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Budget Day at the General Assembly

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Both the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate today overwhelmingly approved their respective versions of the state’s spending plan.  Budget day at the Virginia State Capitol typically reveals how lawmakers really feel about the state of the Commonwealth and how dire things are.

A lot weighs heavily on the House budget, and Appropriations Chair Chris Jones insists that it has much of what Virginia needs-including pay raises for state employees, teachers, and state police, and no cuts to K-12 education.

"I believe our recommendations adhere to our commitment to conservative budgeting, and strategically focus our resources on keeping our promises to fund the core services of government. In fact, general fund spending in this budget is nearly one-point-one billion less than in chapter two,which was a budget bill that we adopted last year in June."
 
But while House Minority Leader David Toscano says those are positive steps...
 
"This budget doesn't go far enough, but we have a chance to fix it today."
 
Toscano says more dollars should be devoted to education and teacher pay raises. He also says the state continues to lose money by not accepting federal Affordable Care Act funds.

House Majority Leader Kirk Cox says right now he would be surprised if there's a last minute deadlock over the budget as the state has experienced in recent years.
 
 
 

Tommie McNeil is a State Capitol reporter who has been covering Virginia and Virginia politics for more than a decade. He originally hails from Maryland, and also doubles as the evening anchor for 1140 WRVA in Richmond.
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