In January, 26 House members will not be returning to Congress. Some of them will return to their home districts for good while some will stay on in Washington for other jobs or to pursue another office. HOH asked several of them to reflect on their political careers and offer some advice and insight for the future. Virginia Republican Rep. Scott Rigell, 56, was first elected in 2010. He announced in January that he will retire at the end of this congressional term, his third. [Libertarian Gary...
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Letter: Virginia's congressmen protecting the Bay Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to include an amendment to the Department of Interior’s appropriation bill that would limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce the multi-state Clean Water Blueprint. The amendment troubles me, but in this instance, our Hampton Roads Reps. Scott Rigell, Randy Forbes, Rob Wittman and Bobby Scott come together for clean water. Many elected leaders have said, “I love the bay, but...
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Holding Iran Accountable Washington, D.C. – This week Congressman Scott Rigell (VA-02) supported, and the House of Representatives passed, the No 2H2O from Iran Act. This bill would prohibit the United States from purchasing heavy water from Iran. H.R. 5119 now goes to the Senate for consideration. Congressman Rigell, who voted against the Obama Administration’s Iran Nuclear Agreement in 2015, in part because it provided Iran with substantial relief from sanctions on its ballistic missile progra...
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KAINE, WARNER, SCOTT, MEMBERS VA DELEGATION & CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS APPLAUD HOUSE PASSAGE OF BILL TO RECOGNIZE 400 YEARS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, and Representative Bobby Scott applauded unanimous House passage of a bipartisan bill that would recognize the resilience and contributions of African Americans to the United States since 1619. Kaine and Warner introduced the Senate version and Scott the House version of the 400...
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The Harley Caucus Rides to Votes Reps. Scott Rigell and Reid Ribble ride in style on their way to work Reps. Scott Rigell and Reid Ribble created some rolling thunder on the way to work on Thursday. After a truncated trip last week when Rigell's rig wouldn't start, the two congressmen drove to and from the Capitol on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Ribble rode his Harley from his home near the Navy Yard to Rigell’s near the Capitol and they rode together to the House's critical vote on fiscal...
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Shameful: House Panel Votes Down Plan To Make Public Domain Congressional Research Public from the a-total-failure dept For many, many years, we've complained about the fact that research reports from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) are kept secret. CRS is basically a really good, non-partisan research organization that tends to do very useful and credible research, when tasked to do so by members of Congress. The results, as works created by the federal government, are in the public do...
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Kaine makes case for African American history study During a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine testified in support of the 400 Years of African American History Commission Act, bipartisan legislation introduced last February that would establish a commission to plan programs and activities across the country in 2019 to recognize the arrival and influence of Africans in America. Stephanie Toothman, Associate Director for Cultural Resources, Par...
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Fiscal responsibility: focus on what really matters If you weigh 200 pounds, are you overweight? Maybe. If you’re five feet three inches tall and lack muscle, the answer is probably yes. If you’re six feet three inches and lift weights, the answer is probably no. Isolated numbers don’t always tell us what we need to know. That’s true of the numbers on the bathroom scale and it is true of the numbers we see on the federal budget. All sorts of numbers, most of them quite large, get tossed around i...
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LEAD Hampton Roads names Distinguished Leader James "Jimmy" Gray, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Committee of 200+Men Inc., has been chosen as the 2016 Julian Hirst Distinguished Leader by LEAD Hampton Roads. Gray was recently elected to the Hampton City Council. Gray is a former fire chief and assistant city manager of Hampton with 36 years of local government experience, according to a news release. The regional leadership awards are presented annually by LEAD Hampton Roads. Other hono...
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Where Things Stand as Congress Leaves Town Key issues linger as lawmakers go on recess Congress is heading out of town for Memorial Day recess, but lawmakers still have plenty of items on their to-do lists. Members on both sides of the aisle have pushed for action to address issues ranging from the Zika virus to authorizing defense programs. With roughly two months worth of legislative days left in 2016, here's a look at what's going on with some of the top issues in Congress: Zika "The mosquito...
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