Worst of the Week: Not putting Virginia's working families first

February 10, 2012

The Virginian-Pilot reports the priority of conservative lawmakers the first half of Virginia's legislative session has been a social agenda including, "Mandatory ultrasounds before abortions. Tougher voter identification standards. Repeal of a limit on handgun purchases." This was despite the fact, "Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell warned his colleagues not to overreach now that they controlled both houses of the legislature, but to focus on the economy and jobs."

Progressive Point: Virginians want their representatives to focus on fixing the economy, creating jobs, and improving infrastructure and our transportation system. Conservatives campaigned on these issues, but instead of helping Virginia families they are choosing to support special interests. Introducing 34 bills on handguns and 12 bills interfering with women's private medical decisions is not helping create jobs. Pushing 32 different bills to increase tax giveaways and loopholes for big corporations is not helping our Commonwealth's economy--it's actually damaging Virginia by defunding our budget for schools, roads, and other important programs that serve us all.

Virginia's voters need their lawmakers to focus on finding economic solutions and stop spending their time on ideological issues. They have wasted the first half of the short legislative session on partisanship when they should have been pushing legislation that would support working Virginians. It's time for Richmond to start helping Virginia's struggling working families and stop trying to take away their rights. It's time to invest in a Virginia that works for everyone. 

Get the Facts: Conservatives have spent the first half of Virginia's General Assembly session introducing:

• 34 bills dealing with handguns, weakening Virginia's crime prevention tools


• 12 bills interfering with women's private medical decisions, which should be left to a woman, her family, and her faith


• 12 bills wasting taxpayer money on enforcing federal laws and making new immigrants feel unwelcome in the Commonwealth


• 13 bills placing barriers between Virginians who have fallen on hard times and the help they need to get back on their feet, insinuating that being poor is shameful


• 3 bills establishing some Virginians as second-class citizens, denying equal protection under the law to some Virginia families based solely on their sexual orientation


• 32 bills increasing the tax giveaways and loopholes for big corporations


• 9 bills attacking Virginia workers' rights and protections


• 13 bills making it more difficult for Virginians to vote

Forward to a Friend via email

Share on Facebook

Tweet it: Worst of the Week: Not putting Virginia's working families first http://bit.ly/zWgYxZ via @ProgressVA