Thursday, March 7, 2013
Congressmen Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran recently introduced legislation that would study the extension of Metrorail into Woodbridge and the Route 1 corridor.
Pipe dream or forward-thinking? U.S. Reps. Jim Moran (D-8th) and Gerry Connolly (D-11th) have introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would authorize studying Metrorail's possible expansion down the Route 1 and I-95 corridors. • For the quickest updates, "like" Del Ray Patch on Facebook and follow @delraypatch on Twitter. The Northern Virginia Metrorail Extension Act (H.R. 907), which is now before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, specifically cites extending the Yellow Line down Route 1 farther into Fairfax County and onto Prince William. It also proposes studying the extension of the Blue Line along the I-95 corridor to Woodbridge and the Orange Line from Vienna to Centreville. “Northern …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Connolly asks for legal justification; cites study that says reducing mail volume will lead to revenue loss of $5.2 billion in first year.
Stopping the mail on Saturdays? Not so fast, say two members of the Northern Virginia congressional delegation. Northern Virginia's U.S. Rep. James Moran (D-8th) and U.S. Rep Gerry Connolly (D-11th) expressed concern Wednesday about the U.S. Postal Service's announcement that it plans to suspend delivery of first-class mail service on Saturdays beginning in August. The USPS released a fact sheet Wednesday. “I have great concerns about eliminating Saturday mail delivery," Moran wrote in an email to Patch. "The Postal Service is grappling with major forces outside of its control: an economy increasingly relying on email and the Internet for communication, and a Congress that refuses to address the redundant pension pre-funding requirement…
Monday, February 4, 2013
What will it mean for the Northern Virginia economy?
Sequestration — $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts to defense and civilian programs over the next decade — will likely happen, and it will mean thousands of layoffs, program eliminations and near-certain economic devastation for Northern Virginia, said Virginia Congressmen Jim Moran (D-8th) and Gerry Connolly (D-11th) on Saturday at a town hall meeting in Mount Vernon. "You need to be aware that this is probably going to happen," said Moran, who spoke at an annual meeting conducted by Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland. "It's a democracy and things will ultimately play themselves out, but things are not going well right now [in Congress]." Congress averted the fiscal cliff crisis at the beginning of the year, and …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Officials from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties met in Arlington to discuss six potential sites Thursday. Alexandria's Victory Center did not enter the discussion.
Local, state and congressional leaders met Thursday in Arlington to discuss six potential sites for a new FBI headquarters and to present a unified front in their commitment to landing the new federal complex somewhere in Northern Virginia. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who called the meeting, said leaders from Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties had a "singular focus" in bringing the FBI headquarters to the Old Dominion. "We're all committed to finding a home for the FBI in the commonwealth of Virginia," Moran said during a news conference following the meeting. "We are all going to promote Virginia as the best place for this relocation." Elected officials were briefed on six potential sites — in Herndon, at Dulles …
Monday, July 30, 2012
Democrats, Republicans and hundreds of private sector government contractors gathered at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott on Monday afternoon to protest sequestration, which would cut $500 billion of federal defense spending.
ARLINGTON — U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly on Monday called on Congress to cancel its upcoming five-week recess in order to solve looming $500 billion defense cuts that could cost Northern Virginia thousands of jobs. That sentiment was echoed by Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce President Jim Corcoran, who said the federal government shouldn't balance its budget on the backs of the defense industry. And Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who arrived late to the "Stop Sequestration" rally thanks to a flight delay, said afterward he supported Connolly's idea. "Sequestration" is the name given to $1 trillion federal budget cuts that will happen in January if Congress doesn't reach a compromise. Half of that would affect the defense industry, which …
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Department of Defense released $180 million to the Federal Highway Administration to start construction on Route 1.
The Department of Defense released $180 million on Monday to fund the widening of Route 1 in Mount Vernon through Fort Belvoir. These funds will go to the Federal Highway Administration to start construction on the widening of Route 1, which will accommodate increased traffic at Fort Belvoir due to the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005, or BRAC. These funds, awarded in November, are part of a $300 million appropriation secured by the Maryland and Virginia delegations for BRAC-related transportation improvements across the country. BRAC and the recent opening of Fort Belvoir Community Hospital are expected to bring more than 11,000 new DoD employees and 574,000 annual hospital patients onto Route 1, according to a statement issued by…
Friday, July 13, 2012
Moran, Connolly, Wolf want the FCC to reconsider a regulation concerning backup power that the commission proposed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Northern Virginia's three congressmen called on the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to take action that will prevent future outages to the region's 911 systems. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, U.S. Reps. Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and Frank Wolf asked that the commission dust off a post-Hurricane Katrina regulation that would have required all telecommunications companies to provide at least eight hours of backup power for all cell phone towers. The regulation was subsequently struck down on a technicality related to how the commission handled public comments, according to a news release. “In the event of an emergency situation, whether it be a natural disaster or man-made threat, the public needs confidence …
Thursday, July 12, 2012
As Virginia lawmakers disagree over Affordable Care Act provision, tell us: Would participating in the expansion help or hurt the state?
As Gov. Bob McDonnell considers opting out of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, Virginia lawmakers are divided on whether the program would help or hurt the state. In a letter to McDonnell on Thursday, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican who has announced a 2013 gubernatorial bid, encouraged the governor to reject the program, saying Medicaid expansion — which he says accounts for nearly 20 percent of Virginia's total general fund spending — would place "tremendous fiscal pressure on the Commonwealth and divert funds from other state programs, such as public education, higher education, public safety, natural resource protection and even other critically important health care programs." McDonnell sent a letter to Virginia …
Thursday, June 28, 2012
High Court ruled 5-4 today to uphold what some call 'Obamacare.'
Area leaders were quick to react today to the news that the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's health reform law. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R): "Today's Supreme Court ruling is extremely disappointing for Virginia and for America. The PPACA will create a costly and cumbersome system that will impair our country's ability to recover from these challenging economic times, infringes on our citizen's liberties, will harm small businesses, and will impose dramatic unfunded mandates on Virginia and all states. Simply put, this is a blow to freedom. America needs market-based solutions that give patients more choice, not less." (For the governor's full statement, visit his Web site.) On his Twitter feed, the governor wrote: "Simply …
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Webb, Warner, Moran and Connolly question DoD Transportation Management and Occupation Plans for Mark Center property
Today, U.S. Reps. Jim Moran (D-8), Gerry Connolly (D-11) and Democratic Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner sent a letter of concern to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. They're worried that Interstate 395 will be a traffic-choked mess because of inadequate transportation planning at the Mark Center by the Department of Defense. The Base Realignment and Closure move at the Mark Center property near I-395 and Seminary Road, is home to Washington Headquarters Services, which will receive 5,000 of its 6,400 total relocated employees by this December. Known as BRAC #133, the project has been viewed with skepticism. "We are concerned that the Department’s occupation plan is not being adequately coordinated with appropriate transportation …
Nat
9:46 am on Friday, March 8, 2013
I agree, Joseph. The City would receive better results if it just asked the public - ya don't need to pay for yet another 'study' to tell the folks who actually either take Metro or drive what the problems are AND generally have the better solutions! more ›