Virginia House of Delegates Republican Caucus
Posts tagged Taxes
Landes Explains Senate’s Bad Revenue Estimate
Mar 3rd
Del. Steve Landes (R-Augusta) relays a lesson the Senate has failed to learn--you have to know how much you can spend before you start spending it. The Senate Budget makes promises that responsible revenue figures won't support. Landes details the flaws in the Senate revenue estimates and their irresponsible decision not to provide for a deposit to begin replenishing the Rainy Day fund.
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The transcript of his remarks follows:
O’Bannon Details Healthcare Budget
Mar 3rd
Del. John M. O'Bannon, III, MD (R-Henrico), addressed the House to explain the healthcare provisions of the House budget. O'Bannon noted the improvements in home and community-based care over Gov. Kaine's budget, as well as explaining the prudent use of one-time federal funds for non-recurring items in contrast to the Senate's approach that will create structural imbalances in future budgets.
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The transcript of his speech follows:
Republicans Offer Real Solutions; Democrats Just Complain
Feb 26th
The House adopted its version of the Budget, , on a party line vote, 61-38.
Republican delegates produced a no tax, no fee increase budget by making tough choices about funding core government responsibilities.
Democrats had the opportunity to vote for former Governor Kaine's $2 billion tax increase on January 29 (), and voted "no."
Democrats had the opportunity to offer amendments to increase taxes or change the way spending reductions were taken. They offered only 1 amendment to strike a cut, which would have left the budget out of balance.
They offered no alternative to the Republican proposal, all they offered were complaints with no solutions.
Del. (R-Colonial Heights), House Majority Whip, first called out the Democrats during morning hour, losing patience with speech after speech of complaints about cuts with no alternatives presented in this speech:
Del. (R-Fairfax) and Del. (R-Fairfax) returned to this key them in their speeches in support of adopting the Republican amendments to the Kaine Budget: and .
Chairman Putney Releases House Republican Budget Proposal
Feb 21st
At today's meeting, Chairman Lacey Putney (I-Bedford), who caucuses with Republicans, released the House Republicans' proposed amendments to the budget submitted by former Governor Tim Kaine, which accomplishes the following 8 objectives:
- Restore the Car Tax and reject higher taxes in a recession;
- Eliminate Fee Increases embedded in Gov. Kaine's introduced budget;
- Modify Kaine's "dealer discount" proposal on taxes collected by businesses
- Mitigate cuts to law enforcement and public safety since these activities are among the primary responsibilities of government;
- Invest in job-creating economic development;
- Minimize the impact of cuts on the health safety net;
- Provide school divisions maximum flexibility in implementing education budget reductions; and
- Establish a substantial reserve to replenish the Rainy Day Fund and help ensure a more structurally balanced budget going forward.
Chairman Putney summarized the proposal, saying: "our committee budget recommendations will clearly and strategically focus state resources on keeping our promises to fund the core services of government in a structurally more balanced manner so as the economy recovers we can begin to make new investments and enjoy growing levels of opportunities and prosperity."
Chairman Putney's full remarks are available here: 20100221 - News Release - Chairman Putney Remarks on Budget Amendments Released by House Appropriations Committee
Kirk Cox Discusses Crossover on WRVA
Feb 17th
, filling in for , featured (R-Colonial Heights), House Majority Whip, on 's Richmond Morning News.
Del. Cox highlighted the House's common sense conservative agenda and previewed the no-tax-increase budget to be released on Sunday.
Listen to the audio at: February 17, 2010 Jimmy Barrett Interview with Kirk Cox.