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Gov. Bob McDonnell has taken executive action on legislation passed by the General Assembly during the 2012 session. McDonnell amended two pieces of legislation that were part of his “Opportunity to Learn” K-12 education agenda. Further, Governor McDonnell amended two key pieces of his transportation agenda – the Comprehensive Port of Virginia Promotion and Reform…
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The details of the 2012 farm bill are being ironed out in Congress now, as much of the current law in the 2008 farm bill expires in 2012. While the farm bill does include commodity program support, most of the funds from the bill are allocated to nutrition and food assistance programs such as the…
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia today announced that it has hired Claire Guthrie Gastañaga to succeed executive director Kent Willis, who last week announced he was leaving after 25 years with the organization. Gastañaga is scheduled to start at the beginning of June. “Claire brings to the ACLU a huge network of people…
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On Tuesday when my wife and I went to the polls to vote we found out that the privilege to freely vote for the candidate of our choice has been completely taken away. Yes, again, this is politics as played in Virginia – and other lands where government restricts your choices. I am not referring…
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America is facing a crisis of leadership. We need and deserve a vision and strategy to meet the energy and economic challenges facing the United States. The latest budget proposal for 2013 illustrates this over and over again. The President summarizes it best as “all of the above” and is a vote for a lot…
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During one of our district tours last year, a concerned constituent told me that federal government regulations are “taking the breath” away from small businesses and family farms in the Fifth District. And as I make visits with Central and Southside Virginians across our district, I am constantly reminded of those words as I see…
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The ACLU of Virginia is offering to assist reproductive rights protestors who were arrested Saturday at the state Capitol, if their constitutional right to free speech was violated. Approximately 1,000 demonstrators converged on the Capitol grounds to protest the passage of a bill to require pregnant women to undergo an ultrasound procedure prior to being…
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For Mark Warner, it risked being a Michael Dukakis moment. “This is politician rule #1: You’re never supposed to wear a hat,” Sen. Warner, D-Va., said after being handed a Dr. Seuss hat that otherwise seemed sensible given what he was about to do. And you thought banging the gavel to open and close sessions…
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Big companies are trying to change the way U.S. farmers operate their businesses, but some things don’t need changing. Restaurant chain Chipotle aired its “Back to the Start” advertisement April 12 during the Grammy Awards. The commercial portrays large-scale farming as dismal compared to bucolic grasslands on which pigs roam free. And McDonald’s recently announced…
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the president’s framework for reforming the U.S. business tax system, which would enhance American competitiveness by simplifying the tax code and eliminating dozens of tax loopholes and subsidies, incentivizing job creation and investment here at home and lowering the business rate while broadening the tax base. “In…
We don’t take press releases or official statements as the final word. Digging in to get the whole story takes time and resources.