McDonnell signs caboose budget
Gov. Bob McDonnell today signed, without any vetoes, the final caboose budget for FY 2012. He received both the FY 2012 caboose budget and the final biennial budget for FY 2013-2014 as passed by the General Assembly on Wednesday.
In keeping with his intention to quickly finalize the budget, the governor plans to act on the FY 2013-2014 biennial budget in the days ahead. Read more
Webb sponsors legislation promoting investment in motorsports
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) has cosponsored bipartisan legislation to ensure the motorsports industry, which supports thousands of jobs across Virginia and the rest of the country, is able to continue to invest in and modernize its facilities.
The Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act, S.1174, would make permanent a tax provision that allows motorsports facilities to depreciate aging property. With a permanent depreciation provision, motorsports facilities can make long-term planning and investment decisions for facility improvements, maximizing both their economic impact and job creation. Read more
Webb: Defense bill advances key initiatives
Defense and national security initiatives long championed by Sen. Jim Webb will be advanced by numerous provisions adopted in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.
The bill was reported out unanimously by the Senate Committee on Armed Services yesterday and goes to the full Senate for consideration.
“As chair of the Personnel Subcommittee, I am gratified by the strong bipartisan support the committee demonstrated for the many important personnel measures contained in my subcommittee’s markup,” Sen. Webb said. Read more
Senate ’12: Kaine talks pay fairness, retirement security, Allen receives endorsement
Kaine urges Senate action on Paycheck Fairness Act Ahead of the upcoming vote in the U.S. Senate on the Paycheck Fairness Act, Tim Kaine issued the following statement:
“The Paycheck Fairness Act is a common sense measure and an important step toward ensuring equal pay for equal work in Virginia and across the country. In Virginia, women still earn only 79 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts, limiting their economic opportunity. For hundreds of thousands of Virginia households that are headed by women, this results is thousands of dollars of lost income at a time when every dollar counts. Read more
Marist Poll: Obama, Romney locked in tight race in Va.
A new Marist Poll out Thursday has Democrat Barack Obama with a four-point lead over Republican Mitt Romney among Virginia voters.
Obama was at 48 percent in the poll, with Romney at 44 percent. The margin for the president is below the 50-percent threshold, indicating that the Old Dominion is still in play in the 2012 campaign.
“Already targeted by both the Obama and Romney campaigns, Virginia could become the ultimate battleground state,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Obama carried the state by six percentage points in 2008. It is likely to go down to the wire this time.” Read more
Politics Notebook: Kaine talks Social Security, new Obama TV ad
Kaine discusses Social Security in Martinsville On Tuesday, Tim Kaine met with retirees and seniors in Martinsville as part of his two week tour to discuss ways to strengthen Social Security and Medicare and other issues of importance to older Americans.
At each tour stop, Kaine has called for commonsense reforms like allowing the government to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. He has also emphasized the need to strengthen existing Social Security benefits and prevent a shift in Social Security dollars to private accounts that are vulnerable to volatile market forces. Read more
Warner joins group introducing jobs legislation
U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) today introduced bipartisan legislation, Startup Act 2.0, to help jumpstart the economy through the creation and growth of new businesses and jobs.
It is based upon research showing that for close to three decades, companies less than five years old have created almost all of the net new jobs in America, averaging about three-million new jobs each year. Read more
