Gerry Connolly, congressman who protected federal workforce, dies at 75

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

78% : "I know this is going to sound corny, but I look out at that now, and my heart soars," Mr. Connolly told The Washington Post when the first phase of the expansion opened to the public in 2014.
63% : In 2022, Mr. Connolly and Issa launched the IT modernization caucus as a platform for addressing critical technological gaps in government operations.
62% : The FITARA bill was credited with speeding up processing times for Social Security benefits and veterans' services, strengthening hospital cybersecurity and bolstering air traffic-safety systems.
59% : Ultimately, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the area safe.
58% : " Mr. Connolly spent three years as executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees (now the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants), a private nongovernmental organization, and he received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1979.
46% : However, he continued serving as chairman of the panel's subcommittee on government operations, and he used that platform to spar with officials in President Donald Trump's first administration.
44% : "For too long the Trump administration was willing to turn a blind eye in order to protect its relationships with the Crown Prince over and above basic American values and Jamal's life itself," Mr. Connolly commented while pushing unsuccessfully for a Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act.
40% : Gerry Connolly, a Democratic congressman who played a large part in Northern Virginia's transformation from a bedroom community into a thriving technology hub and who steadfastly defended federal workers' rights in the face of Trump-era rollbacks, died May 21 at his home in Fairfax County.
33% : Mr. Connolly and Van Hollen's "narrow path," in lieu of an on-the-ground operation, faced an intense backlash from some Democratic Party liberals, whose opposition was inflamed by the grinding U.S.-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
24% : " He stepped up the subcommittee's oversight of the White House and, in a fiery CNN interview, threatened jail time for Trump officials who resisted subpoenas, saying he would "go to the max" to enforce the Oversight Committee's power via court orders.
23% : Through executive orders signed in 2018, Trump weakened unions' abilities to negotiate contracts and reduced the amount of time union representatives could spend helping members with complaints.
8% : After Saudi operatives in 2018 killed dissident Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, according to U.S. intelligence officials, Mr. Connolly criticized President Trump for his seeming indifference to the assassination of Khashoggi, who was living in Northern Virginia and was killed on a visit to Turkey.

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