Summary
Congressman Gerry Connolly is a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and serves as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations. In this role, he is responsible for shaping government-wide policy for a broad range of issues, including federal workforce and federal agency oversight, federal procurement and information policy, national drug policy, regulatory reform, the United States Postal Service, the United States Census Bureau, and the District of Columbia. He also serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Using his extensive background in foreign policy, including as a senior staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has become a leading voice on foreign assistance reform, war powers, embassy security, and democracy promotion abroad.
Manga Anantatmula is a candidate for US Congress: VA District 11. Manga loves God, Family, & USA.
Accomplished professional. Wife of a professor. Proud military mom of USN LCDR.
OnAir Post: US House District 11 – VA 2020
Gerry Connolly
Current Position: US Representative for US House District 11 since 2009
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: 2020 US Representative for US House District 11
Former Position(s): Board of Supervisors – Fairfax County from 1995 – 2007
Congressman Connolly is serving his sixth term in Congress. He previously served for 14 years on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, including as Chairman (2003-2009) and Providence District Supervisor (1995-2003). As Chairman of the ten-member board, Congressman Connolly balanced a budget of $4.5 billion and managed a county that, based on its size at the time, would have made it the nation’s thirteenth largest city, twelfth largest school district, and sixth largest office market. He served as Chairman of the County’s Legislative Committee and Vice-Chair of the Economic Advisory Committee.
Congressman Connolly also served as Chairman of the Board of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC), Chairman of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC), and a member of the Board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) where he was chairman. He also chaired the region’s Emergency Preparedness Taskforce, and represented Fairfax County on the Board of the Virginia Association of Counties (VaCo) where he also served as president.
For more information, go to Gerry Connolly’s post.
Manga Anantatmula
Current Position: Professional
Affiliation: Republican
Candidate: 2020 US Representative for US House District 11
For more information, go to Manga Anantatmula’s post.
ISSUES
Civil Rights
Gerry Connolly
Equality
Congressman Connolly has been a lifelong supporter of equal rights for the LGBT community. Discrimination is anathema to our American values and violates our Constitution. No one should be treated differently because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. For his record, the Human Rights Campaign has recognized Congressman Connolly’s with a 100% rating for a fourth consecutive term.
He is an original cosponsor of the Equality Act, which would explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation in employment, public education, housing, public accommodations, credit, jury service, and federally funded programs. He condemned the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional efforts to ban transgender servicemembers from the military. He welcomed the groundbreaking Supreme Court decision that marriage equality is now the law of the land. He also supported the designation within the State Department of a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons.
Manga Anantatmula
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Governance
Gerry Connolly
Good Government
As a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, Congressman Connolly firmly believes that vigorous oversight of the Executive Branch is among the most serious responsibilities mandated to Congress by the Constitution.
The importance of congressional oversight is constant, and should be blind to the partisan affiliation of each administration. However, Congressman Connolly recognizes the uniquely urgent need for full-throated investigation into the unprecedented challenges presented by the current administration. From the beginning, he has led the effort to examine the administration’s growing list of ethically and legally questionable decisions. From day one, Congressman Connolly has raised questions about this administration’s abrupt decision to abandon plans for a new FBI headquarters, securing an Inspector General’s investigation into the matter. He has demanded investigations and subpoenas relating to the possible conflicts of interest presented by the president and his family’s ongoing business ties, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s misuse of his office and taxpayer dollars, and the White House’s adjudication of security clearances. Congressman Connolly is determined to hold this Administration accountable.
From the White House to your local post office, Congressman Connolly knows that Virginians demand and deserve a federal government that is efficient, ethical, and accountable for its actions.
Manga Anantatmula
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Economy
Gerry Connolly
With a professional background in the private sector and more than a decade of service in local government, Congressman Connolly’s top priority has always been delivering results for the Northern Virginia economy. Congressman Connolly has helped develop our region into an economic engine for the Commonwealth by championing the growth of the technology and government contracting industries, fighting the dangerous and indiscriminate cuts of sequestration, and protecting the health of a productive federal workforce. Northern Virginia is now home to numerous Fortune 500 companies and has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. Congressman Connolly wants every family in Northern Virginia to have an opportunity to share in the prosperity of our region.
As a leader of the pro-business New Democrat Coalition, Congressman Connolly has encouraged investments in three major pillars of a healthy American economy – education, infrastructure, and research and development. He has supported more federal assistance for local school systems, advanced new ways to invest in mega transportation projects, and advocated for the permanent extension of the Research & Development Tax Credit. These initiatives help unleash innovation, reduce poverty, and strengthen the American middle class – the backbone of our national economy.
Manga Anantatmula
Reducing taxes for Small Businesses is essential as the country’s 80% of the economy lies in the prosperity of small businesses. Given the serious nature of COVID-19 pandemic, I personally support the President’s initiatives to assist small businesses and individuals to address business disruption. There’s a need to protect small businesses during this pandemic. With COVID-19 and an impact on the budget deficit, balancing the budget is a priority.
The only way that we can ever balance the budget is to grow the economy, bring back manufacturing for self-reliance, and reduce dependency on China and restrain government expenditures such as duplication of government programs.
Education
Gerry Connolly
Congressman Connolly knows that the success of Northern Virginia’s economy is directly tied to the achievement of students in our local classrooms and college campuses. As a parent, Congressman Connolly believes that investing in quality early childhood education, public education, and college access programs will spur innovation and set our young people on a path for lifelong success.
During his tenure as Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, he helped increase funding for local schools by more than 30%. Congressman Connolly enjoys visiting local classrooms, meeting with student robotics teams, and talking to education professionals to see the creative ways in which our schools are engaging our students in the learning process.
For Northern Virginia families looking toward a college education for their kids, tuition costs can be daunting. Congressman Connolly knows that improving college affordability and reducing the burden of student loan debt are essential components to strengthening our higher education system. Nearly two-thirds of jobs in the United States require post-high school education or training, and we must eliminate insurmountable cost barriers to higher education for middle class families if we want the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge.
Manga Anantatmula
The Importance of Reopening Our Schools
The elected Politicians in VA 11 are playing political football with our children. They are shutting down schools for political reasons and it has nothing to do with COVID.
Let’s be truthful. There are a lot of politics behind our schools’ being shut down and the parents’ concern about their children’s safety in the wake of COVID-19. The importance of social, emotional, behavioral well-being and academic achievement are well-known. And of great significance, the lack of in-person education disproportionately harms low-income, those children with disabilities, and minority children. These students rely on school-supported resources like food programs, special education services, counseling, and after-school programs. And, if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms, and death rates among school-aged children are much lower than those of college-age students and adults.
Evidence to date shows that COVID-19 poses relatively low risks to school-aged children. Children appear to be at lower risk for contracting COVID-19. To put this in perspective, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of July 17, 2020, the United States reported that children and adolescents under 18 years old account for under 7 percent of COVID-19 cases and less than 0.1 percent of COVID-19-related deaths. However, children with certain medical conditions are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Add to this, International studies suggest COVID-19 transmission among children in schools is very low. That is, the rate of infection among younger school children, and from students to teachers, is quite low, if proper precautions are followed. A few reports show children being the primary source of COVID-19 transmission among family members, but a greater amount of data from both virus and antibody testing, suggest children are not the primary drivers of COVID-19 spread in schools or in the community, but that other factors may be in play. The available evidence points to the fact that in-person schooling is in the best interest of students when appropriate safety measures are implemented.
Parents who work and require their children to attend school are also hurt by school closures. These parents cannot afford private schools or tutors and see school closures as a desperate situation. Many jobs cannot be accomplished in a virtual environment, putting the parents and the children in a terrible dilemma: Do we go without buying food, or do I leave my child alone in the house while I work?
Schools are an important part of community life. They provide a safe, supportive learning environment, critical support services, employ teachers and staff, and importantly, allow parents, guardians, and caregivers to work. School closure disrupts all of this. Reopening schools — while taking precautions to protect students, teachers, staff, and families — invest in our children.
Maintaining a healthy school/work environment includes the following:
- Reduce the risk of COVID-19 by having teachers, staff, and students stay home when sick or if they have been in close contact with a person with COVID-19. Monitor COVID-19 transmission rates in the immediate community and in the communities in which students, teachers, and staff live. Work collaboratively with local health officials to determine if temporary school closure is necessary.
- Install engineering controls, including modifying work areas using physical barriers, incorporating required accessibility requirements, and improving ventilation, where feasible.
- Establish administrative controls and safe work practices for all staff to follow, which include appropriate cleaning and disinfection practices and appropriate face-coverings policies.
- Individuals who are sick should immediately go home or to a healthcare facility.
America is a free republic and we must continually work to keep our republic free. The majority of surveyed Fairfax County parents stated they wanted a reopening of our schools, even if it was only a partial reopening. But the elected officials in Fairfax County decided to keep them closed. I firmly stand with the parents and want schools reopened. Especially since last year’s closure was a complete disaster for all involved. So, let’s not do the same thing this year and expect a better result.
We need School Choice
When our society emerges from the Covid-19 crisis, our school systems will almost certainly operate in many different ways. The changes will depend on how different school systems confronted the pandemic and the length of their school’s closure.
A close example of school attendance is the audience at movie theaters. Most theaters are now closed and the studios are using streaming services to distribute movies. The longer the pandemic lasts, the more comfortable people are seeing first-run movies in their homes. There could be little incentive for people to return to the theater once the pandemic is over. A new business model emerges. We may be seeing a similar attitude towards education with distance learning. This is not to say that educational instruction will move entirely to distance learning, but a good number will most likely offer more distance learning opportunities when the pandemic final ends.
Distance learning is a new model for school systems to embrace and incorporate. Certainly, if distance learning was to catch on by a majority of families, the brick and mortar infrastructure would be greatly impacted. And there are a minority of families that rely on the current infrastructure to not only educate their children but for their very living. Many families, particularly lower-income, rely on public schools, the brick and mortar schools, to provide food, health care, and childcare. And not every child learns effectively with distance learning. Plus, there is the interaction between students with each other and their teachers. Distance learning isn’t likely to eliminate the traditional public-school system. And I don’t believe it should.
Education is about expanding options and choices, and this is where school choice comes into play. We need school choice. Simply put, communities, families and children are diverse, and our school systems need to reflect that diversity.
In a recent Gallup poll concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and school systems, 36 percent of parents wanted their children to receive fully in‐person education, 36 percent wanted an in‐person/distance hybrid, and 28 percent wanted the children to have only distance learning. Each model was preferred by essentially one‐third of parents.
What is school choice? School choice allows public education funds to follow students to the schools or services that best fit their needs—whether that’s to a public school, private school, charter school, home school or any other learning environment parents choose for their kids. The secret to children succeeding in school is letting the parents decide which school choice they deem appropriate for the children. Schools competing for students greatly increases not only the success of the school but that of the student also. Research consistently shows that school choice drastically increases academic success. Only about 40 percent of conventionally schooled students are proficient in reading and math. Why do we keep doing something that fails 60 percent of the time? Private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling offer an education customized to the student that public schools do not. Public school students are thrown into one-site-fits-all classes. We in the United States decide how to run our own country, and how to raise our own children. We do not need government officials doing it for us. School choice is a must for our families and our children.
Environment
Gerry Connolly
As a co-Chairman of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus, Congressman Connolly plays a leadership role in efforts to protect America’s environment and public health and push for investment in clean and renewable energy. In Congress, he helped pass the largest investment in clean energy in American history and supported legislation to reduce global carbon emissions. Recently, he has led efforts to oppose drilling off the coast of Virginia or in the Chesapeake Bay and introduced amendments to protect the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and to require oil companies to pay the full cost of oil spill cleanups. He will continue to steadfastly oppose efforts to repeal the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Antiquities Act, the Clean Power Plan, the Paris Climate Agreement and other important environmental legislation.
Congressman Connolly has worked with colleagues from around the region to fight President Trump’s proposal to eliminate Chesapeake Bay Restoration funding and supports comprehensive legislation to restore the Bay. He has also opposed efforts to slash funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by a third. He has also been a leader in expanding federal conservation efforts, including supporting the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and fully funding our National Park System. In addition, Congressman Connolly has continued his efforts to establish powerful voluntary tax incentives to complete America’s 11 National Scenic Trails.
Locally, he has worked with community stakeholders to complete missing segments of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and open Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge to the public. These efforts complement his efforts as a local government official, where he led the effort to build the 41-mile-long Connolly Cross County Trail and helped protect 10% of Fairfax County as county-owned parkland. He helped design and implement the county’s first comprehensive environmental plan which subsequently won a national award. Congressman Connolly was recently recognized as the “Protector of Potomac” by the Riverkeeper Network for his efforts on strengthening federal coal ash regulations.
Manga Anantatmula
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Health Care
Gerry Connolly
Congressman Connolly believes health care should be a right for all Americans. He is committed to expanding access and improving the quality of care for all his constituents. In order to advance this critical priority, Congressman Connolly will fight to defend the Federal Employee Health Benefits program (FEHBP), protect the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and guard against misguided efforts to weaken, privatize, or overhaul our nation’s most successful health care programs in history, Medicare and Medicaid.
He strongly opposes partisan efforts to repeal the ACA. As a result of this landmark legislation, Virginia’s uninsured rate has decreased by 31 percent since 2010, providing 327,000 Virginians access to health care coverage they would otherwise have been unable to obtain or afford. In addition to expanding coverage, the ACA protects nearly 3 million Virginians who, prior to the ACA’s elimination of punitive annual and lifetime limits, lived under the threat of having their inadequate health insurance cut off if they got too sick. Insurance companies can no longer indiscriminately deny an individual coverage due to a pre-existing condition, and thanks to reforms that allow children to stay on their parent’s health plan until the age of 26, nearly 59,000 young adults have health care coverage. The ACA also mandates coverage of many important services including mental health screenings, and free preventive care coverage, such as flu shots, cancer screenings, contraception, and mammograms.
Unfortunately, Republican efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care, including the elimination of the individual mandate, cutting the Open Enrollment period in half, discontinuing much of the advertisement and outreach activities to boost ACA enrollment, and rescinding cost sharing reductions payments have resulted in higher premiums and fewer choices for Virginians.
Congressman Connolly believes there are improvements to the Affordable Care Act that can and should be adopted, but sabotaging and repealing the law is not the answer. He supports extending the risk-mitigation program that promotes market certainty and ensures insurance companies continue to participate in the marketplaces and finding new ways to encourage younger Americans to join the marketplaces.
Congressman Connolly been a strong supporter of Medicaid expansion in Virginia, which will provide health coverage for more than 400,000 Virginians, and was pleased to see the Governor sign it into law. He also fought for the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers more than 200,000 children in the Commonwealth.
Since coming to Congress, he has championed greater investment in scientific and biomedical research that will lead to new breakthroughs in medicine and treatments. Each year, he has advocated for robust funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and helped pass the 21st Century Cures Act, which would help unleash research and development.
Congressman Connolly is also fighting to make prescription drugs more affordable, including closing the Medicare prescription drug donut hole and holding companies accountable for indefensible skyrocketing drug costs. As a senior member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, Congressman Connolly is supporting investigations into egregious price-gouging by pharmaceutical companies and supports reforms that will help lower prescription drug prices through greater competition and common-sense consumer protection safeguards.
Finally, he steadfastly opposes partisan efforts to insert the government between women and their doctors, and he has stood up to those in Congress who have attacked organizations such as Planned Parenthood, which provide vital health services to millions of Americans of all genders, races, and ages.
Manga Anantatmula
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Immigration
Gerry Connolly
Congressman Connolly believes Congress must be a partner in solving our immigration challenge. He has fought for bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a path to citizenship, keep families together, and secure our borders. Congressman Connolly supports a pragmatic and results-oriented approach to border security, not an ill-conceived and unrealistic border wall.
He is a strong supporter of the DREAM Act and programs like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), and Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Northern Virginia is home to many talented DREAMers and TPS holders and Congressman Connolly has seen firsthand how much they contribute to the success of our community. Attacks on these programs threaten to break up millions of immigrant families and deprive the United States of an entire generation of future leaders.
Congressman Connolly firmly believes that America’s doors must remain open to those fleeing injury, violence, or persecution. He led the fight in Northern Virginia against President Trump’s illegal and immoral refugee ban and supports increasing the number of refugees resettled in our country.
Manga Anantatmula
I will support and fight for legal immigration who believe in our system and contribute to our economy.
Bipartisan and comprehensive immigration reform is needed now, more so than ever! Let’s stop the “band-aid” fixes on little issues and reform the entire system to address our legitimate requirements for legal immigration, close the porous borders, and stop favoring special interest groups.
President Trump has made a comprehensive immigration reform proposal which Congress has not worked on. I support that legislation and would work on a bipartisan basis to fix this broken system.
As a legal immigrant to the United States and as a naturalized citizen, I am fully aware of the complexities of this broken system.
Legal immigration must be based on the needs of the country, and merit.
However, we have to accept the fact we have millions of illegal immigrants. We should address this influx, build the wall, and enforce the law.
The United States must adapt an immigration system that serves its national interest. To restore the rule of law and secure our borders, President Trump is committed to constructing a border wall and ensuring the swift removal of unlawful entrants. To protect American workers, the President supports ending chain migration, eliminating the Visa Lottery, and moving the country to a merit-based entry system. And I support all these measures.
Infrastructure
Gerry Connolly
Transportation
Congressman Connolly understands that reducing traffic congestion is critical to our quality of life in Northern Virginia. As a former county government executive, Congressman Connolly led major infrastructure investments, including the extension of Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles Airport – a $5.6 billion rail project, and pursued transformative Public Private Partnerships to add capacity to our regional transportation network. In Congress, he is fighting to fund new transportation projects and fast-track projects already underway.
Transportation investments have the potential to realize enormous returns on taxpayer dollars. It was President Dwight D. Eisenhower who signed the Federal Aid Highway Act in 1956, and our nation continues to benefit from the legacy of that investment to this day, more than 60 years later. It would be difficult to calculate what the return on investment has been for the Interstate Highway System – a massive investment entirely financed with federal funds – but we know that, to this day, it enables enormous economic activity and touches our lives on a daily basis.
Congressman Connolly has helped lead the effort to conduct Congressional oversight of safety and accountability at Metro. He sees a system in crisis and in desperate need of a wholesale culture change. Congressman Connolly understands that failure of Metro is not an option. It is too important to our regional mobility. He helped lead the effort to establish the new Metrorail Safety Commission. He is the author of Metro reform legislation that is supported by Members of Congress from Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. And he is leading the fight to preserve the annual $150 million federal investment in Metro necessary to replace aging rail cars and make other needed safety and infrastructure improvements. We need Metro to be a safe and reliable transit backbone for the national capital region.
Manga Anantatmula
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Safety
Gerry Connolly
Gun Safety
Congressman Connolly has been a strong supporter of common-sense gun safety legislation and believes that upholding the 2nd Amendment does not have to come at the expense of public safety. In Congress, he is an original cosponsor of the Assault Weapons Ban. He supports limits on large-capacity ammunition magazines, expanding background checks, closing the gun-show loophole, and preventing suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms. He also supports a repeal of the federal restrictions that prevent local law enforcement officials from accessing criminal gun trace information that is necessary to conduct gun crime investigations and dismantle illegal gun trafficking networks.
Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Congressman Connolly met with the Parkland students and joined Northern Virginia students at the March for Our Lives. He supports the federal ban on bump stocks and voted for funding that permits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct gun violence research. These are incremental steps in the right direction, and he will continue to push for sensible gun safety measures.
Criminal Justice Reform
Congressman Connolly is a member of a bipartisan group of lawmakers committed to addressing the complex challenges facing our nation’s dysfunctional criminal justice system. He supports strategies that reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and decrease corrections costs for state and local governments. He also supports permitting courts to reduce or amend mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent defendants.
As Chairman of Fairfax County, he has seen firsthand the value of modernizing criminal justice initiatives and remains a strong advocate of innovative reform programs, such as Veterans Treatment Courts. These courts provide eligible veterans with an alternative to jail, promote community collaboration, and can connect veterans with the programs and benefits they have earned. Fairfax County established the Commonwealth of Virginia’s first such program, known as the Veterans Treatment Docket
Manga Anantatmula
Defending Law and Order in Your Community
Across our great nation, there are protests calling for the removal and defunding of police. And I’ll be the first to admit that not all cops are good in their treatment of citizens, particularly our Black-American citizens. As an Indian-American, I do not want my child hurt by the police and I do not want your children harmed. It is the duty of all elected officials to demand that our police forces protect all of us equally and uphold our rights under the Constitution and existing laws.
The police play a critical role in the society. Without their protection, you and I would be at the mercy of other citizens and some of them may have an opportunity to harm us. The police are there when children are in danger. They are there when a mother delivers a baby early at home. They are there in spousal abuse cases. They are there a thousand times when needed in your community.
As your elected representative, I will work with our local authorities to ensure the police force in VA11 are there for you when you need them. I will work to remove any in law enforcement that do not treat all citizens fairly according to existing laws. It is your right to be protected by the police, not be fearful of the police. Fortunately, VA11 has a wonderful police force that respects our laws and treats our citizens very fairly.
We must also remember that in our community not everyone is a good person. There are some who are criminal and would harm you, your children, and businesses in your community. We should not and cannot allow such people to go about freely and commit crimes. The police must be given the authority needed to stop them. Do you want criminals running about in your neighborhood and community that would harm you and your family with no one in authority to apprehend them?
And I intend to go further. I will work to reform the criminal justice system. With over 2.2 Million people in overcrowded jails and prisons, many coming from poor and minority backgrounds, our criminal justice system needs a thorough going over. We can and must overhaul the current status quo to ensure fairness to all citizens that are incarcerated. Join me and vote for me to protect you, your family, and your community.
Gangs and Sanctuary Policies
Stop NOVA from becoming a Sanctuary place for Gangs (MS13) and Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a crime of abuse and violence against adults and children in our nation. The exact number of human trafficking victims is unknown because these crimes are done in secret and hidden from the public. The U.S. Department of Justice defines human trafficking as a crime that involves exploiting a person for labor, services, or commercial sex. human trafficking is one of the world’s fastest-growing criminal enterprises being done by gangs. Victims of trafficking are coerced and intimidated into silence to keep the risk of detection at a minimum and profitability at a maximum. Gangs use the Internet to lure youth and adults into commercial sexual exploitation. Between 1990 and 2010, reports indicate there were more than 200 cases of gangs involved with human trafficking. Gangs move victims between cities and states to avoid capture or notice by police or the public.
Human trafficking is modern slavery. A 2013 study identified 459 children as sex trafficking victims in Oregon. The average age of the victims was 15 and a half. The youngest child was eight. One in six already had given birth to her own child. African Americans were overrepresented. And about one-fifth came from families with a history of sexual exploitation. But the statistic that most alarmed police was this one: nearly half had a connection to a gang. Local law enforcement agencies often are the first to come into contact with this covert crime. As first responders, law enforcement agencies play a critical role in identifying and responding to human trafficking cases. With victims being moved between cities and states it is essential that collaboration between law enforcement (Federal, State, and local), prosecutors and victim service providers is ongoing and effective.
There is a movement across our country for elected officials to advocate and enact sanctuary city policies on the basis that sanctuaries are good for the communities that adopt them as they make them safer by increasing trust between illegal aliens and the police. Sanctuary cities also make it VERY SAFE for gangs to engage in human trafficking. How? Our elected officials enact laws forbidding state and local law enforcement from sharing vital information about criminal gang activity with federal law enforcement agencies. And local and state law enforcement agencies do not have the money, people, or resources to combat the share number of gangs and victims that come into a city once sanctuary status is declared. This puts your family and especially your children at great risk! Join me and vote for me to protect you, your family, and your community from gangs and human trafficking.
A Strong National Security
National Security is one of the more pressing issues facing America. International terrorism, in its many forms, is a grave threat to our country. Additionally, the international policies of Iran, Russia, China, and the Middle East are a major threat to the well-being of the U.S. I support an aggressive approach in our war on global terrorism and other countries with unfavorable political policies toward the United States.
Our military strength is the cornerstone of our National Security. With a strong military, our nation is safe and it reassures our allies thereby enhancing world peace and prosperity. If elected I will support investments in the safety, security, and reliability of our nuclear deterrent, investments in our special operations forces, and will support the training and equipping the security forces of friendly nations. I will fight for a stronger and freer America by supporting the military readiness of our troops, congressional oversight of the Pentagon, its policies, and its programs, and defense reforms in areas, such as military health care, military justice, and the military acquisition system.
To keep our Homeland safe, we must make our national security a top priority and provide our military forces the capability to monitor evolving threats throughout the World.
Veterans
Gerry Connolly
Congressman Connolly is proud to represent more than 80,000 veterans and their families. He has fought to make sure our veterans have quality health care, better pay, and access to services throughout their lives. In recognition of his efforts, Our Military Kids, an organization dedicated to helping military children, awarded him the “Friend of Military Kids” award for his work on behalf of military families. In addition, Congressman Connolly has consistently received a perfect score from the Military Officers Association of America.
Since coming to Congress, he has fought for more reliable funding for veteran health care, new investments in treating traumatic brain injuries sustained by our service members, and improved assistance for homeless veterans. He has helped advance legislation to limit increases to TRICARE premiums, provide free postal benefits for troops in combat zones, provide disability compensation for PTSD, allow military retirees to pay their health care premiums with pre-tax dollars, expand the eligibility for concurrent receipt of military retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation, and provide education and respite care support services for family caregivers. Congressman Connolly has introduced legislation that would ensure the immediate payment of military death benefits to survivors of fallen servicemembers when federal spending authority lapses and expand the transferability of education assistance to veterans’ dependents.
Congressman Connolly believes that we have a sacred obligation to ensure that the men and women who sacrifice so much to defend our freedoms receive the services and benefits that they have earned. That starts with a functional and well-run VA. Congressman Connolly has supported efforts to improve management accountability at the VA, reduce VA backlogs, and help veterans access care at private facilities when they are unable to do so at VA centers in a timely manner. Any veteran who finds him or herself in need of assistance should know that Congressman Connolly’s door is always open.
Manga Anantatmula
I will introduce bills that build a system that will solve our veterans issues, lead a worry free life when they return home from service to our dear Nation.
We must strive to build communities that truly serve, support, and protect our veterans from the very first moment they return to civilian life.
– President Donald J. Trump
SERVING, SUPPORTING, AND PROTECTING OUR VETERANS is my priority to support the American veterans who courageously protected our country. PROVIDING QUALITY CARE to improve healthcare for veterans and end the tragedy of veteran suicide.
HONORING OUR HEROES AT HOME to ensure that our veterans receive the resources they need to return to civilian life with dignity and security.Veteran issues namely substance abuse and depression, dementia and other mental and physical needs of the elderly need to be addressed. As one of the formidable contenders in the forthcoming VA 11 elections, I would like to say ‘Manga for veterans’ if chosen as a US Representative.
