Just four days after the tragic shootings in Newtown, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, wrote the Republican chairman and highest-ranking Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, asking them to make gun safety a priority.

The leaders of the committee agreed, scheduling a hearing on school safety next Wednesday.

“After tragic shootings on school grounds in Colorado, Virginia and Newtown, Connecticut, it is clear that we must sharpen our focus on the safety of our students and teachers,” Courtney said in a statement.

The committee’s witnesses have not been announced yet.

When Courtney made his pitch, he  had just won a set back on the panel, which he was forced to give up in 2010, when Democrats lost their majority in the House and lost seats on all committees.

Ana has written about politics and policy in Washington, D.C.. for Gannett, Thompson Reuters and UPI. She was a special correspondent for the Miami Herald, and a regular contributor to The New York TImes, Advertising Age and several other publications. She has also worked in broadcast journalism, for CNN and several local NPR stations. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Journalism.

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