More than 12,000 residents of Virginia’s 11^th Congressional District participated in Rep. Gerry Connolly’s Telephone Town Hall Thursday night.  During the hour-long meeting, Connolly addressed a variety of issues in response to questions from constituents.

Connolly took questions directly from constituents on the call and also fielded questions posed to him on Twitter and Facebook.

Thursday’s telephone town hall marked the tenth time Connolly has held such a session.  The format allows thousands of constituents to listen in to the conversation.  Connolly handled 15 questions during the meeting and subsequently responded to another 60 questions from constituents who left voice mails at the end of the meeting, or sent their queries via emails, Tweets, and Facebook.

Responding to a question concerning the impact of deep federal budget cuts on Northern Virginia’s defense contracting community, Connolly said he was confident Northern Virginia businesses will continue to shine.  He said NoVA contractors are not involved in the business of building tanks and other military hardware.  Instead, they are focused on cybersecurity, advanced technologies, and research and development that “will be in greater demand as the Pentagon shrinks.”  He also cited NoVA’s “broad economic base” and said many NoVA businesses are involved in technology activities and support services other than defense that benefit the federal government and consumers.

Commenting on the debt ceiling vote in the House earlier in the week, Connolly said he voted for the legislation because the only alternative was a U.S. default and economic catastrophe.  He noted that even with passage of the debt ceiling agreement, Fairfax and Prince William Counties, along with the City of Fairfax, could still face the possibility of bond rating downgrades from the rating agencies.  He said that it is important to preserve the bond ratings for communities because good ratings result in lower interest rates for the jurisdictions and saves taxpayers millions of dollars.

Other questions covered the status of Telework legislation, sponsored by Connolly, that is now law and requires federal agencies to step up their Telework programs, the trampling of human rights by the Syrian government, transportation issues in NoVA and the need to provide alternatives for commuters, and his efforts to fight a plan passed by House Republicans that would dismantle the Medicare program which provides health care to seniors and the disabled.

Two callers thanked Connolly for his work on Capitol Hill and the constituent services he provides from his two District Offices in Annandale and Woodbridge.  One of the callers from Prince William County thanked Connolly for helping him save his family’s home from foreclosure. 

Connolly’s previous town meetings have been very popular with constituents and this meeting was no exception.  Many constituents emailed or called after the meeting to encourage Connolly to keep holding such sessions.

Connolly regularly holds meeting with constituents and participates in other forums and events across the 11^th District.  But the telephone town halls are the only opportunity for him to communicate with thousands of constituents at one time in a conversational setting.  “Many NoVA residents don’t have the time to get home from work and then fight traffic to come to a meeting,” Connolly said.  “This format allows them to settle down in their own living rooms and participate in a conversation.”

Full audio of the telephone townhall can be found by clicking here.