Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), who represents the largest number of federal workers of any U.S. Representative, issued the following statement today on new guidance from the Office of Management and Budget establishing workplace safety standards to protect employees at federal agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic: “From the earliest moments of this pandemic I have heard from federal workers concerned tha... Read more »

Yesterday the New York Times published a piece by economist Claudia Sahm, formerly of the Federal Reserve, supporting measures to tie enhanced federal unemployment assistance to economic conditions [below]. Sahm’s OpEd came as Treasury Secretary-designate Janet Yellen and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese reiterated their support, and the support of the Biden Administration, for using... Read more »

Dear Director Redfield and Administrator Dickson: Thank you for mandating that all flyers from the United Kingdom test negative before flying into the United States. However, this needs to be the case, at minimum, for all flights within and into the United States. While I understand that this decision was made to counter a new and more transmissible SARS-COV-2 variant that originated in the United... Read more »

A new bill would make all police misconduct allegations and settlements public By Sean Collins Dec 15, 2020, 5:10pm EST First published at Vox State, local, and federal governments have spent billions of dollars over the past decade settling police misconduct cases, which include everything from deadly shootings to neglect. For example, the Louisville Police Department paid out $12 million to the... Read more »

Presidential inauguration ceremonies are planned by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. In past inaugural ceremonies, the JCCIC has issued hundreds of thousands of tickets through Congressional offices for attendance of the presidential inauguration. I have just been informed, however, that the JCCIC has determined, after consulting with medical experts, to limit the 2021 pr... Read more »

Originally Posted At ARLNow Complaints over helicopter noise in Arlington are likely to soon be better tracked by the federal government. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a veto-proof version of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act, and it includes a provision directing the Secretary of Defense to “develop a process to receive, track, and analyze complaints of mi... Read more »

Originally Posted At dcist It’s official: After two years of construction, all six lanes of traffic reopened Friday on Arlington Memorial Bridge. Half of them were closed for construction starting in October 2018. U.S. Interior Secretary David L. Bernhardt hosted a ceremony to mark the completion of the work on Friday. The project was a $227 million collaboration between the National Park Service ... Read more »

Originally Published In The Hill The congressman representing Virginia suburbs near Washington, D.C., warned that proposed cuts to public transit in the area due to economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic would be devastating for the region. “The proposed [Washington Metro Area Transit Authority] (WMATA) budget cuts would be apocalyptic for Metro service and devastate its workforce. This ca... Read more »

Originally Published In The Washington Post Metro budget cuts weekend service, half of bus routes and closes 19 stations amid dire financial forecast Metro is proposing the elimination of weekend rail service in its budget for the first time as the transit agency’s financial struggles deepen amid the coronavirus pandemic. The drastic action is one of several deep cuts Metro officials say they will... Read more »

The reported reclassification of career federal employees at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is likely the beginning of a new campaign of sabotage by the outgoing president against his successor. Operating under President Trump’s recent Executive Order that employs means of dubious legality to bypass federal employee protections, OMB reclassified 88% of its workforce as “Schedule F,” eff... Read more »