Rep. Don Beyer gave the following remarks last night at the vigil for victims of the Parkland, Florida shooting held in Falls Church at George Mason High School. Video is available here, courtesy of Blue Virginia. “Thank you for showing up on a cold, gray February holiday afternoon. Change is only driven by the people who show up. And we must, must deal with the prevalence of gun violence in this country. Let me give you some statistics. In 2016, more than 39,000 Americans were killed by guns: 9... Read more

Today, in response to the tragic shooting killing seventeen students and educators at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Representatives Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Elizabeth Esty (CT-05), and Don Beyer (VA-08) urged passage of H.R. 2598, the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act (GVRO). The bill would allow family members or law enforcement officials to petition a judge to temporarily remove firearms from an individual in crisis. “While the troubling details of the shooting in... Read more

“President Trump’s budget presents a dystopian vision of the United States. We would see massive, promise-breaking cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, as well as to nutrition programs for the poor. And we would see this while giving the wealthiest Americans huge tax cuts. This budget proposes that we cripple the EPA, give up on the promise of clean air and clean water, and sell out public lands and treasured natural spaces like the Chesapeake Bay to benefit polluters and fossil fuel companies. It cal... Read more

“After months of promises that it would produce a “$1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Plan,” the Trump Administration today issued a document which contains neither an infrastructure plan nor $1.5 trillion in investments. Trump proposes to throw $200 billion at an unspecified set of projects, with unfounded hopes that over $1 trillion would magically appear to provide the vast majority of the funding. This “plan” is nothing but smoke and mirrors, and the fact that it was unveiled on the same day as a ... Read more

Congressman Don Beyer joined Representatives Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) and Annie Kuster (NH-02) in calling on White House Chief of Staff General John Kelly to answer questions as to what was known by senior Trump Administration staff regarding allegations of domestic violence by White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter. The letter follows reports that Chief of Staff Kelly knew about the allegations against Porter for months and that Porter was unable to obtain a necessary security clearance due... Read more

“My decision to vote against the budget caps bill early this morning was not an easy one. This bill contained many things that are very good for the country. These funding levels represent a major victory after five years of work to end budget sequestration. Our region’s economy stands to benefit substantially from ending this arbitrary and destructive policy, and I wish Republicans had allowed it to happen years ago. After months of fighting for a budget that provides long-term certainty for de... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer today issued the following statement on the report, confirmed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that President Trump has asked the Department of Defense to plan a large military parade in Washington, D.C.: “Most of the reasons why Trump’s idea of huge military parade is a terrible one are immediately obvious. Our military is already strong without having to waste millions of dollars on a parade that could be better spent improving veterans’ services. In 2018 such displ... Read more

Congressmen Jim Langevin (D-RI), Gregg Harper (R-MS), Bill Foster (D-IL), Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D-VA) today introduced the Transition to Independence Act, a bill that encourages states to expand opportunities for individuals with disabilities to find competitive, integrated employment in the community. “Too many people with disabilities still face significant barriers to meaningful employment at a competitive wage,” said Congressman Langevin, co-chair of the Bipartisan Di... Read more

“Against the advice of his own Republican appointees who lead the Department of Justice and the FBI, President Trump decided to release Devin Nunes’ highly politicized memorandum before he had even read it. It will be immediately apparent to anyone who reads it how overblown the predictions about the importance of this document were. The words of TV pundits and partisan Congressmen who claimed the memo was “worse than Watergate” and “the biggest political scandal in American history” have been s... Read more

Rep. Don Beyer will attend Donald Trump’s Address to the Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union this evening accompanied by guest Jessica Chilin-Hernández, a Northern Virginian originally born in El Salvador who holds Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The Trump Administration announced that it would end TPS protections for over 200,000 Salvadorans earlier this month. “Jessica Chilin-Hernández is a smart young woman who has worked hard to become a thriving member of our community,” s... Read more