(NOTE TO SENATE DEMOCRATS: Before you guys leave town, you need to make 100% sure that you get Bob McDonnell’s agreement, in WRITING (and also publicly), to expand Medicaid. End of story. – promoted by lowkell)

Just a few minutes ago, the Virginia House of Delegates passed, by a 60-40 vote margin, the transportation compromise reached earlier this week (and that we’ve discussed intensively here at Blue Virginia). Personally, I would have voted against this bill unless two parts were fixed and/or strengthened: 1) the $100 fee on hybrid vehicles is utterly absurd, totally bass-ackwards as the expression goes; and 2) I would want much stronger assurances that any new transportation revenues would be spent on environmentally friendly, smart growth, sustainable transportation solutions and not on more sprawl-inducing highway boondoggles from hell. In addition, House Democrats needed to use this bill for leverage on Medicaid expansion. I’m disappointed they didn’t do that, really don’t understand why they didn’t play hardball, and am 100% certain Republicans would have done just that if the shoe had been on the other foot. Sigh… {UPDATE: Is a a “deal in the works” on Medicaid after all? Let’s hope!}

Anyway, now on to the State Senate, where I’m hoping (but not holding my breath) that the issues noted above will be addressed.

P.S. It turns out that Republicans could only muster 34 of the 51 votes they needed to pass this bill. In other words, Democrats gave then 25 of their 32 votes to pass this bill, without getting anything in return on Medicaid, the $100 hybrid fee, or whatever. I’m baffled; what am missing here?!?

UPDATE: Here are the “yeas” and “nays”.

Yea: Albo; Hodges; Marshall, D.W.; Scott, J.M.; BaCote; Hope; May; Sherwood; Brink; Iaquinto; McClellan; Sickles; Bulova; Ingram; McQuinn; Spruill; Cosgrove; James; Merricks; Stolle; Cox, M.K.; Jones; Minchew; Torian; Dance; Keam; Morris; Toscano; Dudenhefer; Kilgore; O’Bannon; Tyler; Edmunds; Knight; Orrock; Villanueva; Filler-Corn; Kory; Plum; Ware, O.; Greason; Krupicka; Poindexter; Watson; Head; LeMunyon; Purkey; Watts; Helsel; Lewis; Putney; Yancey; Herring; Lopez; Rust; Yost; Hester; Loupassi; Scott, E.T.; Mr. Speaker

Nay: Anderson; Fariss; Lingamfelter; Ransone; Bell, Richard P.; Farrell; Marshall, R.G.; Robinson; Bell, Robert B.; Garrett; Massie; Rush; Byron; Gilbert; Miller; Surovell; Carr; Habeeb; Morefield; Tata; Cline; Howell, A.T.; Morrissey; Ward; Cole; Hugo; O’Quinn; Ware, R.L.; Comstock; Joannou; Peace; Webert; Cox, J.A.; Johnson; Pogge; Wilt; Crockett-Stark; Landes; Ramadan; Wright

UPDATE 3:12 pm: I’m hearing definitively that a deal on Medicaid expansion most certainly WAS an integral part of why many House Dems voted for the transportation deal. Now, the key is to make sure that deal is locked in, that McDonnell doesn’t renege or backtrack, and that the Senate make that absolutely clear before they agree to vote for this legislation!

( – promoted by lowkell)

When I think of George W. Bush growing up in that family, I think of him as being in a troubled position. Problems with the father seem pretty clear. I’m not sure how it was with the mother, but I can imagine some humiliation (hence emasculation).

He’s somebody I gave a lot of thought to over a long period, and thought it was clear there was a lot of brokenness there.

Many of the destructive directions of the Bush administration seem to have gotten their impetus from Dick Cheney. But Bush was no mere pawn.  We know that he came in willing to do whatever he has to do –honest or not, decent or not, destructive or not– to prevail. We know that because W was working hand-in-glove with Karl Rove, a man for whom cheating and lying and manipulating are the basic modus operandi. Bush had made that deal with the devil long before Dick Cheney entered his picture.

So the brokenness of W himself was important for understanding all the brokenness his presidency inflicted on this nation.  W’s brokenness generated a wave of brokenness that left its damaging mark on everything the forces of politics touches, which is pretty much everything, directly or indirectly.

So if I’m right about how the family in which George W. Bush grew up fostered a good deal of brokenness, of wounding, that family picture contains something important about how the pattern of brokenness has spread from one level of the human system to another, from the personal to the global, in this case.

Nonetheless, the destructive spirit that’s been on a rampage in America in our times is not ultimately about George Bush.  

We can see that there was something behind the Bush presidency that continued to operate even after that presidency came to an end. The same spirit that drove the Bush wrecking crew was able to stay in Washington after he left and continue its destructive work by taking up residence in this equally disgraceful, equally dishonest, equally disrespecting of our democratic traditions that have served America well, equally inflamed with the insistence on conflict rather than peace and cooperation, “opposition” party the Republican Party has been for the past four years.  And still is.

The way that it could jump from one vehicle to another is evidence that THERE IS AN IT. (See http://andyschmooklerforcongre…  

It uses the people at hand, but it exists at a level that transcends even the major players, like Bush and Cheney and Rove, and the Koch Brothers and Limbaugh and the rest.

It is important that we see this “It,” because this is what we must defeat, and as the great pitcher Walter Johnson said, “You can’t hit what you can’t see.”

Seeing and understanding this “It” is what my “Swinging for the Fences” project is about.

Andy Schmookler, an award-winning author, political commentator, radio talk-show host, and teacher, was the Democratic nominee for Congress from Virginia’s 6th District.  He is the author of various books including The Parable of the Tribes:  The Problem of Power in Social Evolution and Sowings and Reapings: The Cycling of Good and Evil in the Human System.  

FYI, I just received the following from David Dickson Program Manager of the Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter. I’m glad to see the Virginia environmental community uniting against the transportation deal, including its $100 fee on hybrid vehicles and its funding of projects like the environmentally damaging Coalfields Expressway.

Like [the Coalition for Smarter Growth] and [the Piedmont Environmental Council] we oppose the Transportation Bill.  While the bill may have some good provisions like funding for intercity passenger rail and transit, we oppose it because it lowers the gas tax, providing an incentive for more driving, more congestion, and more pollution, including GHG emissions.  It also imposes a $100 annual tax on hybrid and alternative fueled vehicles, and robs of almost $200 million per year to help make up for the lowered gas tax.  We have yet to see the actual language of the conference agreement so there may be other provisions we object to.

Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 22. Also, to Senate and House Democrats: stand strong today (on Medicaid and transportation), stand up for what our party believes in, and stand united!!!

*The sequester madness (“The GOP loses most, but everybody suffers.”)

*How Obama moved the tax debate to the right (This is the infuriating, center-right Obama that makes me yearn for the day when we can have a real progressive as president…)

*White House changes course on sequester (“…a week before the sequester deadline, they’ve decided to change course, summoning cops, teachers, nurses and first responders to the White House for meetings on how to pitch their case to lawmakers on Capitol Hill reluctant to cut a deal.”)

*A GOP whitewash

(“Correcting their strange history of the sequester”)

*Updated: Top Virginia Republicans at odds on transportation compromise

*McDonnell’s stance on Medicaid imperils roads bill, Democrats say (“On Thursday, 24 House Democrats sent a letter to the chairmen of the Assembly’s two money committees saying they cannot support a state budget that does not include Medicaid expansion.” Good!!!)

*Cuccinelli, McAuliffe differ on road funding compromise

*Cuccinelli opposes transportation deal as ‘massive tax increase’

*The Smart (Growth) Crowd Weighs In (And their answer is NO!)

*Editorial: A transportation reality check (“A deal by state legislators contains some beneficial provisions, but it cuts into funding for other government services.”)

*Editorial: Questionable morals (“The governor has chosen politics over the fates of uninsured Virginians.” It’s not really “questionable,” it’s just typically Republican – nasty, cold hearted, etc.)

*Showdown looms over transportation, Medicaid (OK, Virginia House and Senate Democrats, it’s time to show what you’re made of!)

*Bolling finally free to speak out against GOP’s move to right (The thing is, Republicans are always “free” to do that, they just choose not to because they’d rather keep winning elections or whatever.)

*‘Straw man’ gun laws already on books, rarely enforced

*Va. Senate sends moratorium on drones to McDonnell (“In a rare show of unanimity, two-year study is approved”)

*Today is ‘Gun Owners Support Starbucks Day,’ for Virginians who openly carry guns in public

*Benefits of being a state legislator

*Sen. Warner to push to create center for campus safety

*Reckless rezoning in Chesapeake

From the Coalition for Smarter Growth and Piedmont Environmental Council, this is almost exactly what I've been saying: 

VIRGINIA – “Look beyond the deal specifics and look at the real implications of the announced deal on HB2313, and you’ll see a bill that represents bad fiscal policy and bad transportation policy,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “It’s a bad deal for Virginia. Without reforming VDOT spending the statewide component of the funding will be wasted, and all Virginians will have to pay for this waste.”

“On the same day that the conference committee announced a deal proposing about $850 million per year in additional transportation funding, we learned that VDOT is wasting yet more of the $3 billion in funds approved by the General Assembly in 2011,” said Chris Miller, President of the Piedmont Environmental Council. “Yesterday, in a presentation to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, VDOT said it would allocate $869 million in borrowed federal funds to Route 460 and the Coalfields Expressway, two of the most wasteful projects to ever be proposed in Virginia. Then there is the $1.25 billion or so they propose to waste on the Charlottesville Bypass and the NoVA Outer Beltway. ”

Ignore the complexity of the sources of funding and step back.  There are simple reasons why this is a bad deal:

1) Eliminating the per gallon gas tax and cutting taxes on gas by up to one-third represents bad economics and bad transportation policy, because it reduces the tie between transportation use and funding. Transportation, unlike our schools, is like an electric utility, yet the primary fee—the gas tax—hasn’t been increased in 27 years. Transit users have been paying increased fares, year after year, yet road users would see a reduction in daily travel costs under the bill, leading to a potential shift from transit to driving, more driving and more congestion.

2) By diverting statewide sales taxes, the proposal reduces current and future revenues needed for education, health care, public safety, and other core services.  According to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, Virginia ranks  38th for investment in public K-12 education, 35th for investment in our universities and 46th in state spending on Medicaid.  General fund revenues will be needed to invest in our human capital, not in asphalt, in order to maximize Virginia’s competitiveness.

About $500 million per year will be taken from the General Fund (.175 cent increment of existing sales tax + share of .3 cent increase in the sales tax; and not counting the Marketplace Equity Act). The entire .175 cent increment taken from the existing sales tax (or $192 million) would be directed to highway maintenance — meaning we will be buying asphalt instead of hiring more teachers.

3)  The proposal includes no measures to ensure wiser spending by VDOT.  The agency is squandering most of the $3 billion in borrowed funds authorized by the General Assembly in 2011 and we can expect more of the same if VDOT controls how the new statewide funding is to be spent. The nearly $500 million in funding that would go to the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund in the proposed bill in actuality frees up an equal amount of highway construction money, and VDOT would likely continue to waste this money. Because the funding goes directly into the HMOF and is not passed through the TTF, it avoids the TTF formula that would require 14.7 percent to go to transit and could potentially provide funding for primary, secondary and urban roads. So transit and local roads get nothing out of the largest share of new funding.

Just yesterday VDOT took $869 million in Garvee bonds to spend on two wasteful projects, Route 460 and the Coalfields Expressway.  This is over two-thirds of the $1.2 billion in Garvee bonds authorized in 2011, reducing funds available for much higher priority projects.  Four wasteful, unnecessary projects total a potential $5.5 billion in spending:  Route 460 ($1.4 billion), Coalfields Expressway ($2.8 billion), Charlottesville Bypass ($243 million, with estimates up to $400 million), and the Outer Beltway (estimated $1 billion). The traffic numbers do not justify these highways and the money is being diverted from much higher priority needs. 

4) The proposal offers no statewide funding for local road needs.  VDOT has zeroed out funding for local roads over the past few years. Instead, the bill will make Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads increase sales taxes and wholesale gas taxes to pay for local roads. This is a major step toward devolution and passing on the cost of local roads to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Meanwhile, with as much as $500 million in new road construction funding, VDOT will spend that on highway projects and not the local road construction needed across Virginia. Finally, instead of providing adequate state funding for the Midtown/Downtown Tunnels, the bill proposes that Hampton Roads use an additional local sales tax and wholesale gas tax to reduce the costs of tolls. So the bill lets the state off the hook in terms of funding the tunnels, while VDOT is free to divert over a billion dollars to Route 460.

5) Instead of funding transit through taxes on fuel and through the Transportation Trust Fund as a core transportation service in Virginia, the bill pushes all new transit funding into the General Fund (.3 cent addition to the statewide sales tax), forcing it to compete with schools, health care and other public services.  Dulles Rail should long ago have been funded through the Transportation Trust Fund. It should not be a bargaining chip to get Northern Virginians to agree to taking General Fund revenues.

6) It makes no sense to allocate most of the (potential and speculative) future revenues from the Marketplace Equity Act to transportation when the state has growing needs in education and other human capital investments in order to maintain our competitiveness.

(I’d also consider using whatever leverage we have vis-a-vis this transportation bill to push for Medicaid expansion. – promoted by lowkell)

The Virginia legislature seems poised to adopt a mediocre transportation bill – better than what Governor McDonnell proposed originally, but still pretty bad — but the voting is likely to be close, as Tea Party Republicans are prepared to vote NO on the Governor’s top priority because it includes tax revenues to pay for common goods.

This legislation represents one of the rare occasions where House of Delegates Democrats might actually have serious leverage. In looking at this bill, here are three major problems that House Democrats can use their leverage to address:

1. Wholesale gas tax is lower than general sales tax rate.
2. Hybrid tax is punitive and the (il)logic doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
3. There are horrid transportation boondoggles embedded in this that will syphon off $billions (potentially $10s of billions) of limited resources that could be better spent on other transportation projects to improve Virginians’ lives, improve Virginia’s economy, and better serve Virginia’s future.

Addressing these very quickly:

Make Wholesale Gas Tax Equal to Sales Tax: While there a myriad of policy reasons why lowering gas taxes are simply bad policy (moving away from user fees, rewarding pollution, hurting efforts to reduce oil imports, promoting things that move money out of Virginia (since VA imports all of its oil products), etc …), there is a fundamentally bizarre element at play here:  Why is the legislature going to reduce partially the gas tax percentage while increasing the general sales tax? A simple question, “Why should fuel for cars be taxed less than buying clothing for children?”

Democrats in the House should demand that the wholesale gas tax equal the general sales tax rate.

Eliminate Hybrid Surcharge:  Again while it is stupid on policy reasons (attacking those seeking modern technology and energy efficiency with lower pollution with lower external costs (such as reduced health implications)), the logic behind the hybrid surcharge doesn’t stand up. Governor McDonnell has claimed it is required due to lost gas taxes. However, with the new wholesale gas tax, it would take over 20 years of average driving in a hybrid to lead to lost tax revenue of $100.  And, hybrid vehicles sell for higher prices than non-hybrids — thus there is more tax revenue on sales and title transfers.  This is a punitive ‘anti-green’ tax which is simply a punching of those ‘greenies’ who buy hybrids and who generally favor Democratic Party candidates.

Democrats in the House should say no to this idiot policy which is targeting their own supporters.

Mandate open review of major transportation projects with legislative review before proceeding.  While the Coalfields Expressway is truly the worst (designed more to support Mountain Top Removal using tax dollars than to help better Virginia transportation), there are multiple $multi-billion questionable projects that will — $ for $ — do far less than Virginia and Virginians than a wide range of other transportation project options.

House of Delegates Democrats should demand provisions for external review of major projects and legislative approval requirements to reduce the waste of taxpayer resources on ‘Roads to Nowhere’.