February 2011
58 posts
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Allen, Radtke laud Florida health care ruling
BY WESLEY P. HESTER
Tea party activist Jamie Radtke and former Gov. George Allen might be headed for a Republican primary showdown for Jim Webb’s U.S. Senate seat, but they’re on the same page when it comes to health care. Hailing a Florida federal judge’s ruling that the health-care overhaul is unconstitutional as a victory, both issued similar statements Monday afternoon. “Today’s...
January 2011
74 posts
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Webb among sponsors of bill to abolish...
BY WESLEY P. HESTER
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to abolish automatic pay raises for members of Congress.
The new legislation mirrors a bill introduced by Webb and Sen. Russ Feingold during the last Congress.
“With many Americans still out of work and trying to figure out how to pay their bills, now is not time to give Congress an automatic pay raise,”...
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Tea Party Patriots back privatization plan
BY WESLEY P. HESTER
The Virginia Tea Party Patriot Federation has endorsed Gov. Bob McDonnell’s plan to privatize the 76-year-old state-run monopoly on liquor sales.
The governor’s plan has been introduced by Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg.
“This practical piece of legislation will allow the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) to focus on the core function of...
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Morrissey scolds House over states' rights
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
In a nearly 9-minute floor speech, Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, today scolded colleagues for spending time on what he called “silly, symbolical states’ rights” issues.
Morrissey said 17 measures have been introduced in the state legislature that somehow relate to states’ rights matters.
Last week, the House passed the so-called repeal amendment,...
McDonnell says SOTU was well-received
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
Gov. Bob McDonnell called President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address “well-received,” but said “now is the time for policies that are well-conceived.”
In the piece posted to The Hill’s Congress blog, McDonnell takes issues with a lack of specifics in the address and said Obama missed an opportunity to talk about his debt reduction...
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Illegal immigration bills advance, some not happy
BY WESLEY P. HESTER and Capital News Service
On Friday, a House subcommittee pushed through a legislative package of bills aimed at illegal immigration, most on party-line votes with the panel’s four Republicans voting yes and two Democrats no. One of those Democrats, Del. Patrick A. Hope, D-Arlington, voiced his dissatisfaction Monday morning. “The politics of blame is on full display this week...
UPDATED: Democrats target Hurt on spending...
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched a campaign today against 19 House Republicans seen as vulnerable, including 5th district Rep. Robert Hurt.
As part of the “Drive to 25” campaign, the DCCC will run radio ads, web ads, automated phone calls, live phone calls and e-mails in the targeted districts.
The DCCC is going after these Republicans “for choosing...
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Cantor to attend the Koch meeting this weekend
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, will be among the attendees at the Koch Industries conference this weekend in Palm Springs, California.
According to Cantor’s office, he’s been invited to talk about “the importance of the GOP’s cut and grow agenda, free markets and restoring certainty through smart regulation and economic growth...
WatchThe General Assembly last year passed legislation to form a framework for approving programs and companies that offer virtual school classes to the state’s public school students.
They did not, however, approve a framework for how the state would fund its share of the student’s online coursework.
This year, Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, has submitted budget language directing a...
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Warner and Republican ally look to cut costs, not...
BY WESLEY P. HESTER
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., can do more than play nice with Republicans; he can get stuff done with them.
Warner and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.,Thursday introduced the “STOP the OverPrinting Act,” which would require legislative bills and resolutions to be posted online rather than automatically printed and distributed to each Congressional office.
Is it landmark legislation?...
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Radtke to speak at Tea Party Caucus
BY WESLEY P. HESTER
On Wednesday morning, Jamie Radtke, Virginia’s first lady of tea party activism and a candidate for the U.S. Senate, will have a say at the first-ever Senate Tea Party Caucus.
Radtke, a co-founder and former chairwoman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation who’s running for Democratic Virginia Sen. Jim Webb’s seat, will speak alongside Senators and...
Appeals court expedites Va. health-care hearing
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today granted a joint motion from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the federal government to expedite its hearing of Virginia’s suit against the federal health-care law.
The case is tentatively scheduled to be heard sometime between May 10 and 13.
“Right now, there is a great deal of uncertainty for states, individuals, and businesses,” Cuccinelli...
Trucks better slim down or pay up, says Senate
BY WESLEY P. HESTER
Overweight trucks are in trouble. The Virginia Senate today passed legislation sponsored by Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt, would allow weight technicians to enforce truck weight restrictions at Virginia weigh stations. Currently, state police have to write the tickets, meaning they don’t actually get written if police have more important stuff to do, which is often. ...
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House OKs measures on state-made goods, abortion...
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
The House of Delegates gave final approval today to a bill that would keep Virginia goods produced or manufactured within the state and “held, retained or maintained” here from being subject to federal regulation or the power of the U.S. Congress to regulate interstate commerce. It passed 65 to 33.
Members also approved a measure that would exempt any residential building or...
Allen pledges no marginal income tax hikes
George Allen has made his first campaign pledge.
The former Republican Virginia Governor looking to regain the U.S. Senate seat he lost to Jim Webb, D-Va., in 2006 has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
The pledge, sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform, is to “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses … and oppose any net...
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WatchSen. Mark R. Warner on Fox News.
WatchSen. Jim Webb on CNN
WatchFormer U.S. Sen. George Allen on Fox News
House passes repeal amendment
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
The House of Delegates advanced Tea Party-backed measures this afternoon after legnthy floor debates about the perceived overreach by Washington and the U.S. Constitution.
The House approved a joint resolution in favor of the so-called “Repeal Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution, and gave preliminary approval to a bill that would keep Virginia goods produced or...
Cantor and Scott to sit together for SOTU speech
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
Two Richmond area Congressmen are joining in a show of bipartisanship for President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, will sit with his friend and colleague Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd, according to Cantor’s office.
The gesture comes in the wake of the Arizona shootings and renewed calls...
Window tint bill hits snag in House
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
The House of Delegates today sent back to committee a bill that would allow darker vehicle window tinting after concerns were raised about police trooper safety.
House Bill 1728, sponsored by Del. Charles W. Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, would increase the allowed tinting of front side windows to reduce the permitted light transmittance from the current minimum of 50 percent to a...
Warner's latest bipartisan splash
By Jeff E. Schapiro
Times-Dispatch Political Columnist
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., plans to sit with his Republican partner on deficit reduction, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, during President Barack Obama’s state of the union address Tuesday night.
Warner and Chambliss are pushing for a timetable to begin erasing the nation’s mounting debts.
Following the Arizona...
Senate panel preserves loophole for lenders
By Jeff E. Schapiro
Times-Dispatch Political Columnist
A business-friendly Senate committee is refusing to close a loophole in the credit laws that frees payday and car-title lenders to continue issuing loans with triple-digit interest rates.
The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Monday rejected, 8-6, legislation by Sen. John S. Edwards, D-Roanoke, that would limit open-ended credit...
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Foes press for controls on high-cost instant loans
By Jeff E. Schapiro
Times-Dispatch Political Columnist
The back-to-the-future debate over high-cost instant loans continues even as legislators show little appetite for the issue that roiled recent sessions of the General Assembly.
Opponents of payday and car-title loans told a news conference Monday morning that a public-opinion poll they commissioned shows 71 percent of registered voters...
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DSCC slams Allen
BY WESLEY P. HESTER
And in today’s least surprising news, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is not getting behind former Virginia Gov. George Allen’s bid for the Senate in 2012.
“George Allen’s offensive macaca moment will be the least of his worries,” said DSCC Communications Director Eric Schultz in a statement.
“Allen is a Republican...
WatchHouse Majority Leader Eric Cantor said this morning that Republicans want to see spending cuts when considering raising the nation’s debt limit.
“Republicans are not going to vote for this increase in the debt limit unless there are serious spending cuts and reforms,” Cantor, R-7th, said this morning on Meet the Press. “And that is just the way it is.”
The Treasury Department estimates that the...
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Now you see 'em; now you don't
By Jeff E. Schapiro
Times-Dispatch Political Columnist
The Virginia Senate wasted little time this morning clearing the calendar so members could clear out of Richmond for the weekend.
Ending the first full week of the 2011 General Assembly, senators approved and sent the House of Delegates legislation making it easier for car-title lenders to issue their high-cost instant loans by allowing...
MTP Sunday: Cantor
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will appear on Meet the Press this Sunday.
The Henrico County resident could use the opportunity to talk about this week’s vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the health-care overhaul, and plans for the new “cut and grow” majority.
Meet the Press touts the Sunday morning interview as covering how the GOP will exercise its...
Cuccinelli helps open Richmond One-Stop Resource...
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Anthony Scott, CEO of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority on Thursday attended a ribbon-cutting to open the new Northside One-Stop Resource Center.
The center is meant to help reduce crime and youth gang participation by offering programs and resources that encourage young people to make healthy life decisions. The event was at the Calhoun Family...
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Senate advances car-title lending bill
By Jeff E. Schapiro
Times-Dispatch Political Columnist
The Virginia Senate is poised to approve, perhaps Friday, legislation making it easier for car-title lenders to make high-cost instant loans to out-of-staters.
The bill, by Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, would allow lenders to issue loans for which the collateral is a car, truck or motorcycles registered outside...
McDonnell calls ABC an "uphill battle"
BY TYLER WHITLEY
Gov. Bob McDonnell today acknowledged that privatizing the state’s liquor stores will be an uphill battle.
“I’m in it for the long haul,” McDonnell said on the monthly “Ask the Governor” show on WRVA radio.
McDonnell proposes that the state retain control of the wholesale operation and privatize the retail portion to reap a $200 million to...
UPDATED: House Democrats could file ABC...
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
UPDATE: Del. Robert H. Brink, D-Arlington, this morning called a 2 p.m. news conference during which he will “announce his introduction of a bill to enact the Governor’s proposed privatization of ABC retail operations.”
House Democrats on Thursday could introduce a bill to privatize the state’s ABC stores, according to House Minority Leader Ward L....
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Education groups want K-12 funding restored
BY OLYMPIA MEOLA
Public school advocacy groups today broadcast their concerns with the way the General Assembly session is looking for K-12 public education.
Direct funding to public schools has dropped in recent years, and the groups — including the Virginia Education Association, Virginia Municipal League, Virginia PTA and the Virginia School Boards Association — want to see a...
Va. Dems Pitch Health Care Before House Repeal...
BY JIM NOLAN
On the eve of a vote by the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the federal health care law , two of Virginia’s three Democratic Congressmen highlighted the benefits commonwealth residents stand to lose.
Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd, and Rep. James Moran, D-8th, said during a conference call that repealing the Patient...
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Warner, Cantor urge more aggressive approach to...
By: Wesley P. Hester In response to President Barack Obama’s Executive Order outlining a new regulatory strategy, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., is asking the administration to go a step further. “The regulatory framework announced by the White House today is a promising first step to adopt a more rational approach to government oversight, but we can and should go even further,” said Warner in...
McAuliffe makes an appearance at the Capitol
BY TYLER WHITLEY
Terry McAuliffe, a possible Democratic candidate for governor in 2013, was working the hallways at the General Assembly Tuesday and touting green energy – and himself.
McAuliffe also spoke to the Virginia Interfaith Center.
McAuliffe said he has bought an electric car company in China and moved it to the United States and has produced five cars.
A former chairman of the...
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