Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer’s (D-VA) Outdoor Recreation’s Economic Contributions (REC) Act passed the House of Representatives last night. The REC Act would direct the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to assess the outdoor industry’s contribution to job creation and consumer spending. “With this vote, we can finally recognize the outdoor recreation industry’s enormous… Read more »

Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), led 92 House Democrats today urging President Obama to veto any Republican attempts to strip Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections from any authorizing or spending bills. Read more »

Congressman Don Beyer today led 54 members of the House of Representatives in urging U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel and the Obama Administration to advocate restoring all African elephants to Appendix I status under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), banning the international ivory trade.  “The simple truth… Read more »

U.S. Representative Don Beyer today met with the family of his constituent Aya Hijazi, who has been imprisoned without trial in Egypt for over two years. Beyer was joined in his office by Hijazi’s brother Basel, and sister Alaa, as well as counsel from RFK Human Rights. They discussed the conditions of Hijazi’s confinement, the lack of evidence presented by Egyptian authorities to… Read more »

At today’s Science, Space, and Technology Committee hearing, Congressman Don Beyer questioned expert legal witnesses on the Science Committee’s limited subpoena power, in response to Chairman Lamar Smith’s overzealous harassment of state attorneys general (AGs) and environmental non-profit organizations. “The House Science Committee’s record of promoting sound science and finding… Read more »

The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill Rep. Beyer introduced with California Republican Mimi Walters to protect the rights of sexual assault survivors to their sexual assault forensic evidence collection kits, known colloquially known as rape kits, and to standardize practices in the preservation of those kits. The measure passed the Senate unanimously in May. “Sexual… Read more »

Congressman Don Beyer released the following statement in honor of Women’s Equality Day: “We celebrate Women’s Equality Day each year on this day to commemorate the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which finally gave American women the right to vote 96 years ago. This historic milestone came after a decades-long struggle for equal access to the ballot box by the women’s suffrage… Read more »

Congressman Don Beyer, the Ranking Member on the House Science Subcommittee for Oversight, strongly condemned the Committee’s issuance of subpoenas to private server companies related to Sec. Clinton’s email server. “This is a wasteful use of taxpayer dollars by Chairman Smith and the Science Committee Republicans for blatantly partisan purposes,” said Rep. Beyer. “The House Science… Read more »

Congressman Don Beyer today welcomed news that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is delaying its requirement for a text authentication for customers trying to use their online Social Security accounts (my Social Security). On July 31, SSA began requiring my Social Security account holders to sign into their accounts using a one-time code sent via text message, thereby preventing… Read more »

Following a proposal issued by the Reagan National Community Noise Working Group, Rep. Beyer today wrote to Administrator Michael Huerta of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) supporting the group’s new recommendation for a plan to reduce aircraft noise on departures south of the airport. The proposal was drafted by the Working Group in consultation with the FAA, the Metropolitan… Read more »