By Suzanne Kubota
Senior Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.com

There’s not much people see eye-to-eye on in Washington. But everyone agrees, Congress has a lot of work to do. The budget, federal pay and benefits, and the anticipated traffic disaster of BRAC are just three of the issues Northern Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) is dealing with.

Federal News Radio spoke with Connolly. Following are the topics and excepted comments. To hear the entire conversation, click on the audio player at the top of the page.

BRAC

Even with the support of Congress in delaying BRAC moves, Connolly said the decision to move to the Mark Center was ill considered by the Army. While a year’s delay buys time for some road construction, he said, “I wouldn’t hold out a lot of hope that even if we could meet an expedited construction schedule, that somehow that’s going to solve the problem. It’s going to help, but it’s not going to solve the whole problem and that’s why I deeply regret that the Army decided to choose this site.”

CONTRACTORS

A draft executive order would require contractors to disclose campaign contributions and other political donations. A bill blocking that requirement has cleared the House. Connolly agreed with his colleagues that the requirement is counter-productive, all the way down to its roots. “I think Citizens United goes down as one of the top worst decisions ever made by a United States Supreme Court. It is going to up-end our political process. Transparency and sunshine are the great, I think, important ingredients in our politics. Citizens United consciously takes both out of our political process.”

2012 BUDGET

“I’m not confident that the Republicans or the Democrats are going be able to produce a budget (for FY 2012) that everyone can live with and I think there’s a good probability we’re going to go for a second year in a row without a formal budget being adopted. Appropriations bills are moving nonetheless, and of course that’s where the real fight is going to be in terms of what investments are made and not made. Budgets are all about values, and quite frankly, I think this Congress is as polarized as any I can remember in terms of values.”

FEDERAL PAY, BENEFITS & PERFORMANCE

“Some of my colleagues have lost sight of the nobility of public service. Federal workers provide enormous service to the United States. We saw that in FEMA with the tornadoes in the South. We see it every day on the borders of the United States in protecting us. We see it with civilian workers who work side by side with our men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan. Frankly it just sickens me to watch the disparagement and making federal employees and the federal workforce a punching bag for someone’s political agenda. That’s got to stop. There are a number of us who are strong advocates for federal workers. We’re going to continue to speak out, we’re going to continue to fight back. A very alarming trend, especially on the other side of the aisle.”

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