VIRGINIA – In a deeply divided General Assembly, coming to a budget agreement means bipartisanship is crucial.
“51-49 in the House, so there’s gonna have to be some give and take,” Republican Delegate Chris Obenshain said.
Governor Youngkin presented his budget proposal in December with tax reforms front and center.
He proposed one billion dollars in tax relief, and cut income tax rates by 12%.
But Obenshain said those cuts have been nixed from the House amendments.
“That tax relief has been removed from the house version and has been left with only the tax increases that the governor proposed, so I think that’s a big problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Delegate Sam Rasoul said the tax increases make way for other crucial needs, like education.
“In a time where we need to make so many critical investments, tax cuts that would primarily benefit the wealthy just were not a priority right now. We wanted to make sure we were making critical investments in our schools, our mental health and our healthcare system,” Rasoul said.
Obenshain said without tax cuts, working families will suffer.
“One thing we need to look at is not putting the whole of this budget on the back of working Virginians, and that’s what it looks like right now,” Obenshain said.
Rasoul tells 10 News many of Youngkin’s original proposals made it through, and even though there were changes, he’s confident in the legislature.
“Many of his initiatives are in this budget and some that did not make it - and in the end we’ll have a good sound budget for all Virginians,” Rasoul said.
But they still have a few days to iron out any issues.
“The legislative process is all about compromise and trying to find ways to work together,” Rasoul said.