Weekly Updates

​I hope that you all were able to enjoy a safe and relaxing holiday weekend with family. This past week, I was pleased to be able to meet with folks and visit various businesses and organizations throughout the First District to hear what folks think about what’s going on in Washington, as well as to hear their ideas about smart policies that Washington should consider in the future.

One of the events I particularly enjoyed attending this week was the Virginia Peninsula Boys and Girls Club’s 25th Annual “Steak n Burger” Dinner in Newport News. Boys and Girls Clubs nationwide are such important parts of our communities, providing vital support roles as our youth work to graduate from high school and prepare for further education or careers. I was pleased to join with Representative Bobby Scott and Steve Kast, President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of the Virginia Peninsula, as the Peninsula branch received a Department of Justice grant that will enable them to continue their great work assisting our youth in reaching their potential.

I have enjoyed the opportunity to work with Representative Scott on these types of initiatives during my time in Congress, and I am proud to be a part of the Virginia congressional delegation, which has historically exhibited a bipartisan approach to addressing public policy challenges that face our Commonwealth. It is critical that our nation’s leaders find areas of common ground so that we can leave behind this continual state of gridlock in Washington and move toward an atmosphere of actually solving the challenges we face.

Finding solutions to these challenges must remain at the forefront of national discussion. This past week, I was able to visit the Gloucester location of the Virginia Oncology Associates Center. Touring their cancer center was an important opportunity to see firsthand how the recent, across-the-board budget cuts, known as sequestration, are impacting Virginians. While sequestration has initially affected Virginia’s economy in areas related to the military or government services, organizations like VOAC could feel the impacts as other, non-defense spending reductions go into effect. At the same time, federal employees and their families across the First District are continuing to have to plan for mandatory furloughs due to Congress’ failure to act to replace the cuts. The patients and physicians at places like the Virginia Oncology Associates Center, as well as our dedicated federal employees, deserve better than this continued uncertainty. Congress has a duty to assure that the reductions in spending are done in thoughtful, logical ways that focus upon increasing efficiency, addressing waste, fraud and abuse, and eliminating duplicative programs. I will continue to pursue responsible solutions to address sequestration.

The main streets of Virginia’s First District are full of ideas to get our economy back on track, and your feedback is so important to me as I serve you. I can be reached by telephone at (202) 225-4261, through my website (www.wittman.house.gov), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/reprobwittman), and via Twitter (www.twitter.com/robwittman).