House Judiciary Committee member Gerald Connolly, D-VA, questions Emma-Jo Morris, a journalist at Breitbart News during a hearing on the Federal Government on Thursday, July 20, 2023 in Washington DC. Image: Jemal Countess/UPI/Shutterstock
By: FEDweek StaffRep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a longtime advocate of federal employee and retiree interests, has died at age 75.
Connolly has recently announced that his esophageal cancer, which had been in remission, had returned and that he would step down from that post and not run for re-election in his Northern Virginia district that is heavy with federal employees.
Connolly was a leading voice in Congress regarding federal employee pay and benefits legal rights. He annually sponsored bills seeking to boost the federal employee pay raise and enhance health insurance benefits, while opposing proposals to cut benefits and employment or to weaken civil service protections.
He also was a leading force behind creation of the Technology Management Fund and several laws on government IT.
Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.—with whom Connolly regularly clashed on federal employment-related issues—cited Connolly as “a dedicated public servant who represented Virginia’s 11th Congressional District with honor and integrity. We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague.”
Said the NTEU union, ”He understood our role in government, respected our contributions to the nation, defended our right to organize and demanded that we be treated with dignity and respect. When he spoke on the House floor, at a union rally or with his beloved constituents, his passion for public service always shined through.”
“Throughout his tenure in Congress, Gerry Connolly championed the rights and well-being of federal workers . . . He stood firmly against initiatives that aimed to undermine the merit-based system, recognizing the importance of a nonpartisan and effective federal workforce,” said the AFGE union.
Connolly’s last official act as a member of Congress was to co-sponsor, along with Comer, a bill to have the GAO produce a report on available treatment options, public awareness efforts, initiatives to improve patient quality of life and federal health care spending on esophageal cancer.
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