RICHMOND — Two minutes. That's what House Minority Leader Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) figured the GOP had on Tuesday to try to score some political points over the spending plan that Virginia Democrats have engineered for $4.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds.
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Democrats who control the General Assembly had reached an agreement with Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on how to allocate the federal relief money even before the special legislative session started on Monday, including $800 million for the unemployment trust fund, $250 million for school ventilation systems, $700 million for rural broadband and more.
Prevented by Democrats from the usual process of offering amendments in committees, Gilbert and other Republicans cobbled together an entirely new spending plan based on GOP priorities.
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The only avenue left to Republicans to introduce the plan was as floor amendments, which go before the entire chamber for debate. But a parliamentary tactic keeps that debate to a minimum: A lawmaker can simply make a motion to “pass by” any floor amendment, and the rules of the body dictate that the sponsor of the amendment has only two minutes to defend it.
So that was Gilbert’s window Tuesday.
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The amendments had no chance of succeeding, with Democrats enjoying a 55-to-45 advantage in the House. But it was an opportunity to score political points — especially with an eye toward the slate of Republicans running statewide this year for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
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Rather than submit dozens or even hundreds of individual amendments, Gilbert and other Republican leaders spent the day assembling an omnibus, alternate-universe take on the Democrats’ spending plan.
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Where Democrats have proposed giving a $5,000 bonus to all state police officers, for instance, Republicans proposed giving the same bonus to any sworn law enforcement officer — city police, sheriff’s deputies and so on.
Republican proposals included putting more money into the state unemployment trust fund — $1.3 billion total; using the $250 million school money for any renovation project, not just ventilation; awarding the school money in a way that favors the poorest school districts; and giving $500 to every K-12 student in public or private school to help cover costs associated with remote learning during the pandemic.
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Where Democrats are proposing to keep at least $800 million of the federal money in reserve for future needs if the virus worsens, Republicans proposed spending it all now.
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The GOP would remove a moratorium on evictions, and instead of using $20 million for community outreach to get people vaccinated, Republicans proposed simply funding a media campaign — on the theory that their constituents don’t want government workers showing up at their front door to pitch vaccines.
Most of the proposals line up neatly with campaign promises made by Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee for governor. A spokesman for the Republican leadership acknowledged that the plan had been prepared “in consultation with the statewide ticket.”
When Gilbert rose to explain the plan Tuesday, he spent precious seconds arguing that Democrats had shut Republicans out of the process, then quickly ran out of time.
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The House voted on party lines — 53 to 43 — to kill it.
Afterward, Democrats dismissed the effort as a political stunt.
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“This was all about the campaign, it wasn’t a serious policy proposal,” said Del. Marcus B. Simon (D-Fairfax).
In the Senate, Republicans took a completely different tack, offering scores of floor amendments. That chamber will take those up on Wednesday.
Senators proposed 142 amendments to Northam’s budget plan, many of them single-page proposals, but others as long as 24 pages. They landed on the legislators’ desks about an hour before the chamber gaveled in for the day.
Senate Minority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City) had asked that the Senate push off action for a day to give senators time to read and consider the proposed amendments. In exchange, he promised that Republicans would not to throw up any procedural roadblocks to taking a final vote on Wednesday, as originally planned.
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Democrats readily agreed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen [the folders] so full,” said Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax), chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
Some of the proposed amendments sought to use the spending bill as a vehicle for legislation unrelated to the federal relief funds.
Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Rockingham) proposed an amendment that would reinstate Virginia’s requirement that voters provide photo ID at the polls. Sen. Stephen D. Newman (R-Bedford) proposed another freeing local school boards to ignore a new state requirement that they accept students’ gender identities and allow students access to facilities and sports accordingly.
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Another proposal from Newman would prohibit schools from promoting — to students or staff — the idea that “any individual by virtue of his race or skin color is inherently racist, privileged, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” or that “the United States is a fundamentally or systemically racist country.”
Final votes on the spending plan are expected in both chambers Wednesday. After resolving any differences between the two versions, lawmakers plan to turn to choosing judges for an expansion of the state’s appellate court.