Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on the Virginia Senate’s passage of budget measures which would expand Medicaid in the Commonwealth of Virginia: “Today the Virginia Senate took a historic and long-overdue step towards giving hundreds of thousands of Virginians access to affordable health care. While I strongly oppose the work requirement portions of this legislation,… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on the news that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s spending on personal security and travel during his first year in office was $3.5 million, a number significantly higher than previously disclosed: “Everything Scott Pruitt said about his wasteful spending turned out to be false,” said Rep. Beyer. “Internal EPA documents show that he… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today led a group of five House Democratic leaders requesting information from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) about Pruitt’s legal defense fund. Pruitt confirmed the existence of the fund to Senators in a hearing last week, but key details have not yet been made public or provided to Congress, which potentially raises a… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on reports that Jared Kushner had been granted a permanent security clearance: “Today the White House and Jared Kushner’s representatives are saying that the decision to grant Mr. Kushner’s clearance was made by career personnel, and that this decision was the deserved outcome of an above-board process. Both claims are false or… Read more »

Today is the fourth anniversary of the mass shooting in Isla Vista, California, which left six people dead and fourteen injured. That incident inspired legislation to enable families and law enforcement to act on warning signs before mass shootings, now called the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act, which received new attention and significant bipartisan support after the Parkland… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today received confirmation that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Social Security Administration (SSA) had agreed to his request for a review of the decision to close its Arlington field office. The review will “identify and evaluate SSA’s reasons for the field office closure … ascertain SSA’s plans to mitigate any effects on individuals currently served… Read more »

Remarks as prepared: Justice delayed is justice denied. It has been six months since an unarmed Bijan Ghaisar was shot to death by Park Policemen. It has been nearly six months since the FBI initiated its investigation into an incident that happened over the course of a few minutes. Yet we stand here today, knowing no more about that investigation. We don’t know all that happened.… Read more »

Scott Pruitt today admitted in a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to violating federal regulations when he accepted the services of his direct subordinate, Millan Hupp, without paying her [exchange here]. Hupp assisted Pruitt in his housing search last year, Pruitt confirmed, without pay, a violation of the Code of Federal Regulations (administrative law governing federal… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar’s testimony that he does not “see the premium effect” of the Trump Administration’s efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act: “This comment by Secretary Azar represents the abysmal apathy the Trump Administration shows when it comes to Americans’ healthcare costs,” said Rep.… Read more »

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s “Back to Basics” memo instructing the EPA to begin factoring “economic effects” into its decisions on setting clean air standards: “Scott Pruitt’s latest attempt to undermine air pollution standards set by the Clean Air Act is illegal and immoral. The only ‘basics’ that his actions would take us ‘back… Read more »