Congressman Wolf is a member of the House Appropriations Committee which oversees the budgets of all federal agencies. He serves on three subcommittees -- Transportation, of which he is the Chairman, Treasury-Postal Service-General Government, and Foreign Operations. In addition, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and serves on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), also known as the Helsinki Commission.

His committee assignments allow Congressman Wolf an ideal vantage point from which to address major concerns of his constituents including: regional transportation improvements; healthy growth of the local and national economy; fair treatment of active and retired federal workers; protection of the American family, and preservation of human rights around the world.

During his tenure in Congress, Rep. Wolf has successfully championed many transportation improvements for Virginia. These include securing federal funding to: widen I-66 from the Capital Beltway to Route 29 at Gainesville, including construction of an interchange at I-66 and the Route 234 Manassas bypass; complete the 103-mile Metro system, and upgrade mass transit in the Washington Dulles International Airport Corridor, including an express bus system which can build ridership and pave the way for future rail service in this vital corridor.

Prompted by his concern to make the Capital Beltway and other area roads safer, Congressman Wolf has worked with local jurisdictions, safety and industry groups, and Federal Highway Administration officials to develop and implement over 50 recommendations to upgrade truck and highway safety. In addition, Congressman Wolf has introduced legislation to help states address the problem of teenage drunk driving and reduce the incidence of alcohol-related traffic accidents among this age group.

Rep. Wolf also led the effort several years ago to transfer control of Washington Dulles and National airports from the federal government to a regional operating authority -- a change that has helped to create thousands of new jobs and to make Dulles the fastest growing airport in America.

Congressman Wolf has established an initiative to boost the regional tourism industry by utilizing Virginia's two gateway airports to market scenic and historic attractions to foreign and domestic tourists. His efforts resulted in the production of a unique regional map that is being distributed to travelers at Dulles, National, and Baltimore-Washington International airports to encourage tourism and spur economic growth.

Recognizing the need to preserve the Shenandoah Valley's distinct Civil War heritage and to expand tourism, Rep. Wolf introduced legislation to establish in Virginia the Shenandoah Valley National Battlefields and Commission. This bill to create a new national park that would include historical significant battlefield sites from throughout the Valley has amassed overwhelming support among property owners, local elected officials, historians, preservationists and citizens.

In an effort to retain local jobs and keep Virginia's economy strong, the Congressman secured provisions to ensure that the Virginia Inland Port at Front Royal retain its U.S. Customs port of entry status, enabling it to continue to attract international commerce. It was also through his efforts that the Winchester Regional Airport retained its Customs official.

In keeping with his commitment to preserve a high-quality federal workforce, Rep. Wolf has championed many family-friendly workplace policies such as child care, job sharing, leave sharing, flextime, flexplace and telecommuting. He authored legislation to help establish several federal telecommuting centers located outside of Washington, D.C., where employees can conveniently perform their regular office duties and remain in contact with their offices in the nation's capital via computer, fax machine and telephone. The nation's first federal center is located in the city of Winchester. The pilot centers help alleviate traffic congestion, improve office productivity, and allow employees more time to spend with their families.

Congressman Wolf's initiatives also helped create nearly 100 on-site or nearby child care centers in federal and private sector facilities in Virginia and across the country that allow working parents to spend more time with their children. He has also been a leader in Congress in promoting policies to provide tax relief to families with children.

Working with many local and international organizations, Rep. Wolf has helped improve human rights and basic living conditions for refugees in many parts of the world, including El Salvador, the horn of Africa, Southeast Asia, and eastern Europe. In April 1991, he visited the People's Republic of China and met with Premier Li Peng to discuss human rights, religious freedom, illegal exportation of prison-made goods, and other issues tied to the granting of most favored nation (MFN) trade status to China. He also visited Beijing Prison No. 1, where at least 40 Tiananmen Square demonstrators are imprisoned.

The Congressman led the successful effort at the close of the 102nd Congress to revoke Serbia's MFN trade status on human rights grounds. During his visits to the former Yugoslavia early in 1994 and in 1991 and 1992, Congressman Wolf met with Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian officials and religious leaders to urge a swift and peaceful resolution to the unrelenting civil war. He was also the first U.S. Congressman to enter a Serb-run prison camp inside Bosnia-Herzegovina to observe human rights conditions.

He also worked in the late 1980's to call attention to the human rights abuses in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states which led to the withdrawal of Romania's MFN trade status under the repressive Ceausescu regime.

Congressman Wolf has a long-standing reputation for providing excellent constituent services. The National Journal publication, The Almanac of American Politics 1992, said Rep. Wolf "maintains a crackerjack constituency service operation." His district offices in Herndon and Winchester specialize in working with all federal departments and agencies to assist citizens in solving a wide range of individual problems.

Frank Wolf was born in 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he attended public schools. He received his B.A. degree from Penn State University in 1961 and his law degree from Georgetown University in 1965. Prior to his election to Congress, he was employed on a congressional staff, at the Department of the Interior, and as an attorney. He lives in Vienna with his wife Carolyn. They are the parents of five children.

ADDRESS:

The Honorable Frank R. Wolf

241 Cannon House Office Building

United States House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515-4610

PHONE:

(202)225-5136

FAX:

(202)225-0437