The General Assembly adjourned Sine Die on Saturday, March 12th after 60 contentious but rewarding days with a number of legislative decisions and the conflicting House and Senate biennial budget proposals still unresolved. The central cause of this delay was the somewhat unearned but unabated inertia of the recent campaign cycle. Governor Youngkin, who won by a margin of only 63,000 votes, one of the narrowest in Virginia’s history, and a House majority that won their seats by a total of less than 500 votes in two districts, entered the session claiming a “mandate” from the voters on their agenda. While the Senate budget prioritizes investing our historic surplus in valuable services, infrastructure, and people while also providing tax relief, the House version is singularly focused on reducing ongoing revenue to these programs for short term tax reductions. This view has moved us away from compromise and towards the partisan disputes which so often lead to roadblocks.
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