Seeing this is “Piss on Youngkin Day,” I thought I would see what was going on in the state of Virginia. I do not know if all those fools who voted for Youngkin are having buyer’s remorse, but they left the Virginia State Senate in Democratic hands. And lo and behold, Virginia Democrats are playing a game most of use want to see: obstruction of Republican assholism.
Virginia Democrats are using their Senate majority to reject significant chunks of the GOP agenda and turn back attempts to undo legislation that became law under the previous two years of a majority Democratic legislature.
Despite last year’s Republican wins statewide and for control of the House of Delegates, Democrats are using their 21-19 edge in the Senate to stop GOP legislation on charter schools, the minimum wage, guns, social issues and some of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s tax proposals.
“We made generational progress over the last two years on a lot of issues, from access to health care, to education funding, to expanding voting, criminal justice reform, addressing climate change. And those are issues that are very important to us and are popular with Virginians,” said Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, the Senate Democratic caucus secretary.
“We expected the new administration and House Republicans to try to roll them back, but we’re standing firm to protect that progress.”
And here is a list of what Youngkin wanted to repeal or try to enact:
Although many of his agenda items remain pending, here’s a look at some of the items on Youngkin’s legislative agenda that Senate Democrats have already rejected:
- Senators killed a bill aimed at streamlining state government regulations that Democrats feared would eliminate consumer protections.
- Senators in the Commerce and Labor Committee killed a bill that would have repealed a 2020 law allowing localities to give employees the ability to collectively bargain for a contract.
- Youngkin wants to rename the title of his Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Director of Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion. Democrats on the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee said no.
- Even with one Democratic senator joining Republicans to support a bill that would have made it easier for charter schools to open in Virginia, Democrats on the Senate Education and Health Committee killed the proposal by a vote of 8-7.
- The same committee voted 9-4 to reject a bill from Sen. Jen Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach, that would ban the teaching of “inherently divisive concepts” in public schools. That bill, in keeping with an executive order from Youngkin, stemmed from GOP efforts to prevent school divisions from teaching students about systemic racism.
- Although many of Youngkin’s tax proposals are awaiting action, Democrats rejected his proposal to require local governing bodies to take public actions up to a voter referendum if rising real estate assessments result in higher property taxes.
- Youngkin wants to double the standard deduction on income taxes, but a Senate panel has recommended that be studied for a year before any decisions are made.
And the article goes on to list other “great” Republican plans, like rolling back a state minimumwage increase:
Democrats also stopped GOP efforts to roll back an increase in the minimum wage to $12 an hour next year, and killed bills to allow people to carry a concealed handgun without a permit and repeal the state law limiting handgun purchases to one per month.
Yeah, I wonder if those Biden/Youngkin voters wanted all those things too?
And what does Youngkin have to say about all this obstruction:
“I’m disappointed at the partisan politics that I see being played in the Senate,” Youngkin told WTKR-TV in Hampton Roads on Friday. “Virginians are tired of this. This is why I won — to actually get things done.”
If memory serves, Youngkin was elected to make sure that a subject that wasn’t taught unless you get into law school was never mentioned to those who were not learning it anyway: critical race theory. Or did I miss something about the VA governor’s race last year? Besides the fact Youngkin was going to do something about kids being in school during a pandemic. He was supposed to do some kind of magic that ended up being, “Take your masks off.”
Fun times.