The Virginia General Assembly on Monday rejected 26 budget amendments made by Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose office tried to put a good spin on the development.
“While we were successful in seeing 72 percent of our amendments passed today, it is unfortunate that the General Assembly also rejected several important amendments that would have helped with our ongoing effort to control state spending and make state government more efficient and effective. We will continue to look for new ways to reform state government and make it work better for our citizens,” the governor was quoted in a statement in a press release from his office late Monday.
The rejections were bipartisan in nature and were, in some cases, resounding. One of McDonnell’s key amendments, tying a proposed one-time 3 percent bonus for state employees to state agencies’ ability to cut costs by $70 million by a July 1 deadline, failed on votes of 95-0 and 95-1.
Another amendment heralded by the McDonnell administration in a Monday-afternoon news release that would have cut $2.5 million over the next two years to Area Agencies on Aging was withdrawn by the governor before it could be voted down.
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