U.S. Representative Don Beyer (VA-08), Co-Chair of the Endangered Species Caucus, released the following statement today after the Trump administration finalized regulations to significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA): “We are in the middle of a global wave of mass extinction and history will judge us for how we treat those with whom we share this planet. Despite the major successes o... Read more »
Washington Post | Six hundred and twenty-nine days. That’s how long it’s been since two U.S. Park Police officers opened fire on an unarmed 25-year-old accountant named Bijan Ghaisar, hitting him repeatedly in the head and killing him, after he was involved in a fender bender on the George Washington Memorial Parkway near Washington. Six hundred and twenty-nine days, and still not a word from the ... Read more »
Salon | Last month the U.S. Supreme Court handed state legislators a blank check to gerrymander themselves whatever partisan advantage they might like during the 2021 redistricting cycle. After living under the thumb of brutal Republican gerrymanders for the last decade, some Democrats sound ready and eager to cash in where they can. “I don’t see how there’s any other options,” said Rep. John Yarm... Read more »
Today, New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Chair Derek Kilmer, NDC Vice Chair Scott Peters, and the NDC Climate Change Task Force, led by Task Force Co-Chairs Reps. Don Beyer, Sean Casten, Elaine Luria, and Susan Wild, released policy principles to combat climate change with the seriousness and urgency this crisis demands. In doing so, the NDC Climate Change Task Force seeks to address the climate challe... Read more »
E&E News | A coalition of moderate Democrats is backing a climate plan that could draw interest from the business community for relying on carbon pricing and other market-based approaches to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The House's New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of about 100 centrist Democrats, released its principles today for addressing climate change, which the group called "a threat to ... Read more »
U.S. Representatives Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Ted Deutch (D-FL), and Don Beyer (D-VA), the sponsor and lead co-sponsors of the Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Act, today responded to President Trump’s televised address regarding the weekend’s mass shootings, during which he announced his support “for ‘Red Flag’ laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders.” “We m... Read more »
The Hill | Like most Americans, I hoped that the U.S. Supreme Court would use the cases before it this term to finally put an end to the partisan gerrymandering that has done such damage to our democracy. Instead, in a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the conservative majority ruled that all partisan gerrymandering claims were “nonjusticiable,” a political issue beyond the feder... Read more »
Today, Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Francis Rooney (R-FL) introduced the National Ocean and Coastal Security Improvements Act (H.R. 4093). The bill would support coastal communities’ ability to prepare for and respond to a variety of coastal threats, including extreme weather events, climate hazards and changing ocean conditions by improving coastal infrastructure and supporting coastal research, re... Read more »
USA Today | On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump vented on Twitter about a political adversary, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and assailed an American city, Baltimore. "Rep. Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous," Trump wrote. Trump ... Read more »
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and a group of House Democrats today introduced the Fair Representation Act, an election reform bill to change the way U.S. Representatives are elected. The bill, which includes a provision requiring that all Congressional districts be drawn by independent commissions to prevent gerrymandering, came soon after the Supreme Court’s decision in Rucho v. Common Cause, which uphel... Read more »
