State and National Government
Ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, Virginia’s Governor is offering the countries leader some advice. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
Ed Lynch- Hollins U. photo
A former member of the Reagan White House team and the Political Science department chair at Hollins University says Russian president Vladimir Putin is likely to roll those tanks and troops further than the two eastern Ukraine provinces. The story from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s hefty legislative agenda has been dealt a series of expected blows in the first half of the General Assembly session by the Democrat-controlled Senate. The chamber has voted down close to 20 of the Republican’s priority bills on education reform, tax cuts, and labor law. But the newly inaugurated governor maintains an optimistic view of what’s possible before the legislature finishes its work. In an interview this week with The Associated Press, he emphasized that since his priorities cleared the GOP-controlled House by a legislative midpoint deadline, there’s still time to find a compromise with the Senate. He says he sees “a ton of momentum” across his agenda.
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.)
Before he headed to Germany yesterday to meet with European allies about the crisis on the Ukraine-Russia border, US Senator Mark Warner – chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee – spoke about the type of sanctions that might have an impact. More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
With the General Assembly half-way through this year’s session, our political analyst says Governor Youngkin has learned in a hurry that achieving results in Richmond has required some quick adjustments. You may remember that as soon as he was inaugurated, Youngkin issued a series of Executive Orders aimed at fulfilling campaign promises, and that immediately raised the ire of Democrats who still control the State Senate. Virginia Tech Professor and WFIR Political Analyst Bob Denton says Youngkin has quickly adapted in efforts to gain sufficient support for passage of at least some of his key goals. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
Photo: David Suetterlein Facebook
For the third time in as many years, the Virginia Senate has passed legislation that would make public the votes of Virginia’s powerful Parole Board. Roanoke County Republican Senator David Suetterlein’s Bill number 5 passed the Senate today with the highest level of bipartisan support yet and now heads to the Republican-controlled House of Delegates. The legislation would make the actions of the Parole Board public and bring their reporting procedures in line with other Virginia government boards. Eighteen of the 21 Senate Democrats joined all of the chamber’s Republicans in supporting the bill’s final passage.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has apologized after mistaking one Black legislator for another in a text message. Youngkin issued the apology after Sen. Louise Lucas called attention to the mistake on Twitter. She noted that she received a text message from Youngkin congratulating her for a floor speech connected to Black History Month. But it was another African American woman, Mamie Locke, who gave the speech, not Lucas.
On Friday, Lucas sent out a tweet with pictures of herself and Locke, saying, “Study the photos and you will get this soon!” Lucas told The Washington Post that she initially planned to keep Youngkin’s gaffe private but reconsidered after a bitter debate between Youngkin, a Republican, and Senate Democrats over their refusal to confirm former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler as the state’s Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.
When Lucas responded privately to Youngkin’s text message earlier in the week informing him of the mistaken identity, Youngkin responded with an apology, according to the Post: “Goodness … so sorry about the confusion,” he wrote in a text response. “I will send her a note. Thanks for the note back!” His office issued a public apology on Friday after the mistake became public, telling news outlets: “I had the floor speeches on while doing too many things at once earlier this week. I made a mistake and I apologized to Senator Lucas.”
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — On a bipartisan vote, a Virginia Senate committee has approved a compromise measure that would repeal part of the sales tax on groceries. The proposal doesn’t go as far as Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has called for — a full repeal of both the state and local portions of the tax. But it would end the 1% that the state collects and the .5% that funds transportation, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported late Thursday.
The measure that passed 13-2 would also exempt menstrual products from the sales tax. It wouldn’t repeal a 1% local option tax that goes to local governments. The measure needs to clear the Senate floor before it heads to the Republican-controlled House.
Other pieces of the governor’s tax agenda are not advancing in the Senate, which is under Democratic control. A proposal to reduce the state gas tax for 12 months was defeated 12-4, the newspaper reported. And the Senate finance committee previously sent a proposal to double the standard deduction on income tax to a study.
Pieces of Youngkin’s tax agenda are also advancing in the House. The two chambers will have to eventually reach a compromise to send legislation to the governor.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A simmering fight over Virginia Democrats’ rejection of one of GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet picks escalated Friday after Republicans initially appeared ready to leave in limbo hundreds of gubernatorial appointees made by the previous Democratic administration.
Democratic legislative leaders said they learned that the GOP-controlled House was not planning to act on more than 1,000 appointments to various state boards made by Gov. Ralph Northam that would have expired Friday. The two chambers are currently at odds over the Democrat-led Senate’s refusal to confirm former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler as secretary of natural and historic resources.
Democrats began warning that the situation would hinder the government’s work, but House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore said late Friday afternoon that a resolution had been reached, and most of the appointments would be confirmed. “We could have just let them all die today but out of good faith, we’re going to act today and move forward,” he said.
Kilgore said House Republicans planned to remove only about 15 to 20 of Northam’s appointees to panels including the state air and water boards and board of education. “They started it by taking Wheeler off and you know, they wanted to play the game, so we’re gonna play the game,” Kilgore said.
Among the blocked education board appointees was Anthony Swann, a Black fifth-grade Franklin County educator who had been named the 2021 Virginia Teacher of the Year. A House GOP spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment for why Swann’s appointment was blocked.
Wheeler led the EPA under the Trump administration. His selection by Youngkin has prompted a backlash from Democrats, environmental groups and a number of former EPA employees, who criticized his leadership as overly deferential to corporate polluters. Kilgore and Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin told the AP no agreement had been made for the Senate to take another vote on Wheeler. “But everything’s in play,” Kilgore said.
The House voted on the amended resolutions containing the appointments late Friday. Among the various entities originally thought to be impacted were: the Board of Election, Board of Education, Board of Medicine, Virginia Lottery Board, the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority Board of Directors. Many of the appointees had already been serving in the roles, pending confirmation.
The level of political drama surrounding the Wheeler nomination fight is unusual. The Cabinet secretary approval process is usually fairly perfunctory, with the approval of the governor’s choices seen as a courtesy, absent major controversies. “The old Virginia way of centrist accommodation between the two parties is getting harder to achieve with the intensely partisan caucuses of Democrats and Republicans in Richmond today,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington.
The last time an appointee was defeated was 2006, when the General Assembly rejected the former president of the state AFL-CIO for a post in then-Gov. Tim Kaine’s administration. Kaine went on to appoint Daniel LeBlanc to serve as a senior work force adviser, a role that didn’t require legislative approval. Youngkin could make a similar move with Wheeler.
CULPEPER, Virginia (AP) — Unable to tame inflation that has worsened sharply under his watch, President Joe Biden stressed Thursday that his administration’s policies would cut prescription drug prices and make life more affordable for families.
He traveled to Culpeper, Virginia, on the heels of a dire inflation report on Thursday morning. Consumer prices jumped 7.5% over the year ending in January, as the sources of inflation have broadened on a monthly basis with increases in the costs of rent, electricity, clothes and household furnishings. The pandemic disrupted supply chains and government aid boosted consumer demand, causing prices for gasoline, food and other goods such as autos to rise earlier this year.
Inflation poses a triple threat for Biden. Prices at a 40-year peak have dimmed his public support and endangered his policy agenda, while efforts by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation could meaningfully slow the strong economic growth that had been a highlight of his first year.
“Inflation is up. It’s up.” Biden said. “But the fact is that if we’re able to do the things I’m talking about, it will bring down the cost for average families.”
The president said he will “work like the devil” to bring down gas prices and that “everyone has less money in their pockets today because of high drug costs,” as he pledged that his policies would give family budgets some breathing room. He said pharmaceutical companies should be able to make a profit, though they cannot price drugs at levels that hurt people’s financial wellbeing.
“The idea that you can charge whatever you want is just not going to happen.” the president said.
Biden’s trip to Virginia also served as an opportunity for him to start promoting his party’s candidates in November’s midterm elections. He appeared alongside Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is in danger of losing her seat representing a central Virginia district.
Spanberger said she welcomes any effort to lower prescription drug prices and told reporters that the effort was about a broader attempt to reduce inflation.
“That’s part and parcel of what we’re here talking about, right?” she said. “So when you’re worried about the gas pump or you’re worried about the cost of chicken in the grocery store, and your child is diabetic — all those things become impactful.”
Spanberger is one of several Democrats who have raised alarms about slipping support from voters. She suggested in a November interview with The New York Times that Biden had overreached with his plans for new government programs that recalled the Depression-era agenda of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“Nobody elected him to be FDR; they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,” she said.
After the article was published, Spanberger said, she got a call from Biden, who said “this is President Roosevelt calling.” Biden was “belly laughing,” she said.
Prescription drugs remain a politically safe focal point for Biden’s visit, and Spanberger said the president was right to push forward on it.
“One of the most unsettling things for people is the inability to afford their prescription drugs,” she said.
The tougher question is how to blunt Republican criticism on inflation and convince skittish lawmakers such as West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to back Biden’s pared down economic agenda. Manchin, the decisive Democratic vote, has said the priority should be on stopping inflation rather than on more government spending. Meanwhile, Republicans seized on Thursday’s inflation report to blast Biden for his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package for fueling the spike in prices.
“Rampant inflation and soaring prices are crushing, crushing the American people,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday in remarks on the Senate floor. “If you haven’t personally gotten a pay raise of 8% or more in the last year, then Democrats’ policies have given you a pay cut.”
A December poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found inflation and personal financial issues rising as priorities for Americans. In an open-ended question, 14% named inflation among their top priorities for the government to be working on this year, compared with almost nobody naming it a year before.
In an AP-NORC poll conducted in January, just 37% said they approved of Biden’s handling of the economy, down from 60% in March of 2021 and slightly lower than his overall approval rating, which stood at 43%.
Efforts to lower prescription drug costs have long been popular with voters, but bipartisan consensus has proved elusive. It’s unclear if there’s a political path forward for Biden’s plans in Congress.
His proposals include capping out-of-pocket medication costs for Medicare recipients at $2,000 per year and insulin at $35 per month. In addition, Medicare would be allowed to negotiate prices for a limited number of prescription drugs and drugmakers would be required to pay rebates if they raise costs faster than inflation.
“It’s safe to say that all of us can agree that prescription drugs are outrageously expensive in this country,” Biden said Dec. 6.