Gerry Connolly

Gerald Edward Connolly (born March 30, 1950) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district, first elected in 2008.

The district is anchored in Fairfax County, an affluent suburban county west of Washington, D.C. It includes all of Fairfax City and part of Prince William County.

Connolly is a member of the Democratic Party.

Connolly graduated from Maryknoll College in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, with a B.A. in literature in 1971, and completed a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School in 1979.

Connolly worked from 1979 to 1989 with the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, where he managed committee oversight of international economic issues, international narcotics control, and United Nations and Middle East policies, and published reports on U.S. policy in El Salvador, Central America, Israel, and the Persian Gulf region.

From 1989 to 1997, he was Vice President of the Washington Office of SRI International.

He was also Director of Community Relations for SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation).

In local politics, Connolly served on the Fairfax Government Reorganization Commission from 1992 to 1993.

In 1995, he was elected Providence District Supervisor, serving for nine years.

Connolly's career as a public official began on March 28, 1995, when he won a special election for the Providence District seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, defeating Republican Jeannemarie A. Devolites.

A rematch against Devolites in November of that same year saw Connolly reelected to a full four-year term on the board.

Connolly ran unopposed for reelection in November 1999.

He was elected Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2003 and reelected in 2007.

Connolly has voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, the supplemental appropriations bill that established Cash for Clunkers, and the Cash for Clunkers Extension.

Additionally, he voted for all of the 2010 governmental appropriations bills, and he voted for the Continuing Appropriations Act for 2011.

During the budget amendments process in 2011, he voted against an amendment that would have prevented taxpayer funds from going to Planned Parenthood.

Connolly voted in favor of the articles of the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

He said during debate on the articles that extorting "a foreign country to investigate your political opponent is an unconstitutional abuse of power. To solicit foreign interference in an American election is an unconstitutional abuse of power."

Connolly has voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 regarding funding the US Armed Forces, including the paychecks delivered to soldiers but also including a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to detain anyone "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners", and anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the United States or its coalition allies in aid of such enemy forces, under the law of war, "without trial, until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization of Use of Military Force."

The law would not grant new powers to the President but does codify federal court rulings on this issue and the detainment of unlawful combatants until hostilities are over is in accordance to the Geneva Conventions.

As chairman of the ten-member board, Connolly balanced a $4.5 billion budget and managed a county that would be the nation's 13th-largest city, 12th-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.

Connolly also served as chairman of the board of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC), chairman of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC), and was chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG).

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.

Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (H.R. 1232; 113th Congress) As the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Connolly co-sponsored this bill with Darrell Issa.

It is a proposed bill that would make changes and reforms to the current framework that manages how the federal government buys new technology.

One of the requirements would be that the government develop a streamlined plan for its acquisitions.

The bill would increase the power of existing chief information officers (CIO) within federal agencies so that they could be more effective.

Each agency would also be reduced to having only one CIO in the agency, who is then responsible for the success and failure of all IT projects in that agency.

The bill would also require the federal government to make use of private sector best practices.

The bill is intended to reduce IT procurement related waste.

Explaining the bill, Connolly said that "there are more than 250 identified CIOs in the federal government, yet none possess the necessary authority to effectively manage IT investments" which has "resulted in duplicative and wasteful IT spending."

It passed the House in a voice vote on February 25, 2014.

Government Reports Elimination Act of 2014 (H.R. 4194; 113th Congress) As the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Connolly co-sponsored this bill with Darrell Issa.

It is a proposed bill that would eliminate approximately 100 required federal agency reports that are considered redundant or wasteful.

Connolly argued that "in today's challenging fiscal environment, it is incumbent that we leverage every opportunity to streamline or eliminate antiquated agency reporting requirements that are duplicative, irrelevant or simply ignored."

The bill passed in the House in a voice vote on April 28, 2014.

Connolly votes with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight analysis completed in January 2023.

Connolly is pro-choice.

He voted against the Stupak Amendment to the Affordable Care Act, which placed stringent limits on health insurance companies offering abortion services.