Virginia’s legislators are preparing to face off over the plan to build a new arena in the Potomac Yard area of Alexandria and move the Washington Capitals and Wizards across the Potomac River.
Lawmakers in Virginia's House of Delegates and Senate money committees introduced their respective budget proposals over the weekend. Only the House proposal included any money for the arena.
Some of the Senate's top Democrats, including Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chairman Louise Lucas, do not think Virginia should use state-backed bonds to support a new arena for Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns the Wizards and the Capitals.
“Everybody agrees, this is not a good deal for Virginia,” Lucas said. We’re not going to let billionaires build their fortunes on the backs of our taxpayers’ dollars.”
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“They’re talking about going public at some point after taxpayer dollars have gotten them to the point that they want to get to, and under my watch, I say hell no,” Lucas continued.
Lucas also decided to strip extra Metro funding from the spending proposal, which came as a surprise as Metro is looking at a $750 million budget deficit.
Northern Virginia lawmakers have been pushing to include money for Metro in the budget. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has said he would support it if there was funding for the Monumental deal.
The main takeaway is that these proposals are only a preliminary. The House and Senate will have to negotiate and agree on the budget proposal by the end of the legislative session, which is on March 9.
Last week, the House lawmakers passed a bill allowing a plan for an arena to be built in Alexandria for the Washington Capitals and Wizards to move forward, sending the bill to the Senate, where lawmakers allowed their version of the legislation to die.
