The finger-pointing and name-calling that plagued the Virginia General Assembly for two months has ceased, but lawmakers still haven’t agreed on budget for the next two years — and that likely won’t change this week.
Democrat and Republican negotiators from each chamber took the weekend off after hitting a stalemate last week. But they were back at it Monday looking to overcome impasses over roads, education and health care in the two-year, $85 billion budget.
Neither side was optimistic about approving a budget deal before the Easter holiday, but lawmakers meeting behind closed doors agreed to try to wrap up major negotiations by Friday.
“It’s going very well. The attitude has changed. We’re coming together,” said Sen. Chuck Colgan, D-Manassas, who lamented on the Senate floor the lack of civility that led to last month’s partisan gridlock over the budget. “I haven’t seen any bitterness at all since we started negotiating last week.”
Senators walked away from the 2012 session last month without a budget. The holdup came when all 20 Senate Democrats refused to agree to a budget unless Republicans gave them greater power on key committees in the equally divided chamber, sparking accusations of obstructionism from both sides.
Senate Democrats later joined with Republicans in approving a budget in a special session. But that budget differed considerably from what House Republicans passed and the two chambers must now hammer out a final compromise. Transportation and education funding make up the bulk of the disagreements.
“A month ago we had no budget at all. Now, the General Assembly is in the middle of detailed conference negotiations about specific budget items,” said Gov. Bob McDonnell‘s spokesman Tucker Martin. “That’s major progress.”
The Senate plan differs from the House in that it includes an additional $300 million to finance the Dulles Rail project, $60 million for Northern Virginia school districts to hire top nonteaching staff, and millions to restore McDonnell’s cuts to programs that benefit low-income residents.
Colgan said Monday that negotiators were close to a compromise that would provide Northern Virginia schools with about $40 million to $43 million over the next two years for nonteacher hiring — splitting the differences in the two budgets — and were hoping to wrap up discussion on higher education and health and human resource funding by Tuesday. That leaves transportation funding to work out, including the Dulles Rail funding and determining how to control costs in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads without sacrificing critical construction projects.
“That’s the toughest one we’ve got,” Colgan said.
