Gov. Bob McDonnell dropped his $84.9 billion budget proposal on Virginia Monday, so of course there's going to be plenty of reaction.
Here's a look at some of the early thoughts:
From the Bacon's Rebellion blog:
"Looking at the big picture, McDonnell takes only one major wrong turn, but it’s a biggie — diverting tens of millions of dollars from the General Fund budget to transportation, which traditionally has relied upon dedicated revenue streams. Refusing to raise the motor fuels tax, McDonnell is abandoning any pretense of a “user pays” principle for transportation funding. That is wrong, wrong, wrong..."
From the Bearing Drift blog:
"At least Englin acknowledges that there is goodness in the governor’s proposal on K-12 and higher ed, but that House Democrats need to come up with an alternative plan if they want to ensure 4-year-olds learn their ABC’s and 123′s. I’m sure it will involve two words that even a 4-year-old can understand: “M-O-R-E spells more” and “T-A-X spells tax”. Republicans need to simply reply with another simple two words: “N-O” and “W-A-Y”. Isn’t learning fun!"
From the Blue Virginia blog:
"Bottom line: this is a classic Teapublican't budget -- hurting the poor, the elderly, the young, the most vulnerable, while protecting the gravy train rich people and corporations are riding on. It's disgusting, but it's also not surprising, given that this IS the Republican Way after all. Ebenezer Scrooge had nothing on these guys when it comes to cold-heartedness and selfishness."
From Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins:
"Democrats will talk and talk about how awful it is that government can't be all things to all people. But they never talk about how they want to pay to for an ever growing government. That's because the Democrats have exactly one idea: raise taxes. We need to look no further than when Chairman Tim Kaine introduced his final budget. Rather than having the government tighten it's belt to balance the budget, Tim Kaine proposed the largest tax increase in Virginia history. So when Donald McEachin, Dave Englin and company start falsely claiming that Virginia is "shortchanging" children, teachers, etc..., ask yourself what the Democrat alternative is. And then hold on to your wallet."
From Democratic Va. Senate candidate Tim Kaine:
"The proposed removal of $81 million in funding from early childhood programs in the introduced biennial budget has the potential to hurt thousands of children and their families now and in the future. It signals a retreat from Virginia's commitment to winning the battle for talent. And, it represents a short term approach to expense cutting that will actually prove fiscally unwise in the future."
(As of this writing George Allen had not made an official statement. We will add it when we get it.)
If you're looking for a little light reading, check out the full budget proposal here.
