Welp, Glenn Youngkin isn’t getting his Glenn Dome, but at least his pique isn’t going to cost Virginia its Triple-A bond rating.
The Republican governor, on Monday, signed a two-year state budget that also doesn’t include Youngkin’s regressive sales-tax increase that he was going to use to give a $10,000 handout to the wealthiest 1 percent, and doesn’t include his proposed $300 million cut in K-12 public education funding.
“This is an important day for Virginia. While Virginians’ elected officials can sometimes be far apart on policy, today demonstrates and reiterates that we can come together to deliver for the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said in a statement provided by his office after he had signed the state budget.
For all that isn’t in the budget, the new spending plan, which goes into effect on July 1, does include 3 percent pay raises in each of the next two fiscal years for teachers and state employees, and increases in state funding for higher education and mental health services.
It’s pretty much what the Democratic majorities in the House of Delegates and State Senate had approved in the budget that they had presented in March to the governor, who used his veto to send everyone back to the drawing board, with the threat looming that the impasse created by the governor’s inaction would lead to a state government shutdown.
The delay in getting the job done has put local governments and school systems across the state behind the 8-ball in terms of getting their own budgets finalized ahead of the start of the new fiscal year in six weeks.
“The budgets passed today provide for a stronger Virginia and allows localities, agencies, and institutions to finalize their budgets,” said Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Louise Lucas, who led the fight against Youngkin’s proposed $2 billion arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals in Alexandria.
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Chris Graham
