Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Rob Wittman (R-VA) today introduced bipartisan legislation to protect federal employees’ pay in the event of a government shutdown. The Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Act would guarantee back pay for all furloughed workers if Congress and the White House are unable to come to a funding agreement. “We absolutely do not want to see a shutdown of the federal government, but if it comes we must act to protect federal workers from the consequences,” said Rep. Beyer. “If th...
Read more
Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement upon passage of H.R. 1, the GOP bill to cut taxes for the wealthy: “One month ago, when the House passed an early version of this bill, I asked how any of my colleagues could vote for legislation “that will raise taxes on millions of middle class Americans in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, and yet still manages to explode the deficit?” Today the Republican majority somehow passed an even worse bill. The tax bill just passed by the Hous...
Read more
Reps. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA), co-chairs of the Congressional Safe Climate Caucus, today issued the following statement on their introduction of a resolution celebrating the second anniversary of the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement: “Two years after the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, climate change remains a huge threat to the planet and the human race, but Donald Trump isn’t taking that threat seriously. The Paris Climate Agreement represents the best opportun...
Read more
Reps. Don Beyer (VA), Debbie Dingell (MI), and Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ) today led 104 House Democrats in a letter to House Leadership urging the removal of harmful provisions attached to the final spending legislation for FY 18 that would weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Representatives wrote in response to the FY 18 Interior/EPA bill, passed out of the Appropriations Committee, which contained several riders attacking endangered species conservation and removing protections for imperil...
Read more
U.S. Reps. Don Beyer and Gerry Connolly (both D-VA) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), along with Virginia’s two Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, today announced that after years of effort by the Senators and House members, the National Park Service (NPS) has approved $227 million to initiate a long-awaited contract to fully repair and rehabilitate Arlington Memorial Bridge. The 85-year-old bridge, owned and maintained by NPS, is a vital daily route connecting Arlington, Virginia and the Di...
Read more
Rep. Don Beyer today led 20 House Democrats in seeking answers from Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller about his knowledge of Russian meetings and contacts during the 2016 presidential campaign. Their inquiry came after a series of news reports revealed that Miller, then a senior aide on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, was alerted to Russian offers of assistance to that campaign by his subordinate George Papadopoulos, who later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Russian meetin...
Read more
Rep. Don Beyer today condemned the decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to end the Obama-era policy known as “net neutrality.” The new proposal announced by Trump appointees to the FCC would empower internet service providers to limit or charge American consumers more for different kinds of internet content. “By ending net neutrality the FCC and the Trump Administration are siding with telecom giants against internet freedom,” said Rep. Don Beyer. “This move hurts people acros...
Read more
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) issued the following statement today after the passage of the Republican tax bill, H.R. 1, in the House: “I am adamantly opposed to the House Republican tax bill, H.R.1. The bill will raise taxes on millions of middle class Americans in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, and yet still manages to explode the deficit. We have an opportunity to enact tax reform focused on the prosperity of hard working Americans, which simplifies the tax code and is fiscally responsible. ...
Read more
Rep. Don Beyer today called for swift House passage of his bill, the NO HATE Act, after the FBI released hate crime statistics for 2016, which showed a rise in bias crimes in the United States for the second consecutive year. The legislation, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), would give law enforcement across the country additional tools to track and fight hate crimes. “The FBI statistics released this week show another disturbing rise in hate crimes in the United Sta...
Read more
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) led a letter to Speaker Ryan highlighting how the lack of action to fund cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments is hurting small business owners and self-employed individuals who are being disproportionately impacted by the President’s decision to suspend CSR payments, the latest in a series of measures he has taken which health insurers have cited as a primary cause of rising health insurance premiums. The Representatives wrote: “We are deeply concerned about the President’...
Read more