Norment blasts Miller on budget stance

Last week we reported that Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News, was touting a budget amendment he sponsored to give Christopher Newport University an additional $2 million to help build a new student services center.

“This appropriation will continue the transformation of our great university," Miller said.

Then on Thursday, as part of the Senate Democrats' effort to stop the chamber's spending plan dead in its tracks, Miller voted against complete budget proposal.

That has Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, R-James City County, hopping mad.

Norment has contended that his Democratic colleagues are holding up the budget in retaliation for "bruised egos" they're nursing over Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling using his tie-breaking vote to give the GOP control of the evenly divided Senate where both parties hold 20 seats.

So after reading Miller's comments in Saturday's Shad Plank notebook, Norment dashed off a response saying Miller's actions were "a level of hypocrisy and cynicism you just don’t see every day."

“There’s just one problem with Senator Miller’s taking credit for obtaining this funding,” Norment said.  “He voted against the budget that contained the money and is voting to hold the budget hostage for purely political reasons.

“First John Miller asked the Senate to approve $2 million in funds for CNU.  His colleagues included the funds he requested.  John Miller then turns around and votes against the budget that includes the funds he requested.  Adding insult to injury, he then takes credit for obtaining the funding he just voted against.  That’s a level of hypocrisy and cynicism you just don’t see every day.

“John Miller’s votes against this budget carry real consequences.  If John Miller or one of his Democratic colleagues does not vote in favor of a budget, there will be no budget – and no $2 million for the CNU Student Services Center.  There’ll be no funding for anything in higher education, or in public schools or law enforcement or anything else that requires state funding.  And, John Miller has it entirely within his power to fix that.

“It’s bad enough that Senator Miller is blocking the passage of the budget.  But to then take credit for funding included in the budget he’s blocking is just wrong.”

Miller will have another chance this week to vote on the budget, as the Senate prepares to take up the House of Delegates version, which was amended in the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday to mirror the version the Senate originally put forth.

But at this point it looks as if Senate Democrats will continue to hold together as a caucus under Minority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, and again vote to sink the spending plan.

It should be noted that there is no love lost between Miller and Norment. During last year's Senate race Norment said his "number one priority" was to unseat Miller and replace him with Republican candidate Mickey Chohany.

That race was heavily targeted by the state's top Republicans in their efforts to win an outright majority in the state Senate. Miller was able to beat back the challenge by Chohany and his backers and stop the Republican onslaught at an even split in the chamber.

Senate panel kills House bill to do away with funding for abortions for unviable fetuses

The Senate Finance Committee voted down Tuesday a bill that would bar Medicaid funding for poor women seeking abortions for fetuses that could be born with fatal or completely debilitating conditions.

Opponents of Del. Mark Cole's, R-Spotsylvania, anti-abortion measure say it would leave women on the state's Medicaid program without options after learning from their doctors that they are carrying an unviable fetus.

Previously the Senate Education and Health Committee amended the bill to ensure those babies would move to the front of line for receiving one of the commonwealth's limited Medicaid waivers.

Victoria Cobb of the anti-abortion Family Foundation, who was disappointed following Tuesday's hearing, said "these kids sometimes beat the odds," and they should be given that chance.

"To make that presumption in the womb is to prematurely determine that child's fate, and that's not the role of government," Cobb said.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia applauded the panel's decision to keep the Medicaid funding for a condition that only affected 10 women on the state's low-income health care plan last year.

"Virginia legislators are starting to see the light on women's health issues. We are very pleased that the members of this committee recognized how extreme this legislation is as well as its potential impact on women’s health and the most vulnerable of Virginian families,” said  the groups executive director Tarina Keene.

 

Budget outlook still bleak

It appears the state budget will continue to be stalled in the Senate as the Finance Committee passed the House of Delegates version of the bill after changing it  into the Senate's original version Tuesday on a party-line vote.

Following the committee hearing when asked if anything had changed on the budget front after his caucus stooped the Senate's state spending plan Thursday, Senate Minority Leader DIck Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said,  "Doesn't appear to does it."

In moving to pass the amended version Sen Emmet Hanger, R-Augusta, said when the budget proposal comes back to the Senate floor later this week it should be amended to take out a major concession to restore $42 million dollars for the cost to compete for school support staff in Northern Virginia over Democratic intransigence.

"I think it's appropriate for us to reflect on the fact that if we're going to have a budget we're going to have to have cooperation in a bipartisan spirit, " Hanger told his colleagues on the committee. "There are other issues out there that have people concerned that need to be addressed. But it's my assertion they need to be addressed somewhere other than in the budgetary process. And I really think it's appropriate - if not here than on the floor - to remove that concession if we're not getting any support in a bipartisan spirit."

Republicans contend that the Democrat's refusal to pass a budget plan in the evenly-divided chamber goes back to "bruised egos" over Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling using his tie-breaking vote to give the GOP control Senate on the first day of the 2012 General Assembly session.

Because Bolling can't use his tie breaker on budget matters, Democrats can hold up the spending plan indefinitely.

Democrats say this is not the reason for their refusal to support the budget proposal, rather they have substantive policy issues with the levels of funding for education and the social safety net.

Women's Strike Force PAC gets $1,600 in first hour

The new Women's Strike Force PAC designed to defeat lawmakers who support the controversial fetal ultrasound measure and the "personhood" bill, which would define life as beginning at the moment of conception, announced Tuesday that it received $1,600 in its first hour of existence.

Memberrs of the PAC did not say how much money was donated to its cause in it's first day of existence Monday, but Women's Strike Force spokeswoman Rebecca Geller said, "we have received donations nationwide ranging from as little as $5 from students to $10,000 from major contributors.”

Geller credited the PAC being featured Monday on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" and write up in a number of publications, as well as a strong social media presence for the donations.

“When Rachel Maddow announced our PAC on her show, we received over 100 hits and donations in three minutes! Men and women around the country are fired up about what’s happening here and want to fight for the women in Virginia,” said Women's Strike Force co-chair and former Newport News Del. Robin Abbott.

In a statement members of the PAC reiterated that the Women's Strike Force is made of Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Co-Chair and former Independent Del. Katherine Waddell, who was previously a Republican, said she has many friends in the GOP interested in stopping legislation that threatens women's reproductive rights.

"So many of my friends are Republican women. They say to me all the time, 'What are we going to do about this? We're tired of this. What can we do to make it stop?'," Waddell said. “ (I) was very active in the Republican Party, and it's upsetting to watch what's happened to the party because we always believed in limited government and individual freedom and the right to privacy. I've watched them move completely away from that to total government intrusion into women's personal private lives.  There is a section of the Republican party who respect women’s reproductive rights, and they need to be heard.”

Sen. McEachin drops lawsuit against Bolling

Lawyers for Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, quietly dropped the Senate Democratic Caucus chairman's lawsuit challenging Senate President and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's ability to cast a tie-breaking vote on organizational matters in the chamber.

McEachin filed the lawsuit in December after November's election left both parties with 20 seats in the Senate and Republican leaders, along with Bolling, made clear they intended to use the lieutenant governor's tie-breaker to take control of the chamber.

McEachin had sought a temporary injunction against Bolling casting a vote, but the judge in the case said that was premature.

McEachin retained the right to refile the suit, but said at this point it was a "distraction."

"I thought it best to keep the focus on the budget and on the divisive social agenda the Republican have advanced," McEachin said Monday. "I thought this would be a distraction to that."

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said Friday he believes his office's motion to dismiss the suit would have ultimately been successful, and he will refile that motion if McEachin brings back the legal challenge.

"From the beginning of this case, it has been clear that the lieutenant governor has the right to vote on senate organization and break other ties, unless the Constitution of Virginia limits the vote to members elected to the senate," Cuccinelli said. "That will still be true if another suit is filed, and therefore, we will seek dismissal of any new suits."

Bolling said Friday he is pleased that McEachin decided to drop the law suit.

"I am pleased to hear Senator McEachin has decided to non-suit this case," Bolling said. "We felt the case was without merit and we were encouraged by the court's earlier rulings that seemed to uphold our position.  Hopefully, Senator McEachin's decision is an indication that we can move beyond issues such as this and focus on getting the people's business done in the final days of the legislative session.  Priority number one should be the adoption of a state budget to make certain that we can continue to fund the core responsibilities of state government and protect the interests of the people we serve.  I look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats to do everything we can to accomplish this goal on a timely basis."

 

On Thursday Senate Democrats successfully stopped passage of the chamber's version of the state budget - a policy area that Bolling can not cast tie-breakers on. Republicans contend that action by the rival party was due to "bruised egos" over the organization of the Senate.

 

Senate Democrats say that's not the case. They say their problems are substantive - having to do with underfunding education and the social safety net.

Senate dumps measure to do away with HPV vaccine requirement

The Senate killed a bil Monday that would have done away with the requirement for sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

On a vote of 22-17 - Senate Majority Leader Sen. Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment did not vote - the chamber decided to send the measure back to the Education and Health Committee and essentially table it for the year.

"This is one of the problems that you have when people who aren't (medical doctors) get involved in areas that really should be left to the medical field," Said Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, before asking that the bill be returned to the committee and quietly forgotten.

HPV is transmitted sexually and can cause cervical cancer among women, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women.

Sen. Steve Martin, R-Chesterfield, said the bill wasn't doing away with the HPV vaccine, it just makes it an opt-in rather than an opt-out decision for families.

Under current requirements, families can opt-out and not have their daughters vaccinated.

"This bill changes it from basically an opt-out provision we already have to a fully-informed opt in provision," Martin said. "It does not create the problem suggested here. It does fully eliminate it; it still exists."

New 'women's PAC' formed to fight supporters of fetal ultrasound, personhood

Former Newport News Del. Robin Abbot is heading the new "Women's Strike Force" PAC designed to defeat candidates for the General Assembly who support mandatory ultrasounds before abortions and the "personhood" measure which defines life as beginning at conception.

"The steps that have been taken by lawmakers in Virginia and states across the country to deprive women of their reproductive rights are a slap in the face to every American wife, mother, sister and daughter in our country," said Abbot, who co-chairs the PAC. "It is beyond offensive that legislators are playing politics with women's health. We must join together to fight these extreme ideologues."

Co-chair and former Independent Del. Katherine Waddell said she is "angry" and "fed up" with this General Assembly's  "legislative assault on women's reproductive rights."

"Between the trans-vaginal ultrasound bill, the personhood bill and the improper rant of a delegate on the House Floor, Virginia has become fodder for ridicule nationally,” Wadell said. “I am truly embarrassed by the actions of the majority party Members in the House of Delegates and Senate.”

House names budget conferees

Speaker of the House of Delegates William Howell, R-Stafford, named the chambers budget conferees Friday - the day after the House passed its budget, but the Senate version of the budget was blocked by Democrats.

House and Senate budget conferees meet after both chambers pass their versions of the state's spending plan to work out a compromise budget to send to the governor.

This session's House budget conferees are Lacey E. Putney, I-Bedford, M. Kirkland "Kirk" Cox, R-Colonial Heights, Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick, Johnny S. Joannou, D-Portsmouth, Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, and Steven "Steve" Landes, R-Augusta. 

"The budget we passed out of the House yesterday is a structurally sound proposal," Howell said. "The entire House Republican Caucus is anxious to see a Senate budget and our experienced leaders are anxious to begin the important work of passing a biennial budget that provides for education funding, long-term fiscal stability and health care priorities.

 

"Chairman Putney's twelve years of experience as a conferee is a tremendous asset to the process as we work toward a final budget agreement. Delegates Cox and Joannou were first appointed as budget conferees in 2004. Delegate Sherwood has been a budget conferee since 2007. Delegates Jones and Landes first served as conferees in 2010.

 

"In light of the Senate's failure to pass a budget, the experience and insight of our seasoned conferees will be more important than ever during this year's budget negotiations. I hope that Senate Democrats will engage their Republican colleagues so that we might begin our work on the most important piece of legislation to come before us this year."

Gov. McDonnell on defeat of Senate budget plan

Gov. Bob McDonnell issued the following statement after Democrats stopped the Senate version of the state budget Thursday on 20-17 vote - in order to pass the chamber the budget must receive at least 21 votes, and as President of the Senate Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling can not offer a tie-breaking vote on budget matters.

“Virginia’s budget impacts every single resident of the Commonwealth. Passing a balanced budget, on time, is the most important duty of all of us sent to Richmond. The $85 billion budget reflects our priorities as a people. Through the budget, the Commonwealth timely funds the salaries of our hardworking teachers and police officers. We provide medical care to the less fortunate. We build roads. We protect the environment and provide for water quality. We ensure public safety. Now, for apparently partisan reasons, Senate Democrats may have put a timely budget at risk. I understand that their reason for this action is disappointment over the committee seats they hold. Essentially, with their vote today, they appear to have put committees ahead of communities. This is not the Virginia way.

Throughout the budget process I, along with Senate Republicans, have repeatedly asked Senate Democrats for their input, ideas and proposals regarding the budget. I have not received any substantial list of major priorities. To the degree that specific requests were made to Senate Finance committee leaders, numerous items were included in the budget, as repeatedly evidenced by the lengthy floor debate today.  While the House came together to approve their budget on a 79-21 bipartisan vote, Senate Democrats did not support the most important bill facing the General Assembly, and the citizens of Virginia.

During the next five days, prior to the House budget coming to the Senate floor, I ask my friends in the Senate Democratic Caucus to express publicly what specific issues they have so that a timely, balanced, fiscally responsible Senate budget may be adopted next week. My office is ready to help facilitate productive discussions at any time.”

Full Senate aborts 'personhood' bill with procedural motion

Using a procedural maneuver the full Senate killed the controversial "personhood" measure that had just been approved by the Senate Education and Health Committee earlier in the day.

On a 24-14 vote the chamber re-referred the bill back to committee and passed it by for the year.

Following approval in the Senate committee earlier protests against the measure got heated - with protesters being removed from both the General Assembly Building and Capitol grounds.

Their ranks swelled to nearly 500 people as they came back and lined the walk between the GAB and Capitol as lawmakers made their way between the two buildings. This was a repeat of Monday's silent protest when roughly 1,200 people lined the walk.

This time however, protesters cheered wildly and thanked Democratic lawmakers who have been vocal opponents of anti-abortion measures this session - only remaining silent as GOP lawmakers passed.