Virginia lawmakers returning Monday to Richmond intend to push back against Gov. Bob McDonnell’s efforts to revise parts of the state’s two-year budget, including the governor’s proposed funding cuts for seniors and low-income, college-bound students. The General Assembly’s consideration of McDonnell’s amendments is the last step in a process that will finally produce the state’s 2012-2014 spending plan after months of stalemate and a near blowup in April over funding for the Dulles Rail project. Overall, McDonnell proposed $43.9 million in changes to the $85 billion spending plan.
Even though the proposed amendments affect only a small part of the state’s spending, Democrats and even some of McDonnell’s fellow Republicans are upset over the governor’s approach. After enduring a special session and narrowly passing the budget in the Senate, lawmakers said the budget they sent to the governor represented a delicate compromise that shouldn’t be messed with.
“I’m a little disappointed at the number of amendments,” said Sen. John Watkins, R-Midlothian. “After all we went through to get a budget, to then go in and turn it up on it’s head, it doesn’t show a lot of concern over what we had to go through to get there.”
Democrats expressed similar qualms.
“We put together a good package,” said Sen. Don McEachin, D-Henrico. “I wish the governor didn’t fiddle with it.”
But McDonnell’s office defended his amendments as being within his constitutional powers.
“His amendments amounted to less than a 10th of 1 percent of the total budget,” spokesman Tucker Martin said. “That is a limited and targeted usage of a governor’s amendment authority, and we are optimistic that these amendments will receive broad support on Monday.”
Among the most contentious changes, McDonnell proposed stripping $2.5 million from senior citizen agencies and cutting by half funding for Project Discovery, a program that helps prepare 2,000 low-income high school seniors for college each year.
McDonnell also overrode the General Assembly’s substitute for his plan to provide workers with a one-time, 3 percent bonus at the end of this year. Lawmakers want the bonuses tied to any excess state revenues. But McDonnell wants to revert to his plan, which makes the money contingent on employees finding $70 million in wasteful spending.
One proposal from McDonnell that riled Northern Virginia officials would require communities to get state approval for their transportation and development plans.
“There’s a lot of feeling in Northern Virginia that the state is not funding transportation and now the state is stepping in and telling them how to do the job,” said Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria. “It’s a little much to a lot of people.”
