See below for video of a *great* speech by VA House Democratic Leader Don Scott a few minutes ago on the floor of the House of Delegates, in which he eviscerated Glenn Youngkin’s budget amendments.
According to Del. Scott, Youngkin “could not resist [messing with a carefully crafted, bipartisan budget] because he just doesn’t get it, he doesn’t understand the process, and he doesn’t get it.”
Del. Scott specifically pointed to Youngkin “literally putting into the sacred criminal code, taking people’s liberty away, and you guys are about to vote for it, because he’s bullying you…adding in more criminal code through the *budget* process.”
Del. Scott added that he hasn’t been in the House of Delegates that long, but he has more experience than Youngkin, who’s “only been in government for a hot minute.” And, Del. Scott added, Youngkin’s “in the middle of running for president.”
According to Del. Scott, Youngkin is busy:
“rolling back our progress on mass incarceration…on restricting reproductive freedom…to make the poorest – what bullies do – to make the poorest women who need access to abortion pay out of their own pockets for nonviable pregnancies – pregnancies that could literally kill them…But he won’t even think about introducing a bill to restrict AR-15s to protect our children in classrooms. I’m surprised that he didn’t put in a budget amendment to require children to wear body armor to class…I know [Youngkin’s] focused on curriculum and CRT and divisive concepts, but that’s not what those children in Uvalde died from. There were bullets in their bodies that decimated their faces. And yet we know that the NRA was the first biggest sponsor for the Republicans at their most recent retreat, because we know who you answer to.”
Also, as Del. Scott noted, these budget amendments take money out of the housing trust fund, etc. And “today the governor through a budget amendment is restricting women and family choices.” “It’s not a coincidence that all of his policies are about how do we control people; the same people who talk about freedom want to control people’s decisions.” In conclusion:
“We want to collaborate [with the governor], but if it’s all about restricting people’s freedoms, locking people up and throwing away the key, controlling women and family’s decisions regarding their own healthcare decisions, then I have a duty – I must fight and we will fight.“
Bravo!
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