Virginia Democrats launch their own budget tour to push back on Youngkin’s criticisms

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Top Democratic Virginia legislators on Monday held the first in a planned series of public appearances designed to tout their budget legislation, offering counterprogramming to the broadsides Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has been lobbing at the spending plan.

Democrats, who have rejected Youngkin’s call to start immediate negotiations with him over their points of disagreement, instead urged him to reconsider his opposition to their proposals. The Democratic-led General Assembly passed the two-year spending plan earlier this month with some Republican support and will next meet in Richmond for a one-day session in April.

“The governor simply needs to sign the budget and stop threatening an unprecedented budget veto. We have done our job. It is now time for him to do his,” Sen. Mamie Locke of Hampton said at the event Monday morning in a Portsmouth storefront, where she and other lawmakers squeezed into a small space before news cameras.

Lawmakers also struck a pessimistic tone on the path forward for a proposed pro-sports arena in northern Virginia and offered a sharp rebuke of Youngkin’s general approach to working with the Assembly.

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“He is not very smart when it comes to politics. He thinks that he is the boss of all of us,” said Sen. L. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, who leads the Senate’s budget writing committee. Lucas has used the power of that role to block standalone legislation related to the Alexandria arena deal and keep it out of the budget bill.

Youngkin has been holding public appearances around the state to object to the budget that passed. He has criticized its inclusion of what his administration says are $2.6 billion in tax hikes in the form of an expansion of the sales tax to cover digital goods and a push to renew Virginia’s participation in a carbon cap-and-trade plan. He’s said he hopes to avoid vetoing the bill, which would give pay raises to teachers and public workers and boost public education spending. But he has also said unequivocally that he won’t sign a budget that raises taxes.

When the lawmakers were asked whether they were willing to move on from the proposed digital sales tax, they reiterated that Youngkin himself had first raised the idea — though he also coupled it with a proposed cut to the income tax rate that would result in overall cuts.

Youngkin recently floated an unusual path forward, saying lawmakers should sit down with him now, ahead of the April 17 reconvened session when they will meet in Richmond to consider his proposed amendments to legislation, including the budget, which would kick in July 1. The governor suggested if they reached a compromise, he could submit it through amendments for a vote then.

In a letter to Youngkin last week, legislators rejected that proposal. In an interview, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell — who was traveling and did not join in Monday’s event — said that with that suggestion, Youngkin was trying “expand his role and power in the process by demanding a negotiation.”

Youngkin told reporters Monday at an unrelated bill signing he would “continue to reach out and see if we can find a way to land this budget.”

Aubrey Layne, who served as secretary of finance under previous Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and also advised Youngkin early in his administration, cautioned in an interview Monday that any heated rhetoric around the subject of the budget could eventually have negative implications for the state’s prized AAA credit rating.

“Governance is a big part of our AAA credit rating, and negative public comments, whether it be about economic development deals or the budget does not help the credibility of the commonwealth,” he said.

Lawmakers also had critical or noncommital remarks when asked about Youngkin’s proposed $2 billion development district with a new arena intended to lure the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals to Alexandria.

House Speaker Don Scott joked that he needed to leave when the question came up.

Lucas, who’s been a leading critic of the plan, insisted that it’s dead, as she’s said before.

“At this point ... if the conversation is going to continue to be, ‘We have to use taxpayer-financed debt, and it’s going to be in Alexandria,’ the conversation’s a complete waste of time,” Surovell said.

Youngkin continued to insist “there is a way forward” though he voiced concern about potentially losing the teams to the District of Columbia, which has offered $500 million to revamp the facility where the teams currently play, or to Maryland.

“It’s our opportunity to take, and I would encourage us to take it. And I’m hopeful that we can, although the clock is ticking and we need to get some work done,” he said.

Legislators will continue their “Virginia Families First” press tour around the state this week with stops in Richmond, northern Virginia and southwest Virginia.

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Finley reported from Portsmouth.