The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
Virginia Senate Democrats still smarting over their lost majority voted against the Senate's budget bill in committee Sunday, a symbolic move foreshadowing a potential stalemate over approval of a state spending blueprint for the next two years.
That political spectacle was the enduring image from an afternoon session when the General Assembly's money committees unveiled their competing budget proposals.
Each panel offered modified versions of the $84.9 billion plan Gov. Bob McDonnell rolled-out in December with contrasting visions for spending on health care, education, transportation and other government services.
Democrats displayed their defiance ahead of budget consideration by the full Senate later this week.
They can delay budget approval because Republicans lack the votes in the Senate split 20-20 to pass a spending plan without Democratic support.
And that leverage could help Democrats gain policy and political concessions they seek -- they've long maintained power should be shared in the evenly-divided Senate.
"Absent zero changing, there probably won't be a Senate budget," Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, said after the vote, declining to say what spoils his party wants.
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The theocrats will never
The theocrats will never compromise.
Dems can Play Hardball too
Senate Democrats have an opportunity to make up lost ground if they can stick together. First they can demand parity on every Senate committee and undo the Republican power grab at the outset of the session. Equally important is for Saslaw to have a say about which Democrats go to which committees so Republicans do not pack the health committees with the two Dems (Colgan & Pickett) who vote with them on abortions or the Justice committee with the Dems(Deeds & Edwards) who vote with the NRA. Second, the Dems can get more money for K-12 education. Third, they can insist the Governor get behind indexing the gas tax for inflation which is a proposal of the Senate Republicans that is strongly opposed by the no tax increase crowd.
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Democrats see the
Democrats see the handwriting on the wall. The people of Virginia will not stand for the socialist agenda that the party is advocating. Last election was only the beginning.
VA Senate
Republicans have gone wild- the polls that came out today show that Virginians do not endorse this radical right agenda- Virginia has always been a respected State with pragmatic views and fairness. The Republican attacks on woman, education, teachers and promoting unsafe laws in a State that wintneesed the worse massacre by an insane person. The Republicans want to supress the voting rights of Blacks, hispanics and college students so they wont vote for democrats. Do Republicans think that Virginians are stupid? I cant wait for the next election because I know they Senate and Governor will change to Dems. Bolling and Cucinelli are very scary- look at Bollings votes. People of Tidewater we must hold our elected people accountable
I don't know what polls you
I don't know what polls you are looking at, but the people of Virginia spoke in the last election by throwing out the democrats for their excessive tax and spend attitude. These democrats continued to spend without regard for middle class, working Virginian's who are tired of paying for those who think they deserve something for nothing. National elections will result in the same changes. Democrats are on the way out. The only drawback to that is it won't come soon enough.
tax and spend???
I don't see how Senate Democrats can be accused accurately of a tax and spend attitude. Virginia has not raised its taxes in many years. The gas tax has not gone up any since 1986. That is why our roads are in such poor condition and there is not even a penny in the state maintenance fund for neighborhood streets. Two Democratic incumbents lost in districts that tend to vote Republican most of the time. That is not a mandate or a rejection.
Heading in that direction
The Virginia General Assembly is heading in the direction that Congress has chosen....no budget, every issue is a fight, they all talk in political rhetoric rather than facts and most of all ARE ONLY LOOKING OUT FOR THE PARTY LINE!!!!
P.S. That applies to both political parties!!!
They have to come home
I think a major factor that keeps state legislators from going completely along the federal path is that they spend most of the year at home running businesses and living in the world the rest of us do. Maybe if we limited the feds to 6 months a year in Washington, they would keep enough in touch with reality to get the nation's business done.
Here's an interesting link for ya
http://hobnobblog.com/congress-by-the-numbers/
Gives the days each Congress has been session plus the hours they were in session.