Virginia Is One Month Away from a Government Shutdown
Virginia Democrats hold both branches of the General Assembly and the Executive Mansion — and still can’t govern effectively.
by Shaun Kenney
Virginia still doesn’t have a budget.
Instead of working on a budget, Senate Democratic leadership is now openly threatening a government shutdown unless they get what they want. Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is unapologetic on the vetoes — even going so far as to claim that the leadership of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly simply isn’t used to female leadership, per Dwayne Yancey over at Cardinal News:
Just as she repeated the phrase “the devil’s in the details” later in our interview, the governor’s power to propose amendments — and her intention to use it — was a theme Spanberger returned to several times during our interview. She also said that some legislators have told her privately that some of the conflict between the General Assembly and the new governor could be due to resentment on the part of some legislators at having to deal with a woman in the role of chief executive for the first time.
Interesting to me is that Yancey’s conversation seemed to be more confessional than homily, so we should be looking forward to a real glimpse of just where Spanberger is after bankrupting her political capital in pursuit of unconstitutional gerrymandering. If there is a centrist in Spanberger, now is the time to lay down a marker.
In the meantime, Senate Democrats don’t appear to be in any rush to compromise. Neither do House Democrats, where Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, is playing a similar game with a more reasonable approach.
Then there is Governor Spanberger’s perspective, which to date has either not been considered by the General Assembly or she simply hasn’t shared her thoughts (or been invited to share them).
Ali Ahmad over at the Jefferson Forum writes about the impact that 11th hour thinking has on not just the state budget, but public services:
In the dead of night that the “11th hour” brings, House and Senate Democrats may also force the Governor’s hand, again, on the legislative priorities they have been tussling about since March. Governor Spanberger has made several high-profile vetoes against priorities of key legislators. Skill game legalization, the Tysons casino, banning ICE from making arrests in courthouses, collective bargaining, the prescription drug affordability board, trial-lawyer benefitting class action lawsuits, and retail marijuana are all out. But the General Assembly can put them back in as additional enactments tucked in the back of the budget.
If a budget bill is dropped on her desk on June 22nd, she will be limited in her ability to offer amendments without becoming the “trigger” of the government shutdown. When the budget is amended, it does not go into effect but goes back to the General Assembly for consideration.
She will have one other option. While not nearly as nimble, the Governor can “item veto” whole budget items and the spending they authorize. The power has been successfully used, most recently by Governor Youngkin, to veto out additional enactments tucked into the back of the budget.
If the legislature presses the issue, this sets up the once-sleepy Supreme Court of Virginia for yet another set of monumental rulings. While the “Capitol Square Shutdown Showdown” is certainly fun to watch, it’s not good for Virginia.
Fixing the problem is one thing. Yet as of this moment, Democrats seem far more intent on fixing the blame when they can’t get what they want. This works perfectly well when Republicans are in power thanks to a sympathetic press, but now that Democrats hold both houses of the General Assembly and the Executive Mansion, there should be no excuse for not being able to run the government.
Instead, there is a very expensive game of chicken being played where running Virginia into the ground somehow seems like a grand idea to the Democrats. When teachers aren’t being paid and deputies are working for free come July 1st, we will get to test how that theory will work.
Or won’t.
Shaun Kenney is senior editor of The Republican Standard. This column is republished with permission from The Republican Standard and Bacon’s Rebellion.
