challenges and in demonstrating American leadership in global affairs.
Our diplomacy and development efforts are complementary to U.S. military operations. As has been the lesson in Iraq, Afghanistan, and countless other interventions, a permanent U.S. military footprint is rarely a tenable proposal for the American public. Instead, investments in democracy and governance, rule of law, and economic development are the key to turning stagnant societies mired in corruption and violence into more stable, resilient, and prosperous countries. When we fail to make those investments, we are often left conducting triage when the bills come due for our neglected international funding priorities.
In November 2020, he was elected President of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA), an interparliamentary organization for the members of parliament from across the Alliance to discuss and inform decisions on Alliance security. During his term, President Connolly has sought to help reestablish U.S. leadership within NATO, strengthen the founding democratic values of the Alliance, and enhance NATO PA’s contributions to Alliance strategic planning. He has spearheaded an initiative to establish a Center for Democratic Resilience within the NATO Headquarters, to serve as a resource of best practices, networking and cross-fertilization for NATO members, partners and aspirant countries.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has underscored not only the need for a robust federal response to such a crisis, but also the importance of investing in global health security around the world. As diseases do not stop at borders, saving lives from the next global pandemic starts with investing in preparedness before it strikes. That is why Congressman Connolly introduced the Global Health Security Act, which recognizes the critical role of U.S. leadership in international health security, and ensures that there is a permanent designated official responsible for coordinating the federal response to a global health security emergency. The House of Representatives has passed this legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support.
U.S. foreign assistance programs work to end extreme poverty and build democratic societies that respect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms. These efforts are fundamental safeguards against the development of instability and security threats overseas. Congressman Connolly introduced and passed the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act, which directs the President to establish monitoring and evaluation guidelines for U.S. development and economic assistance programs. He has also introduced the Global Partnerships Act, which would provide a comprehensive reauthorization of U.S. foreign aid programs for the first time since 1985. He has championed human rights and spoken out on behalf of activists, dissidents, and the voiceless from Asia to the Middle East. Congressman Connolly introduced the Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act, which passed the House of Representatives. This legislation would hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder of VA-11 constituent Jamal Khashoggi and other attacks on critics of the Kingdom.
Serious, credible, and ambitious diplomacy can resolve the world’s most intractable challenges, and development investments have proven capable of unleashing economic growth and promoting stability. Together, diplomacy and development keep us safe, and Congressman Connolly believes we should fund them in a manner commensurate with the premium we place on our national security.
Congressman Connolly holds several foreign policy-related leadership positions in the House of Representatives. He serves as a co-chair of the Korea Caucus, Georgia Caucus, Morocco Caucus, Taiwan Caucus, and the Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans. He also serves as a member of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), which supports the development of democratic legislative bodies in partner countries.
Congressman Connolly believes we need to ensure that all Americans can retire with peace of mind. As Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, he helped launch the 50+ Initiative to address the many challenges facing our seniors, including housing, health care access, transportation, and educational and volunteer opportunities. He knows that seniors are a resource within the community, and that we should provide support and opportunities for them to remain active members of our community. He is promoting legislation to protect access to affordable health care and prescription drugs, improve the quality of life, and ensure financial security for older Americans.
We must protect the promise of Social Security and Medicare for today's retirees and future generations. Congressman Connolly has opposed efforts to dismantle these programs, including privatization, which would force seniors to buy insurance on the private market. He supports legislation that expands benefits that Americans have earned through Social Security, cuts taxes for millions of seniors, ensures Social Security will remain solvent through the end of the century, and adopts a more accurate formula to calculate the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).
He has also introduced legislation which brings equity to the way the COLA is determined under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). His legislation would ensure that FERS retirees’ COLA is calculated the same way as the COLA for CSRS retirees.
Congressman Connolly is also fighting to make prescription drugs more affordable. In passing the ACA, we closed the Medicare prescription drug donut hole. He supports reforms that will help lower prescription drug prices like empowering the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate the price of drugs, creating an out-of-pocket limit on prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries, and requiring drug manufacturers to issue a rebate back to Medicare if they increase prices faster than inflation. He supports reinvesting the savings from these reforms in dental, vision, and hearing benefits for Medicare beneficiaries. He helped pass legislation to fix reimbursement rates for Medicare and TRICARE providers, ensuring seniors can keep their doctor.
He supported the renewal of the Older Americans Act, which increased federal funding for senior nutrition, support services, and overall health programs, and improved transportation services. He also supported legislation increasing federal funding for cancer and Alzheimer's research, and will continue to support research and innovation efforts in this area. Congressman Connolly has also supported legislation that permanently extends the ability of seniors to make tax-free distributions from IRA’s for charitable purposes, and helps make retirement planning easier.
Congressman Connolly is a member of a bipartisan group of lawmakers committed to addressing the complex challenges facing our nation’s dysfunctional criminal justice system. He supports strategies that reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and decrease corrections costs for state and local governments. He also supports permitting courts to reduce or amend mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent defendants.
Congressman Connolly is a cosponsor of a number of bills that will improve transparency and training in law enforcement, combat systemic racism, and build trust between communities and law enforcement:
The Private Prison Information Act of 2021, which requires private prison, correctional, or detention facilities to disclose information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The Justice is Not For Sale Act of 2021, which prohibits private for-profit prisons.
As Chairman of Fairfax County, he has seen firsthand the value of modernizing criminal justice initiatives and remains a strong advocate of innovative reform programs, such as Veterans Treatment Courts. These courts provide eligible veterans with an alternative to jail, promote community collaboration, and can connect veterans with the programs and benefits they have earned. Fairfax County established the Commonwealth of Virginia's first such program, known as the Veterans Treatment Docket.
Congressman Connolly knows that the success of Northern Virginia's economy is directly tied to the achievement of students in our local classrooms and college campuses. As a parent, Congressman Connolly believes that investing in quality early childhood education – including universal pre-K, public education, and college access programs will spur innovation and set our young people on a path for lifelong success.
During his tenure as Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, he helped increase funding for local schools by more than 30%, including increased pay for teachers. Congressman Connolly enjoys visiting local classrooms, meeting with student robotics teams, and talking to education professionals to see the creative ways in which our schools are engaging our students in the learning process. He knows that our public schools must be safe and productive learning environments where children get the support and care they need. This means ensuring our schools are providing everything from meals to specialized instruction to each student who needs them. And amid the pandemic, Congressman Connolly has helped secure nearly $500 million in funding for schools in Fairfax and Prince William Counties to get students back in school safely.
For Northern Virginia families looking toward a college education for their kids, tuition costs can be daunting. Congressman Connolly knows that improving college affordability and reducing the burden of student loan debt are essential components to strengthening our higher education system. Nearly two-thirds of jobs in the United States require post-high school education or training, and we must eliminate insurmountable cost barriers to higher education for all families if we want the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge. This includes increasing federal student aid, expanding federal student loan forgiveness, and providing free community college.
Virginia's 11th district is home to some of the nation's most successful technology firms. From his private sector experience, Congressman Connolly knows firsthand the positive impact the technology sector has on our regional and national economy. He believes a strong and innovative technology agenda will be critical to ensuring America maintains our global competitiveness.
As a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and as Chairman of the Subcommittee Government Operations, Congressman Connolly is directly engaged in federal information technology policy, federal contracting, and improving cyber security across the federal government.
Congressman Connolly is the author of landmark bipartisan Information Technology (IT) reform legislation known as the Federal Information Technology Acquisition and Reform Act (FITARA) and worked successfully to pass and enact the FITARA Enhancement Act, which increased transparency of federal agency IT acquisitions.
The government spends more than $90 billion on IT products and services, with about 80 percent of that amount on the operations and maintenance of existing IT investments, including aging and legacy systems. Congressman Connolly's bipartisan law has helped move us towards new IT systems by streamlining the technology procurement process and empowering CIOs within federal agencies, consolidating data centers, and identifying additional technology savings.
Congressman Connolly has held a series of hearings and has devised a biannual scorecard to measure each agency’s progress implementing the various components of FITARA and other pertinent federal IT legislation. Since the Scorecard’s inception in 2015, agencies have made substantial, positive strides in improving their information technology practices. These improvements represent vital services delivered and more than $20 billion saved because we are finally baking IT into our policy decision-making process.
Congressman Connolly also helped author the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which allows agencies to use savings generated through FITARA and other reforms to make investments in cloud transition and apply for critical IT funding through the Technology Modernization Fund. Congressman Connolly was able to secure $1 billion for the Technology Modernization Fund through the American Rescue Plan, to help agencies modernize IT systems and provide better experiences to the public.
The impacts from the unprecedented pandemic, solidified the importance of federal IT modernization. In the midst of the pandemic and despite a robust legislative response, many individuals and small businesses were denied timely support and assistance because of severely deficient IT infrastructure at the federal, state, and local levels of government.
The consequences of poor government IT are serious. By modernizing our IT infrastructure, we can deliver services to the public that are intuitive, accessible, and responsive to customer needs. This includes providing federal agencies with the tools and resources to retire legacy systems and move to the cloud.
Congressman Connolly continues to push agencies to move to the cloud by authoring legislation to codify the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) to standardize the federal government’s approach to ensuring the security of all data stored in the cloud.
Congressman Connolly has been a lifelong supporter of equal rights for the LGBTQI community. Discrimination is anathema to our American values and violates our Constitution. No one should be treated differently because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. For his record, the Human Rights Campaign has recognized Congressman Connolly's with a 100% rating for a sixth consecutive term.
He is an original cosponsor of the Equality Act, which would explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation in employment, public education, housing, public accommodations, credit, jury service, and federally funded programs. He welcomed the groundbreaking Supreme Court decision that marriage equality is now the law of the land. He also supported the designation within the State Department of a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons and the Biden Administration’s rescission of the discriminatory ban on transgender people serving openly in the military.
Congressman Connolly is a strong supporter of animal welfare and has consistently received a 100% score from the Humane Society for his voting record on these issues. Congressman Connolly is also a proud member of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus.
He has voted for and supported important legislation to end horse slaughter, restrict animal testing, and increase animal welfare funding. Connolly has cosponsored the Preventing All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, the Humane Cosmetics Act, the Puppy Uniform Protection and Safety Act, the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act, and the Big Cat Public Safety Act.
In addition, he supports legislation limiting trophy hunting importation, shutting down live wildlife markets and wildlife trade, cracking down on problem breeders and violators of the Animal Welfare Act, and supporting research animal retirement. He has also opposes efforts to undermine state animal welfare protections and weaken the Endangered Species Act.
Congressman Connolly's top priority has always been to protect and grow Northern Virginia's economy. He has helped develop our region into an economic engine for the Commonwealth by championing the growth of the technology and government contracting industries, fighting the dangerous and indiscriminate sequestration cuts, and protecting federal employees' pay and benefits. Northern Virginia is now home to numerous Fortune 500 companies and has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.
As a leader of the pro-business New Democrat Coalition, Congressman Connolly has encouraged investments in three major pillars of a healthy American economy – education, infrastructure, and research and development. He has supported more federal assistance for local school systems, advanced new ways to invest in mega-transportation projects, and advocated for the permanent extension of the Research & Development Tax Credit. These initiatives help unleash innovation, reduce poverty, and strengthen the American middle class – the backbone of our economy.
As a co-Chairman of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus, Congressman Connolly plays a leadership role in efforts to protect America's environment and public health and push for investment in clean and renewable energy. In Congress, he helped pass the largest investment in clean energy in American history and supported legislation to reduce global carbon emissions.
Recently, he has led efforts to oppose drilling off the coast of Virginia or in the Chesapeake Bay and introduced amendments to protect the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and to require oil companies to pay the full cost of oil spill cleanups. He will continue to steadfastly oppose efforts to repeal the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Antiquities Act, the Clean Power Plan, and other important environmental legislation.
Congressman Connolly has also been a leader in expanding federal conservation efforts, including supporting the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In addition, Congressman Connolly has continued his efforts to establish powerful voluntary tax incentives to complete America's 11 National Scenic Trails. He has worked with colleagues from around the region to more than double Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration funding and supports comprehensive legislation to restore the Bay.
Locally, he has worked with community stakeholders to complete missing segments of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and open Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge to the public. These efforts complement his efforts as a local government official, where he led the effort to build the 41-mile-long Connolly Cross County Trail and helped protect 10% of Fairfax County as county-owned parkland. He helped design and implement the county's first comprehensive environmental plan which subsequently won a national award.