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In 10 days, we face a government shutdown unless Congress passes a funding bill. From day one of this Congress, Democrats have stood ready to pass a bill that lowers costs and addresses the needs of the American people. But the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans run the same old playbook of prioritizing billionaire donors like Elon Musk over hard working American people.
Over the past few weeks, the Trump Administration and unelected billionaire-in-chief Elon Musk launched a direct attack on our federal agencies — undermining not just our civil service, but also the essential services that they provide to the American people. They have also tried to gut or shut down essential federal government agencies and freeze their Congressionally authorized funding.
The Trump-Vance Administration is only 3 weeks old, and it has been full of chaos and an all out assault on the federal workforce and government agencies. This chaos has hit Virginia particularly hard, as the Commonwealth is home to nearly 150,000 civilian federal employees, nearly 19,000 of which are in the Fourth District.
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind as we witnessed the end of the Biden-Harris Administration and the beginning of the Trump-Vance Administration against the backdrop of celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Throughout these two weeks, I have pondered the same question Dr. King posed in the final year of his life:
“Where do we go from here? Chaos or community?”
The first full week of the 119th Congress opened with the election certification of one president, and ended with the state funeral of another. I also signed my oath of office, marking the official start of my first full term in Congress.
Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your friends and loved ones.
The 118th Congress began with gridlock and chaos as House Republicans took a week to elect a speaker. It nearly ended the same way as House Republicans as a different speaker took us to the brink of a government shutdown.
We have reached the final vote week for the 118th Congress. Once again, we are racing against the clock to pass a funding bill and avoid a government shutdown before current funding expires Friday. But as I write this, no draft funding bill has been released….
The House returned to Washington after the Thanksgiving holiday with a lot to do and very little time. Three items remain left to do in the 118th Congress: The Fiscal Year 2025 National National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA), the Farm Bill, and funding the government beyond December 20th.
The House returned to session for two jam-packed weeks before the Thanksgiving recess.