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Video: First Meeting of Virginia “Emergency Committee” on Federal Workforce/Funding Cuts Finds a “Palpable Sense of Anxiety” Among Localities; Potential for Economic Hit Even Worse than During the “Height of COVID”

By
lowkell
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0

The first meeting this morning of the newly formed Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions was very troubling in its warnings, analyses and implications. See below for video, the meeting agenda (including a powerful presentation by Clark Mercer – formerly Gov. Ralph Northam’s Chief of Staff, now Executive Director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and Joe Flores of the Virginia Municipal League, among others), and a few highlights, including:

  • Per Clark Mercer, as many as 315,000 federal workers who *reside* in Virginia – 10% of Virginia’s total workforce, mostly concentrated in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. The share of federal workers in localities’ workforces ranges as high as 23% in Arlington County (over 30% in Crystal City), 20% in Alexandria, 16% in Fairfax County (38% in Franconia), 15% in Prince William County and 9% in Loudoun County.
  • There are also about 400,000 contracted employees in the National Capital Area. And then there’s an important “multiplier effect” (between 0.4x and 3x) of these employees’ incomes on local businesses, particularly in the service sector.
  • Mercer points out that while Northern Virginia, “where the bulk of Virginia’s federal workers reside, generates 42% of Virginia’s GDP, larger than 24 states and the District of Columbia,” despite making up just 5% of Virginia’s geographic area.
  • Reduction in Force (RIF) impacts to date include: 75,000 buyout offers accepted, 220,000 probationary employees (not just new employees, also can be mid-career employees who got a promotion or a raise). Then there could be formal reductions in force, and there’s also an executive order stipulating that for every one new federal employee hired, four have to depart from federal service. Crazy.
  • An unemployment scenario based on stated goals of the “DOGE” effort – as much as a 75% reduction in force of federal workers! – show a spike in the DC Metro area from the current 2.8% unemployment rate to a whopping 9.6% (from 2.9% to 5.4% in VA Beach/Chesapeake/Norfolk, from 2.6% to 4.1% in Richmond, from 2.4% to 3.9% in Roanoke). This just includes federal employees, by the way, not contractors or multiplier effects, so this could be utterly disastrous, even worse than during “the height of COVID,” as Clark Mercer puts it.
  • There are also issues with cuts to federal expenditures on defense, programs like SNAP and Medicaid, transportation formula adjustments, evironmental initiatives and DEIA programs, etc. Virginia could also be really hit hard by these cuts…as well as by a cessation (or even outflow) of immigration into the Commonwealth.
  • As the Virginia Municipal League presentation made very clear, Virginia localities are facing high levels of uncertainty – with “unclear, contradictory and confusing” federal guidance and “conflicting reports and guidance” on “the funding freeze and personnel actions” – including scope and length of freezes – making planning much more difficult and “overwhelming local governments.” So now “everybody is scrambling,” thanks to the chaos flowing from the Trump/Musk administration. Localities are having a great deal of difficulty to pull together a budget given all the uncertainty. And there’s a “palpable sense of anxiety” among localities. Ugh.
  • Federal funding accounts for about 10% of local revenues, with some localities (e.g., Marion, Bluefield) getting over 30% of their revenues from federal monies, and others (Bedford, Wise, Tazewell, Culpeper, Pulaski, Wise, Bristol, Bridgewater, Martinsville, Galax) getting over 20%. Note that the most heavily dependent localities on federal monies are places that went HEAVILY for Trump, are deep-“red,” etc. Ironic?
  • “Economists report that the loss of one federal employee can negatively impact 1-2 additional jobs in the local economy.” These job losses could also hurt local revenues from sales taxes, meals taxes and real estate taxes.
  • “Federal budget cuts or a slowdown in global trade have the potential to damage…economic engines” (Langley Air Force Base, NASA Langley Research Center, the Hampton Veterans Affairs Hospital, the Fort Monroe National Monument, the Port of Virginia, the Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipyard, etc.) in the Hampton Roads area.

By the way, note that this commission is bipartisan, but that Republican members were pretty quiet today and/or had nothing really of value to add (other than rambling about how the situation is “in flux” – no sh** Sherlock!), and of course did NOT criticize the Trump/Musk administration, because…of course they didn’t. This, despite the fact that many of their districts stand to suffer badly in coming months years thanks to the disastrous Trump/Musk cuts, war on the federal government, etc. Will these Republicans EVER speak up? And if not, why don’t they just resign, because they’re clearly not adding any value if they won’t even fight for their own constituents and for Virginia as a whole!

 

Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says GOP Colleagues “know some of this stuff is bad…and they won’t speak up”; Sen. Tim Kaine Says “The consequences of Trump’s depraved actions are starting to make themselves plain”

By
lowkell
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0

See below for video and a few highlights of Sen. Tim Kaine and Sen. Mark Warner talking to PoliticsGirl the other night.

  • Sen. Tim Kaine: “We know the endgame [for Republicans] – slash programs affecting everyday Americans and then use that money to give big tax breaks to the wealthy we saw them do it in 2017, they’re doing it again this time, and both the Senate and House Republicans are making plain that’s what their goal is. “
  • Sen. Tim Kaine: “Donald Trump called our friend and former colleague John McCain a loser and refused to go to a veterans cemetery because he said it was filled with losers, so no surprise Donald Trump’s waging a war on veterans.”
  • Sen. Tim Kaine: “…even though we’re in minority, there comes a point where this kind of breaks. We saw it in 2017 – they were doing a lot of damage in the first eight months of the Trump Administration, when they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act and they went further and they wanted to cut Medicaid, suddenly the the moms — 50% of births in America are compensated by Medicaid to low-income moms, kids who use Medicaid so they can get a wheelchair to go to school, seniors who use Medicaid to be in nursing homes — they all turned out and we got Republican votes to stop Donald Trump’s rampage… The consequences of Trump’s depraved actions are starting to make themselves plain and that builds up pressure and that’s what we need right now and that’s why what you’re doing is so important.”
  • Sen. Mark Warner: “People are freaking out and I think we’re going to start to see Republican elected officials say, hey, we thought he was going to lower groceries, Trump, not cut my community health center or not we’ve been working for bringing a thousand jobs to this rural community in Southside Virginia, that’s not going to happen with Trump freezing all this stuff.”
  • Sen. Mark Warner: “I was chair of the intelligence committee,  we spent a lot of time trying to push back against Putin – Musk and his boys are out there either maliciously or stupidly and people can make their choice giving out classified information.”
  • Sen. Mark Warner: “I was in Munich, where the Vice President of the United States came and in the morning went to the concentration camp at Dachau supposedly to pay his respects. Then he came and trashed all the Europeans and the German government because they have rules that say hey after World War Two and Hitler, we’re not going to let crazy right-wing parties in because we saw what happened. And conservative and liberal parties alike in German. He trashed the German government. Then that night he went and had basically dinner with the far-right German Neo-Nazi party. And I have to say even my Republican friends who were there going, man this is not our country, this is not who we are.”
  • Sen. Mark Warner: “I mean, not to sound over the top, but the rest of the world always looked to our country, they thought Americans are a little bit goofy but in a pinch, you would want nobody better than the Americans to be on your side. And now it wasn’t just the Europeans. My mom’s family is all from Canada, we had the Canadian foreign minister say we’re never going to trust you again. And I don’t think that represents the majority of Americans, it doesn’t represent Democrats, I don’t even think it represents the majority of Republicans…”
  • Sen. Mark Warner: “It’s been, man, I’ve been doing this for a while, it’s been as hard as anything I’ve ever done when they know some of this stuff is bad, they know we’re undermining American security and they won’t speak up. And when they privately come and talk and say well we actually voted for this person even though she was not qualified, it’s like this is why this is why we got to keep talking…”

 

Saturday News: “Dow drops 700 points for worst day of 2025 so far on new fears about economic growth”; “Firing military officers for perceived disloyalty endangers the nation”; “Republicans put the sick in sycophancy”; “House Speaker Scott expects a special session to deal with federal cuts”

By
lowkell
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14

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, February 22.

Virginia Democratic Members of Congress to Interior Department: Reverse Park Service Staffing Cuts

By
lowkell
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2

The most interesting thing about this letter is who did NOT sign it – namely, any Republican member of Virginia’s U.S. House delegation, despite the fact that at least three of these parks – Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway – are located in “red” US House districts (VA01 – Rep. Rob Wittman, VA06 – Rep. Ben Cline, VA09 – Rep. Morgan Griffith). So why are only *Democrats* standing up for Virginia’s 22 national park units, which collectively “serve 22 million visitors and contribute $1.5 billion to local economies each year?” Because, clearly, they are terrified of bucking their cult leader, Donald Trump, no matter whether he tramples our democracy, Virginia’s economy, our recreational opportunities, the environment, etc, etc. I mean, why would you even want to serve in public office if you have no backbone, no willingness to fight for your constituents and your district? And why would anyone vote for these cowards???

VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS TO INTERIOR DEPT: REVERSE PARK SERVICE STAFFING CUTS

 ~ Virginia’s 22 National Park Service sites serve 22 million visitors annually, contributing $1.5 billion to local economies across the Commonwealth ~

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine and U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott, Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, Jennifer McClellan, Suhas Subramanyam and Eugene Vindman (all D-VA) pushed the Trump administration to reverse staffing cuts at the National Park Service (NPS), outlining the effect directives to eliminate employees and rescind and delay job offers will have on safety at Virginia’s 22 national park units, which serve 22 million visitors and contribute $1.5 billion to local economies each year.

“We write today to express our deep concern over alarming directives issued to eliminate roughly one thousand full-time employees, rescind hundreds of offers for full-time positions, and delay thousands of offers for seasonal positions at the National Park Service (NPS). These roles are critical to protecting America’s treasured natural assets, maintaining public safety, and promoting exceptional standards expected at national parks across Virginia and the nation,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “We urge you to reverse these directives and prevent additional cuts to existing staffing going forward given the critical role that the vast majority of NPS staff play in ensuring public safety. If these directives are not reversed, we fear it will significantly undermine the Park Service’s ability to protect both visitors and park resources, particularly as we approach peak visitation season.”

The NPS  workforce plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth operation of our nation’s parks and the safety of the millions of visitors who explore them each year, and are also responsible for protecting the priceless natural, historic, and cultural resources that belong to the American people. However, recent staffing directives from the Trump administration – which included the dismissal of probationary employees and the rescinding of job offers at NPS with no input from park superintendents – are expected to make it significantly more difficult for NPS to carry out its mission, especially as peak visitor season approaches. Staff positions affected by the administration’s unilateral staffing directives include frontline park rangers responsible for ensuring visitor safety and protecting park assets, maintenance staff tasked with addressing the deferred maintenance backlog and reducing the risk of wildland fires, and support staff responsible for raising revenue for NPS through fee collections.

“It has been reported that the only exemptions offered were for positions that respond to public safety incidents, including law enforcement rangers, public safety dispatchers, and wildland firefighters. However, public safety response is just part of the work that goes into protecting the public,” wrote the lawmakers. “Countless other positions from rangers to natural resource specialists to wastewater specialists to maintenance mechanics that are not covered under the exemptions have wide-ranging responsibilities for preventing public safety incidents in the first place. Eliminating these positions put our parks at greater risk of damage and make them less safe for visitors. We are particularly concerned about reports that NPS rescinded offers for positions directly responsible for fire safety at Shenandoah National Park – coinciding with the start of wildfire season.”

Continued the members, “While it is encouraging that NPS recently walked back its decision to rescind offers for nearly 5,000 seasonal positions, park superintendents have received no guidance as to the next steps they can take to move forward with seasonal hiring. The late winter and early spring months are critical for ramping up seasonal staff in preparation for the summer visitation surge. Without clear guidance for superintendents on seasonal hiring, the continued delay in hiring could jeopardize the ability of these parks to safely accommodate millions of visitors this summer.”

In the letter, the Virginia lawmakers also noted that the staffing directives threaten to undermine the progress Congress has made in recent years to invest in repairing and restoring our national parks.

“For over one hundred years, NPS has been charged with safeguarding millions of acres of America’s irreplaceable natural, historic, and cultural resources. However, persistent underfunding of NPS resulted in the Service’s inability to properly staff park units and the growth of a multi-billion-dollar backlog of deferred maintenance projects. In recognition of the worsening situation at our national parks, bipartisan majorities in Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020 (GAOA), one of the largest ever investments in conservation and public lands in our nation’s history. The GAOA gave NPS the resources it needed to dedicate billions of dollars for addressing deferred maintenance across the country, including over $470 million for projects in Virginia. As a result of these staffing directives, units will be forced to reallocate remaining staff to support regular operations at the expense of staff hours dedicated to reducing the deferred maintenance backlog,” they wrote.

Concluded the lawmakers, “Significant disruptions to NPS staffing during the critical months prior to peak season threaten to harm the tourism economy associated with Virginia’s national parks that supports hundreds of small businesses and thousands of jobs. We urge you to swiftly reverse these directives and communicate clear guidance to park superintendents to ensure that NPS units in Virginia and across the country can move forward with hiring both seasonal and permanent positions that are critical to ensuring the safety of millions of park-goers.”

A copy of the letter is available here.

Audio: In Town Hall, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA03) Asks If Trump Might Refuse to “relinquish power,” “cancel the [2028] election”; Wonders If There are 5 SCOTUS Justices Who “have the backbone to rule that we have a democracy and we’re not giving it away”

By
lowkell
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0

Last night, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA03) held a telephone town hall meeting (see below for audio and highlights), during which he gave an excellent summary of where things are at right now, while answering some highly relevant – and even disturbing – questions. For instance, one caller asked, “What is being done…about the proposal or the bill to change the Constitution that would allow a president to serve a third term, but excludes the previous president, and will you support a president serving a third term?” Rep. Scott’s response was very telling – and troubling, for anyone who doesn’t think America should be a dictatorship:

“I certainly would not support that legislation that would allow Trump to serve a third term – but not Obama, George W Bush or Bill Clinton. It’s in the form of a constitutional amendment, it requires two-thirds votes in the House and the Senate. I can’t can’t imagine it getting the 2/3 vote nor being ratified by 3/4 of the states. So I don’t think there’s any chance that it might pass. The problem of course is that when we get towards the end, whether or not the president will relinquish power to the newly elected president or whether he’ll cancel the election – we don’t know what he might do. I think…we’re kind of tied up with all of the chaos and confusion right now, but I think it’s always been a question what he meant when he told one group, if you vote for me this time you won’t have to vote for me again. What he meant by that? I hope he didn’t mean you won’t be ABLE to vote for me again. But as far as the law is concerned, I don’t think there’s any chance that the…constitutional amendment will pass either Congress or be ratified in time for it to be effective.”

Yikes. Now, here’s a lightly edited transcript of Rep. Scott’s excellent introduction, during which he reviews where we’re at and what’s happened over the terrible past few weeks.

“…I share many of those concerns and frustrations. What we have witnessed the last few weeks from President Trump and Elon Musk and the rest of the Trump Administration is nothing short of an assault on democracy and the federal government. They have unleashed chaos and confusion with executive orders and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Governmental Efficiency or DOGE. Much of what they have done is designed to demoralize and destroy the federal workforce, just like it is written in  Project 2025. They’re attempting to purge career civil servants who know what they’re  doing, who have the experience to know what they’re doing, with a loyalist to  Donald Trump. And the most recent actions are without any apparent legal authority.

The pace of action has been relentless and constant. On its first day, President Trump pardoned 1600 violent criminals who were convicted of crimes resulting from their participation in the violent insurrection on January 6th – people who assaulted police officers protecting the peaceful transfer of power are now free because of President Trump’s pardons. Then they announced the hiring freeze of all federal employees and a haphazard firing of other civil servants, including those who kept airline passengers safe and those working hard to stop the Avian flu. These actions are putting the public at risk -and the Veterans Administration, for example, who already had a staffing shortage and targeting probationary employees only makes things  worse…many of those are positions that have been left open for a long time and they finally got to fill  and now they’re vacant again. They’ve attempted to freeze all federal grant funding funding that provides for education, health care and access to food and public safety…these are programs that our community relies on every day like Head Start and community health centers and investments in the future like medical research.

Then we found out from public reports that Elon Musk invaded your privacy by accessing personal data in highly confidential systems in the Departments of Treasury, Department of Labor, Department of Education and others. This information includes Social Security numbers, healthcare information, student loan information. But they won’t tell you what they’re doing with the information and…that information could include sensitive information about Elon Musk’s business competitors or sensitive information about…the many federal agencies that are investigating his businesses, particularly OSHA and the NLRB, and he could be using that information for his personal financial advantage. There’s no reason for Elon Musk to get all that information. It begs a question what he intends to do with it. And he says it’s all in the name of efficiency, but we know that Musk had a  private meeting with the prime minister of India – was that for personal business or what?

Let’s remember that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are claiming that all of this is in the way to reduce the deficit in national  debt…suggesting that they’re doing anything about the national debt is ridiculous; first public reports indicate that his claimed savings are wildly exaggerated. And just last week House Republicans made their first moves to pass a new federal budget for the fiscal year that begins October 1st. We had an 11th-hour hearing and yesterday Donald Trump endorsed the budget – they reported this budget will actually INCREASE the annual deficit and add trillions of dollars to the national debt… after they whined incessantly about how bad the debt and the deficit both are. And it betrays the middle class by giving trillions of tax cuts to the top 1% in corporations while cutting services for the middle class.

But let’s be clear, this Republican budget makes cruel cuts to countless programs that working families depend on, and as ranking member of the Committee on Education and Workforce, I’m particularly offended by cuts being  demanded of educational and nutritional programs. The budget means that children and seniors will go hungry, employers will not be able to find the skilled workers they need, and it will make it harder for students to go to college and even harder to pay back student loans. And the budget will rip away health care from millions of Americans by making drastic cuts in Medicaid, all this to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Time and time again we’ve seen trickle-down economics fail to deliver on its promises to the middle class, and there’s nothing economically responsible about the new Republican budget. Working families and the middle class will pay for even more lavish tax cuts for corporations and billionaires like Elon Musk and Donald Trump. And they have actually been very successful in looking out for themselves. According to published reports, both Elon Musk and Donald Trump have made tens of billions of dollars, maybe hundreds of  billions of dollars for themselves just since the election.

And we will not be distracted, let’s not be distracted from the fact that amongst all this chaos and confusion the price of eggs and other goods has been going up. Inflation went up last month despite President’s Trump campaign promise to bring costs down on day one. And inflation will only get worse with President Trump’s new tariffs, which amount to a new tax on American consumers, and his new policy on immigration, which will also put upward pressure on prices.

Now what can we do about this? Our Constitution provided for checks and balances. And regrettably, the American electorate chose to elect Republicans to control both chambers of Congress. And many Republicans in Congress have supported the chaos, confusion and corruption lock stock and barrel. But Congressional Republicans also have a very thin  majority – we only need three Republicans in the House or four Republicans in the Senate to join us to stop this chaos and insanity. Countless lawsuits have been filed and many have yielded results…Leader Jeffries has launched a new effort to hear directly  from the American people harmed by recent Trump Administration policies; if you or someone you know has a story you would like to share, please head to the website, Democraticleader.house.gov/shareyourstory and let us know how all this chaos has affected you.”

Finally, Rep. Scott pointed out that we “need five votes” on the Supreme Court “that have a real sense of loyalty to the Constitution and to democracy…I think there may be five that when you get down to basic democracy,” and hopefully “the Supreme Court will have the backbone to rule that we have a democracy and we’re not giving it away.” I mean, sure, let’s hope that’s the case, but what if Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett  – all of whom have said/done crazy, lawless, unconstitutional stuff already – do NOT “rule that we have a democracy and we’re not giving it away?” Then what happens? Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but the fact is – it could, so we’d better start thinking about it.

 

DLCC: Virginia Legislative Session Wraps with Democrats Delivering For Working Families

By
Blue Virginia
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0

From the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC):

RELEASE: Virginia Legislative Session Wraps with Democrats Delivering For Working Families

The DLCC recently launched its target map including the Virginia House

WASHINGTON— The Virginia legislative session ends tomorrow, and Democrats are sending a flurry of bills to support working families to GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk. The DLCC is laser-focused on re-electing and electing these legislators who have focused on increasing economic opportunity, expanding access to health care, raising wages, and keeping communities safe.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams issued the following statement:

“While the Republicans in the states are mimicking the chaos of the Trump Administration in Washington, Democratic legislators like the leaders in Virginia have remained focused on solving the issues most important to the working families they represent. Democratic victories in Virginia in 2023 made the impactful legislation we see today possible. This November, the DLCC is prepared to build on that progress as we hold the Democratic majority in the House of Delegates.”

Virginia Democrats passed legislation that would…

  • Raise the minimum wage and phase in $15 per hour
  • Create a state paid family and medical leave program for workers
  • Enshrine abortion rights, secure marriage equality, and restore voting rights for people who have finished serving time for a felony in three constitutional amendments
  • Improve health care by requiring transparency and timely answers about coverage from insurance companies
  • Make communities safer with gun safety legislation including an assault weapons ban and a ghost gun ban
  • Require health insurance to cover contraceptives and establish a right to contraception

The DLCC is the official arm of the Democratic Party with the sole mission of building Democratic power in the states and setting the national agenda at the state level. Over the last decade, we have fought cycle-over-cycle to gain a dozen new legislative chamber majorities and we are leading the effort to bring national attention and investment to our ballot level. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and have the closest connections to Americans’ day-to-day lives. From protecting fundamental freedoms and voting rights to growing the middle class, the DLCC and state legislators are moving the Democratic agenda forward and shaping the future of this country.

 

Friday News: “The Ultimate Betrayal” – of Ukraine; Trump’s “Putinization of America”; “Free Fall – Not a Slippery Slope – To Tyranny”; “Dark MAGA era”; “MAGA Conspiracy Theorist in Charge of FBI”; “This Is What Happens When the DOGE Guys Take Over”

By
lowkell
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20

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 21.

Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Trump “pulling the rug out from underneath our Ukrainian allies,” Vance Meeting “with the farthest right Neo-Nazi party” “does enormous damage to us”

By
lowkell
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0

See below for a press release from Sen. Mark Warner’s office, regarding his “21 amendments to the GOP budget proposal to address the needs of working Americans and taking aim at the Trump administration’s lawlessness”; as well as video from Sen. Mark Warner’s weekly press availability earlier today. Among other things, Sen. Warner had the following to say about Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine and JD Vance’s bizarre speech and actions in Germany earlier this week:

“I don’t know if the president of the United States has actually even ever been briefed by his own intelligence community about who started the war in Ukraine. I do know this that it was Vladimir Putin, that he is the aggressor, that pulling the rug out from underneath our Ukrainian allies does enormous damage to us not only in Ukraine but in terms of the confidence that not just our European allies but allies around the world have. And you know who loves that? Vladimir Putin in Russia and president Xi in China. And I will bet you that they will ramp up their efforts because it appears like America is disarming itself to try to push back on disinformation.

Let’s face it, when the Vice President of the United States goes to Germany, visits Dachau, then lectures the Germans on how they ought to change their law ignoring the consequences of World War II, and subsequently meets with the farthest right Neo-Nazi party, I’ve never seen that in my lifetime. And having been in Munich during that period, there are going to be a whole lot of folks around the world who’s gonna whether they will ever trust us again and again. Who does that benefit? It benefits our adversaries.”

Ugh.

WARNER FILES AMENDMENTS TO REPUBLICAN BUDGET PLAN

WASHINGTON –  As the Senate prepares for an all-night vote-a-rama on the Republican reconciliation budget bill agenda that will cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of Virginia families, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, filed 21 amendments to the GOP budget proposal to address the needs of working Americans and taking aim at the Trump administration’s lawlessness.

“As President Trump and Senate Republicans try to move a budget resolution clearing the way to cut taxes for the richest Americans at the expense of the programs working families depend on, it’s important to understand what we’re talking about here: the GOP plans to provide tax breaks for billionaires while slashing health care, education and public safety and doing nothing about the really big problems most Americans are facing, like the rising costs of housing and child care,” said Sen. Warner. “I hope some of my Republican friends will think twice about supporting a budget plan that cuts taxes for the richest and doubles down on the chaos of the Trump-Musk administration.”

Specifically, Warner’s amendments would:

Put senators on the record for raising costs, gutting programs American families rely on

  • Create a point of order against any reconciliation bill that would not decrease the cost of housing for American families. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to providing benefits to survivors of miners who died due to pneumoconiosis. Text
  • Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that would increase monthly student loan costs for borrowers of Federal student loans. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to preserving funding and current staffing levels at the Department of Education. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to providing affordable health care for American families, which may include making permanent the extended and expanded advance premium tax credits. Text
  • Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that would increase the cost of child care for United State families. Text
  • Create a point of order against any reconciliation legislation that would increase health care costs for children receiving Medicaid. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to prohibiting cuts to critical health programs, which may include preventing the institution of a Medicaid per capita cap policy. Text

Put senators on the record on combating Trump-Musk lawlessness and corruption

  • Establish a deficit-neutral fund relating to protecting the American people from the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, transnational organized crime, and terrorism by prohibiting the mass termination of critical employees in the intelligence community. Text
  • Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation if certain Federal civil service laws are being violated. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to ensuring that employees of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and elements of the intelligence community are not subject to retaliation and firing due to political preferences of any Presidential administration. Text
  • Create a point of order against consideration of reconciliation legislation until the Congressional Budget Office certifies that health, education, research, law enforcement, and foreign aid funding authorized by Congress is not subject to programmatic funding delays, deferrals, or rescissions. Text
  • Create a point of order against considering funding legislation for the Office of the President while there is pending litigation alleging a violation of the Take Care Clause. Text
  • Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that would rescind obligated or awarded amount made available under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Text
  • Create a point of order against considering reconciliation legislation during a period during which there is an ongoing violation of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974, as determined by the Comptroller General of the United States. Text
  • Create a point of order against consideration of spending or revenue legislation during any period during which there is an ongoing violation of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as determined by the Comptroller General of the United States. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to protecting duly-enacted appropriations from unconstitutional cancellation by the President. Text
  • Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation during any year in which an employee has been placed in administrative leave for more than a total of 10 work days. Text
  • Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation during any period in which there is litigation pending against the President or another Federal officer alleging a violation of certain provisions of title 5, United States Code. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to protecting classified and sensitive information on programs and individuals of the United States from being accessed by DOGE employees. Text
  • Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to prohibiting the closure or relocation of Federal agencies without congressional authorization. Text

Video: On the Rachel Maddow Show, VA Speaker Don Scott Says “not one Republican – not one in Virginia! – will step up and say what the President of the United States is doing is wrong!”

By
lowkell
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2

Superb job by VA Speaker Don Scott last night on the Rachel Maddow Show. See below for video and a partial transcript:

“I live in a community in Portsmouth, Virginia. the Portsmouth Naval Hospital is there…a few miles away is the largest naval station in the world, Norfolk Naval Base. I’m a former Naval officer, a veteran. Every single day I get to see those folks and see how they’re being impacted. We have a Veterans Hospital, the largest one right across in Hampton, Virginia, and it’s on land where they have a lease there and then Elon Musk saying he’s going to end that lease. Well, who will take care of our veterans? Who’s going to protect them? These people have put their lives on the line many times before to protect our country and guess what? Many are Republicans and Democrats and they always stuck together. And right now, I’m saying I’m worried about our country a little bit. But it’s not the time to panic, it’s the time to fight. I’m worried because it looks like we’ve lost the ability to have any empathy for people, you know people whose spouses are worried about where they’re going to live, where the next paycheck is going to come from, they’re worried about their health care…are they going to be able to take care of their children, their families? We’re seeing this impact and it’s playing out in real time.

And so we have a responsibility in government, I believe in state government, we still have a responsibility to make sure that we’re protecting people. But we’re finding out the data, we don’t want to panic…because that’s what Donald Trump wants us to do, he wants everybody to go look around and and lose their minds and not sit down and look at the facts, look at the data. That’s why we formed this emergency committee so we can actually look at what’s happening in Virginia. That’s what we do. That’s what Americans always do. We live in the greatest country on the planet. Our Constitution has a a clear outline how we separate powers. If Congress and the Republicans there won’t do their jobs, then we’ll do our jobs and make sure that we step up to protect families, because that’s what our responsibility is.

As we’re hearing from people, they’re hurting here in Virginia. And it’s really sad that not one Republican – not one in Virginia! – will step up and say what the President of the United States is doing is wrong. Not one will step up and challenge Elon Musk, who’s now an unelected multi-billionaire! Not one will step up and challenge him. And so we have a responsibility I think to get the facts…and I think when we do that, then I think we will get some allies from the Republican Party. I hope we’ll get some. But if they don’t, I’m hoping that every single Democrat – because right now our country and our vision is on the line – will step in and help us.

We have an election here in November 2025. I’m hoping that every single Democrat in this country will come to our aid to help fight for the values that we’ve all grown up knowing and believing in the vision of America and the dream. And I think right now there are some people trying to take us backwards and we have a responsibility to fight for that and an obligation. When I took that oath as a Naval officer years ago, I haven’t forgotten it. And when I took that same oath here as Speaker of the House to protect and defend our Constitution, and right now it’s time for all patriots to step up and fight back…I’m hoping these Republicans will step up, they’re celebrating these job cuts in Virginia, when really they should be fighting back for us; we hope that they will.”

Virginia League of Conservation Voters’ Endorsement of Abigail Spanberger is the Earliest in a Gubernatorial General Election in the VA LCV’s 26-Year History

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lowkell
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The following endorsement, by the Virginia League of Conservation Voters of Abigail Spanberger, is not surprising, but it is very illustrative of the choices we face this November. On the one hand, we’ve got Spanberger, with a 95% lifetime pro-environment score, as well as her vote for the Inflation Reduction Act — “the largest investment in climate and clean energy in U.S. history.” In STARK contrast, the other option is Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, who pretty much never talks about the climate crisis or environmental issues, but is part of a MAGA movement that is virulently ANTI-environment, ANTI-climate science (and science more broadly), ANTI-clean energy, PRO-fossil fuel industry, etc. So if you care at all about the climate crisis or the environment in general, your choice for Virginia governor this November will be *really* simple to make, and it definitely must NOT be Winsome Earle-Sears (or the even-more-extreme/anti-environment, if that’s possible, Dave LaRock, a rumored candidate for the VA GOP gubernatorial nomination in addition to Sears)!

ICYMI: Virginia League of Conservation Voters Endorses Abigail Spanberger for Governor of Virginia

Virginia LCV Executive Director: “We Are All-In to Elect Spanberger and Return Environmental Champions to the House of Delegates”

Virginia LCV’s Endorsement of Spanberger is Earliest in Gubernatorial General Election in 26-Year History

RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia League of Conservation Voters (LCV) today announced their earliest gubernatorial general election endorsement in the organization’s 26-year history, backing Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger to serve as the next Governor of Virginia.

“I am grateful for the work of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters to protect our children’s future and Virginia’s natural resources, and I’m honored to earn their endorsement to serve as the next Governor of Virginia. Every Virginian deserves access to clean air and water — no matter their zip code,” said Spanberger. “As Governor, I look forward to working with all Virginians to preserve our beautiful Commonwealth and make sure Virginia’s economy continues to lead the way in creating clean, affordable energy.”

In endorsing Spanberger, Virginia LCV’s Board of Directors pointed to her environmental vision for the Commonwealth and her strong record in Congress. During her three terms representing Virginia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives, Spanberger voted to pass the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest investment in climate and clean energy in U.S. history. As Chair of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee’s Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology Subcommittee, Spanberger worked to bring local farmers and producers to the table to protect the Commonwealth’s natural resources, combat climate change, and grow Virginia’s economy.

In addition to electing pro-environmental candidates to statewide office, a core component of Virginia LCV’s 2025 electoral work will be growing majorities in the House of Delegates to safeguard Virginia’s environment.

“Progress has been elusive the past four years with a governor hell-bent on pleasing a radical base and his corporate polluter friends. Under a new ‘Conservation Majority’ we get to go back to work pushing forward popular policies that protect our environment and secure a clean and affordable energy future for all Virginians,” said Michael Town, Executive Director, Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “We are all-in to elect Spanberger and return environmental champions to the House of Delegates – our future is on the ballot.”

“Abigail Spanberger is the leader Virginians need — someone who will work with the House to secure a clean, healthy environment, protect our children’s future, and safeguard Virginians and their livelihoods. My caucus and I are ready to partner with her to deliver real results for our Commonwealth,” said House Speaker Don Scott. “Her opponent would take us backward — weakening environmental protections, making disaster recovery more difficult, driving up everyday costs. With Abigail Spanberger as governor, we will advance real solutions that make life better, safer, and more affordable for all Virginians and generations to come.”

BACKGROUND

The Virginia League of Conservation Voters serves as the political voice of the Commonwealth’s conservation community, working to make sure Virginia’s elected officials recognize that the Commonwealth’s natural heritage is an environmental and economic treasure for all. Virginia LCV works with conservation leaders across Virginia and strives for a conservation majority in state government. The organization aims to secure good public policies on the state level and hold public officials accountable for their positions on environmental issues.
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