Congressman Gerald E. Connolly Post Office Building

Floor Speech

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Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Walkinshaw for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6332.

As Mr. Walkinshaw has said, this legislation would name the post office at 10660 Page Avenue in Fairfax as the Gerald E. Connolly Post Office in honor of my dear friend and former colleague, the late Congressman Gerry Connolly.

Mr. Speaker, I used to tease Gerry all the time about the 41-mile Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail in Fairfax County that was a hiking, biking, and bridle trail. It went the whole arc, from one side of Fairfax County to another, but it is difficult to imagine a more fitting tribute to Gerry's lifetime of public service than this post office because of what he has done.

He wrote, sponsored, and passed the most important postal reform in this century, literally this millennium. He loved the Postal Service. He fought for it year after year.

He served on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for 15 years and, again, was an immensely important leader on that committee. He fiercely believed in the Federal Government's commitment to the American public for affordable and reliable mail delivery for every single household in our country, but he was also a steadfast champion for the unsung heroes, the postal workers, who made that possible. He led the defense against the DOGE attacks on the Postal Service and efforts by this administration to privatize the Postal Service.

As Gerry Connolly often reminded us, public service is leaving communities better than we found them, and Northern Virginia is a better place for Gerry's time in public service.

I first met Gerry and Smitty when they came in as a young married couple 42 years ago when we volunteered on the same Governor's campaign. Over the years, everything that could be done by any human being to make life better for the citizens of Northern Virginia, Gerry did--as a civic association leader, a supervisor, a chairman, a Congressman, the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and, most of all, as the Democratic chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform--everything that he did.

Let me just say, Mr. Speaker, I will miss him greatly. This is a due and appropriate honor.

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