Congressional Update: Report on Virginia's Senators and Representatives

JOBS
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., wants the federal government to help take care of 1,200 Virginia workers who are to be laid off between now and March 2009 from Richmond-based Qimonda, a semiconductor manufacturer.

Webb sent a letter Wednesday to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao in support of a petition Qimonda filed for Trade Adjustment Assistance, which provides career counseling, training, and income to qualifying workers who become unemployed for trade-related reasons.

“Due to the damaging effects of foreign imports on the semiconductor industry in Virginia, I strongly support Qimonda’s petition for worker assistance,” Webb said in a statement. “In addition to providing immediate support for these laid off workers, we must address the larger issue of enforcement of U.S. trade laws.”

OFFICE SPACE

After spending a week at new member orientation, Democrat Tom Perriello said he “got a little gift” – the right to skip the lottery for House office space.

Because his race with Rep. Virgil Goode, R-5th, remains undecided House administrators said Perriello must skip the lottery that typically decides freshman office assignments.

“We were starting to look at the various closets we might have as options and they (House administrators) told us don't bother,” Perriello said.

If he is sworn in to office, he will get Goode’s space. As a six-term incumbent it’s better real estate than anything a new member could snag through the lottery.

“We’ve certainly had some jealous looks,” said Perriello. His 745-vote lead will not be certified by the state until Monday. Goode can demand a recount at that time.

NAVY LETTERS

Political rivals united Tuesday in opposing a U.S. Navy decision to move an aircraft carrier from Norfolk Naval Station to Mayport, Fla.

Republican Rep. Thelma Drake, R-2nd, and the Democrat who defeated her, Rep.-elect Glenn Nye, signed a joint letter with three other Virginia lawmakers to President-elect Barack Obama, suggesting he could save $500 million in the Pentagon budget by reversing the Navy decision.

The representatives attacked the Navy rationale for strategically dispersing the Atlantic Fleet because carriers are “already dispersed around the world on a routine basis.”

Reps. Robert C. Scott, J. Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman also signed the letter to Obama. Virginia’s Senate delegation sent a separate letter Wednesday to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking the decision be delayed 90 days.

CHECKING CHINA

Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th, raised new concerns Thursday about China upon the release of an annual report on the communist country by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

The commission’s report confirmed China’s “mixed record” of transparency on issues of foreign investment, said Forbes, co-chair of the Congressional China Caucus.

“It is critical that we continue to monitor China’s rapidly increasing presence in the U.S. economy with the goal of decreasing China’s leverage over national security and foreign policy interests, especially now as it holds more of our national debt that any other country,” Forbes said in a statement.

The Republican’s top concerns remain China’s rapid military buildup, increased cyber espionage, disregard for food safety and intellectual property theft.

ECONOMIC COMMISSION

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th, is seeking the creation of a bipartisan commission to study the nation’s economic future.

In a letter sent Thursday to President-elect Barack Obama, Wolf called on the incoming administration to support legislation creating a blue ribbon panel to review government spending and tax policy and make recommendations for congressional action. The panel would be called the SAFE commission – Securing America’s Future Economy.

The letter says the commission would be unique, because “it has teeth and mandates action, similar to the base closing commission,” which makes recommendations for Congress to simply vote up or down.

“Your active support of the SAFE Commission effort in Congress would signal the critical immediacy of attacking this problem head on,” Wolf said in a statement.

--Neil H. Simon