Video: VA House Dems Blast Youngkin’s “Petty” Vetoes of Substantive, Bipartisan Bills on Medical Debt Relief, Protecting Tenants Against Slumlords, Lowering Virginians’ Health Insurance Premiums, etc.

See below for video of – and highlights from – this morning’s Virginia House Democratic caucus’ “veto response press conference.”

• VA House Democratic Leader Eileen Filler-Corn: “I was absolutely stunned to see this week…that several important, bipartisan bills were actually vetoed. Again, substantive bills impacting Virginians’ lives with bipartisan support – vetoed….I truly believe that these are petty actions by a governor on sowing partisan division and grabbing cable news headlines than focused on delivering actual results…for working Virginia families…From Day 1, we have seen Gov. Youngkin has focused his attention on seeking to divide rather than working together…on improving the lives of Virginians…6 of the 10 House bills that were vetoed actually had the support of over 2/3 of the House of Delegates…two of those bills actually passed unanimously…Yet Gov. Youngkin took the vindictive action of striking them down.”
• Del. Nadarius Clark: “HB573 was an amazing bill…for medical debt relief…We had bipartisan support on this bill…passed the Senate unanimously…And sadly, the governor still vetoed it…This is something that Virginians needed…that the governor actually campaigned on…he has not kept his progress and he will allow Virginians to continue to suffer medical debt as we come out of this pandemic…I hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle…will not be bullied by the governor to change their votes.”
• Del. Cia Price: “I introduced HB802 in direct response to unconscionable living conditions that some of the constituents of the 95th district and Newport News were being forced to live in because of slum lords…These residents were paying their rent but were not able to get their concerns met…So what HB802 would do is allow the localities to sue the slumlords for the actual fixes…leaks, mildew, mold, insect infestations, rodent infestations…This bill would have been a game changer…tenants were lined up virtually to speak…and this commonsense passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support…But once it got to the governor’s desk, he responded to the needs of residents all across the Commonwealth in these horrible situations with a slap in the face with this veto…He then went on to imply that the residents we are trying to help were somehow at fault for causing this situation. This is not based in fact or lived experience…with this veto, the governor is creating a safe space for slumlords…”
• Del. Patrick Hope: “HB675…was the unanimous recommendation of the bipartisan joint commission on health care…specifically would have eliminated a provision in Obamacare that allows health plans to charge up to 50% surcharge to tobacco users versus non-tobacco users…The penalty is especially punitive, particularly for low-income Virginians…the tobacco surcharge does not promote quitting, it acts as a barrier to coverage especially for low-income Virginians…I really wish the governor had come to us with any questions that he or the administration had…we would have happily answered all his questions…in addition to reducing the premiums for tobacco users by 50%, it would cause premiums for all Virginians – ALL Virginians – to fall by 4.5%…If this bill becomes law, it would save every Virginian an average of…$157.78 a year…This surcharge is particularly hard on low-income rural Virginians, because rural Virginia has the highest rate of tobacco users and they also have the highest rate of the uninsured.”