State and National Government
Governor Northam delivers his annual “State of the Commonwealth” address tomorrow in Richmond. It comes as a recent poll finds Virginians almost evenly divided on their assessment of the state – and with many changing their feelings about the country’s direction. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
Governor Northam will deliver his address, as always, from the House of Delegates chamber. Only this year, it will be almost empty as he does — no lawmakers present, no honored guests and no loud bursts of applause.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers are set to start this year’s legislative session focused on COVID-19 relief efforts and legalizing marijuana.
The 2021 session will kick off Wednesday, with lawmakers meeting away from the Capitol as the state continues to wrestle with the impacts of a global pandemic that’s shut down schools, closed businesses and left more than 5,000 Virginians dead in last 10 months, including a state senator.
The House of Delegates plans to meet remotely, while the Senate will meet at a large conference center near the Capitol. This will be the second regular legislative session controlled by Democrats since they won control of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation in 2019.
Republicans, upset that the House is meeting remotely and that lawmakers held an extended special session last year, have signaled they will limit what’s normally a 45-day session to only 30 days. Democrats can extend the the number of legislative working days by having Gov. Ralph Northam call a special session.
Here’s a look at key issues that lawmakers will debate:
MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION:
Northam is pushing to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Virginia, which could be the first Southern state to do so. Northam announced his support for legalization in November, saying he wants a responsible approach that promotes racial equity and preserves youth safety.
It’s unclear if there are enough votes for the measure to pass, but lawmakers in both parties have been more open to marijuana issues, and the state decriminalized the drug last year.
Northam’s push comes as marijuana becomes more broadly accepted throughout the United States.
COVID-19 RELIEF & STATE BUDGET:
Like in every session, lawmakers will have to deal with adjustments to the state’s spending plan.
Northam outlined his proposed amendments last month, presenting a plan that includes hundreds of millions in spending on the pandemic response and restores Democratic priorities put on hold in the spring over economic uncertainty.
The governor’s proposals typically serve as a starting point for lawmakers. Administration officials have said the governor’s proposals account for the fact that Virginia’s economy has held up better than expected amid the pandemic. The proposal is based on a revenue forecast that anticipates $1.2 billion more than a forecast released in August.
Northam’s proposal restores about half of the $2.7 billion in spending that was put on hold earlier this year, including funding allocated for expanding access to early childhood education, for higher education tuition assistance and for his G3 Program to provide free or low-cost job skills training at community colleges.
State Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg said a top priority will be ensuring that schools have “robust” funding, including money for extra counselors, to help teachers deal with the fallout from the coronavirus once students return to the classroom.
“It’s not going to be smooth,” said VanValkenburg, who is also a high school teacher.
Virginia currently has a mix of schools currently offering in-person and virtual instruction.
Liberal lawmakers are also set to push for paid sick leave as part of the state’s coronavirus relief efforts. Similar bills failed to pass last year.
DEATH PENALTY REPEAL
Opponents of the death penalty are confident there’s a real shot of getting legislation through the General Assembly that would end executions in Virginia.
Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell is again sponsoring a death penalty repeal bill, and Republican Sen. Bill Stanley said he will sign on this year as a chief co-patron. The measure would commute the sentences of the only two inmates on Virginia’s death row to life in prison without parole.
OTHER ISSUES
Other issues that will likely see pitched debate this session include Democrats’ push to expand voting access.
And Del. Marcus Simon said he’s going to push for legislation to bring Virginia in line with almost every other state and ban the personal use of political campaign funds. Despite support for such a measure by officials in both parties, including Northam, the legislation has recieved a cool reception by the General Assembly in past years.
The Democratic Committee chairs in 7 Roanoke and New River Valley localities are now calling on 6th district U.S. Representative Ben Cline and 9th District GOP Congressman Morgan Griffith to, “immediately resign after their failure to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The joint letter says Cline and Griffith “have instead supported Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories … and by doing so, “they helped feed unrest … which boiled over in a violent and shameful insurrection at the Capitol.” Both Cline and Griffith have said they had legitimate concerns about election integrity.
(full release)
January 7, 2020 – Democratic committees in the southwest Virginia area, in view of the shocking January 6, 2021 takeover of the United States Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, call upon U.S. Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th District) and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-9th District) to immediately resign after their failure to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which they swore to uphold in their oaths of office.
Cline and Griffith have instead supported Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories that the November presidential election was rigged against him. By doing so, they helped feed unrest among the president’s supporters, which boiled over in a violent and shameful insurrection at the Capitol that played out on news channels both at home and around the world.
In fact there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Every legal challenge to the outcome has been rejected by judges — many of them Republicans and Trump appointees.
Cline and Griffith are among a cadre of Trump sycophants whose support for the president’s blatant lies led our great nation to this shameful crisis. They were present as our nation’s Capitol was compromised by domestic terrorists, yet they hid behind a “protest vote” rather than uphold their oaths of office.
We demand that Cline and Griffith resign so the people of their districts might find new representatives who do not support sedition and are cognizant of their oaths to the Constitution, which they swore to uphold.
CONTACT:
Susan Cloeter, Chair, Roanoke County Democratic Committee
Beth Deel, Chair, Roanoke City Democratic Committee
Jenni Gallagher, Chair, Montgomery County Democratic Committee
Steven McBride, Chair, Salem Democratic Committee
Kathryn Kerkering, Chair, Botetourt County Democratic Committee
Vicki Tolbert, Chair, Radford Democratic Committee
Diane Weiss, Chair, Giles County Democratic Committee
US Senator Tim Kaine said this morning he is joining the calls urging the 25th amendment be employed to remove Donald Trump as President of the United States – being unfit for office. Kaine joins at least one other Republican Congressman from New York in calling for the 25th amendment to be used to remove the President from office – two weeks before he is scheduled to leave when Joe Biden takes office.
AP/Julio Cortez
WASHINGTON (AP) — Angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in a chaotic protest aimed at thwarting a peaceful transfer of power, forcing lawmakers to be rushed from the building and interrupting challenges to Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Trump issued a restrained call for peace well after the melee was underway but did not urge supporters to disperse. Earlier he had egged them on to march to Capitol Hill.
Wednesday’s ordinarily mundane procedure of Congress certifying a new president was always going to be extraordinary, with Republican supporters of Trump vowing to protest results of an election that they have baselessly insisted was reversed by fraud. But even the unusual deliberations, which included the Republican vice president and Senate majority leader defying Trump’s demands, were quickly overtaken.
In a raucous, out-of-control scene, protesters fought past police and breached the building, shouting and waving Trump and American flags as they marched through the halls. One person was reported shot at the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the situation. That person’s condition was unknown.
The protesters abruptly interrupted the congressional proceedings in an eerie scene that featured official warnings directing people to duck under their seats for cover and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda.
With the crowds showing no signs of abating, Trump tweeted, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!” Earlier, at his rally, he had urged supporters to march to the Capitol.
Senators were being evacuated. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices.
Demonstrators fought with Capitol Police and then forced their way into the building, not long after a huge rally near the White House during which Trump egged them on to march to Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers had convened for an extraordinary joint session to confirm the Electoral College results.
Though fellow Republicans were behind the challenge to Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College victory, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sought to lower tensions and argued against it. He warned the country “cannot keep drifting apart into two separate tribes” with “separate facts.”
McConnell declared, “The voters, the courts and the states all have spoken.”
But other Republicans, including House GOP leaders among Trump’s allies were acting out the pleas of supporters at his huge Wednesday rally up Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House to “fight for Trump.”
“We have to fix this,” said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the GOP whip.
The last-gasp effort is all but certain to fail, defeated by bipartisan majorities in Congress prepared to accept the November results. Biden i s to be inaugurated Jan. 20.
“We will never give up,” Trump told his noontime rally.
Vice President Mike Pence was closely watched as he stepped onto the dais to preside over the joint session in the House chamber.
Pence has a largely ceremonial role, opening the sealed envelopes from the states after they are carried in mahogany boxes used for the occasion, and reading the results aloud. But he was under growing pressure from Trump to overturn the will of the voters and tip the results in the president’s favor, despite having no legal power to affect the outcome.
“Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
But Pence, in a statement shortly before presiding, defied Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes that make Biden president.
Despite Trump’s repeated claims of voter fraud, election officials and his own former attorney general have said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All the states have certified their results as fair and accurate, by Republican and Democratic officials alike.
Arizona was the first of several states facing objections from the Republicans as Congress took an alphabetical reading of the election results. Then the chaos erupted.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A panel of judges has selected eight citizens who will join eight legislators on a bipartisan commission that will redraw Virginia’s legislative boundaries for the next decade.
A referendum approved by voters in November creates the 16-member commission to draw lines for Virginia’s seats in Congress and the General Assembly.
The judges selected four names each from lists submitted by Democratic and Republican legislative leaders.
The panel of judges was tasked under the law with selecting members to reflect racial, ethnic, gender and geographical diversity.
The judges made sure to include representatives from Southside and far southwest Virginia — areas that may well lose representation because of population surges in northern Virginia — but no applicants from the Shenandoah Valley and Roanoke area were selected.
The Roanoke area will have representation on the panel from Lynchburg Republican Steve Newman, who is one of the eight legislators already appointed to the commission.
The eight citizens chosen by the judges at Tuesday’s meeting are Greta Harris, Richmond; Sean Kumar, Alexandria; Mackenzie Babichenko, Mechanicsville; Jose A. Feliciano, Jr., Fredericksburg; James Abrenio, Fairfax; Brandon Hutchins, Virginia Beach; Marvin Gilliam, Bristol; and Richard Harrell, South Boston.
(ABC News) WASHINGTON — Congress passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night, averting a partial government shutdown and buying yet more time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. The virus aid talks remained on track, both sides said, but closing out final disagreements was proving difficult. Weekend sessions were on tap, and House leaders hoped for a vote on Sunday on the massive package, which wraps much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished 2020 business. The House passed the temporary funding bill by a 320-60 vote. The Senate approved it by voice vote almost immediately afterward, and President Donald Trump signed it late Friday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said both sides remain intent on closing the deal, even as Democrats launched a concerted campaign to block an effort by Republicans to rein in emergency Federal Reserve lending powers. The Democrats said the GOP proposal would deprive President-elect Joe Biden of crucial tools to manage the economy.
Negotiations continued into Friday night but an agreement wasn’t likely before Saturday, lawmakers and aides said. House lawmakers were told they wouldn’t have to report to work on Saturday but that a Sunday session was likely. The Senate will be voting on nominations. The $900 billion package comes as the pandemic is delivering its most fearsome surge yet, killing more than 3,000 victims per day and straining the nation’s health care system. While vaccines are on the way, most people won’t get them for months. Jobless claims are on the rise.
The emerging agreement would deliver more than $300 billion in aid to businesses and provide the jobless a $300-per-week bonus federal unemployment benefit and renewal of state benefits that would otherwise expire right after Christmas. It also includes $600 direct payments to individuals; vaccine distribution funds and money for renters, schools, the Postal Service and people needing food aid.