 Fredericksburg, Va. – On October 9, 2018, Congressman Rob Wittman sent out an email touting his legislative achievements during this past session of Congress. In an email entitled “Getting things done” Wittman takes credit for 5 pieces of legislation specifically stating, “MY BILLS SIGNED INTO LAW.”
The problem is only two of the bills were actually authored by Wittman and of those two, only one has been signed into law.
“It’s a sad day when a five term congressman has to take credit for bills written by other members of the House to try to prove to voters that he’s doing his job,” said Joel Leonard, Campaign Manager for Vangie Williams. “We had both Republicans and Democrats alike forwarding this email to the campaign calling it everything from ‘bogus’ to ‘a pack of outright lies.’ After looking into it, I can’t say they’re wrong.”
Rob Wittman has been in the House of Representatives for 11 years and only managed to pass five bills that he’s sponsored in that period of time. Two of those bills were renaming bills – one bill renamed a Post Office building and the other named a portion of the Rappahannock River rapids for former Senator John Warner.
“The people of the 1st District know that Rob Wittman isn’t fighting for them in Congress,” added Leonard. “He continues to take care of shipyards that aren’t in his district while people in his own district struggle to find good-paying jobs and suffer through increasing traffic problems in the interstate corridors.
“The fact that he’s resorted to using official Congressional email to make his case for re-election is completely feckless. And even worse, he’s taking credit for legislation written and passed by Democrats – two of whom have endorsed Vangie to take Rob’s place. This entire situation is proof that Rob Wittman knows his time in Congress coming to an end. Vangie’s uniting message of ‘we the people’ is rapidly winning over the hearts and minds of the people of the 1st District because after 11 years of inaction by the incumbent, voters agree that we deserve better.”
The bills cited by Wittman are:
H.R. 984 Thomasina E. Jordan Virginia Tribal Recognition Act
Sponsor: Rob Wittman, VA-01 (Republican)
Introduced: February 7, 2017
Current Status: Signed into Law (January 29, 2018)
Claim: TRUE
H.R. 2994 Securing the Homeland by Increasing our Power on the Seas (SHIPS) Act
Sponsor: Rob Wittman, VA-01 (Republican)
Introduced: June 21, 2017
Current Status: Referred to Subcommittee
Wittman Claim: FALSE
H.R. 3979 Keep America’s Refuges Operational Act
Sponsor: Hakeem Jeffries, NY-08 (Democrat)
Introduced: October 5, 2017
Current Status: Signed into Law (April 23, 2018)
Wittman Claim: FALSE
H.R. 2286 Domestic Maritime Centers of Excellence Act
Sponsor: Gene Green, TX-29 (Democrat)
Introduced: May 2, 2017
Current Status: Referred to Committee
Wittman Claim: FALSE
H.R. 4694 Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act
Sponsor: Don Beyer, VA-08 (Democrat)
Introduced: December 20, 2017
Current Status: Referred to Committee
Claim: FALSE
[SOURCE: Congress.gov] |
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