Youngkin Signs Virginia Budget with Tax Cuts, Spending Increases Educ., Law Enforc.

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- Washington Post/MSN, June 21, 2022. Ed.

RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) invited several hundred supporters to a suburban Richmond grocery store Tuesday to watch him ceremonially sign the state’s two-year budget, touting its rare combination of $4 billion in tax cuts and increased spending for education and law enforcement. “This is big,” Youngkin said to hoots and cheers beneath a campaign-style banner that read “Getting it done together.” “It’s not everything that I wanted, so we’re going to go back in and get the rest” next year, he said. “But it is a big step in the right direction.”

His action comes just 10 days before the June 30 deadline to get a budget in place for the next fiscal year — a relatively close call caused by protracted negotiations for a compromise between the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and the Democratic-controlled state Senate. Youngkin scored a few wins in the budget deal, suffered some losses and ultimately decided to take what he could get — including an increase in the state’s standard income tax deduction and a reduction in the tax on groceries.

At the rally Tuesday — held at Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market, the same store where Youngkin filmed a political ad last fall about eliminating the grocery tax — the new governor blamed Democrats in the Senate for blocking his full agenda, which sought another $1 billion in tax cuts. “Virginians deserved a better answer from our Senate Democrats than no,” he said. “This is a time for us to come together,” Youngkin added, invoking what he likes to describe as a “movement” that got him elected. The movement “was not Republicans against Democrats, it was about Virginians standing up for all that we know is right,” he said.

Afterward, in a brief interview with The Washington Post, Youngkin said he intends to spend the rest of the year mounting similar rallies & “listening sessions” around the state in a kind of perpetual campaign mode — unusual for a Va. governor. Asked if he’s running for some other office, Youngkin said he’s simply trying to keep people informed. ~

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/youngkin-signs-virginia-budget-with-tax-cuts-spending-increases/ar-AAYI04t

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1. Va. Budget to Move Funds from Undoc. DACA College Students to State's HBCUs- 'Divide PoC' Criticism

- Wash. Post/MSN, June 21, 2022.

A measure in Virginia’s new two-year budget is drawing criticism for redirecting funding for undocumented college students to students at historically Black colleges and universities in the state.

The money — $10 million over two years — had been earmarked for state financial aid for undocumented immigrants, who are barred from receiving federal student loans and grants. Instead, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) asked the General Assembly to give the money to students at Virginia’s five private and public HBCUs — Virginia University of Lynchburg, along with Hampton, Virginia Union, Norfolk State and Virginia State universities.

“Shame on the governor for weaponizing state financial aid as a cheap political ploy to divide communities of color,” said Sookyung Oh, director of Hamkae Center, a civil rights organization in Virginia. “If education was important to this governor, as he claimed throughout his campaign, he could have easily allocated funding to ensure every young Virginian who wants to pursue higher education in the Commonwealth has the resources to do so.”

Critics of the measure say it perpetuates a false scarcity problem at a time when Virginia has a budget surplus, and it demands that lawmakers sacrifice one needy group of students for another. “I understand and agree that we need to do something for HBCUs. This is not the way to do it. This is messy,” Del. Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico), head of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, told the House before a vote on the amendment Friday. “We have more than enough resources to help.”...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/virginia-budget-to-move-funding-from-daca-students-to-state-s-hbcus/ar-AAYI8p3