This year’s rising insurance rates have proved to be a challenge for Virginians as year-over-year increases were compacted by a majority of localities throughout the Commonwealth having only one provider.
More Jobs Than There Are People To Fill Them As U.S. Economy Roars On
As the U.S. jobless rate remains at a half-century low at 3.7 percent, the total number of job openings – 7,136,000 – dominates the actual number of people still looking for a job – 6,230,000.
Federal Deficit Increases By 17 Percent In Fiscal 2018
“The President is very much aware of the realities presented by our national debt,” said Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. “America’s booming economy will create increased government revenues – an important step toward long-term fiscal sustainability. But this fiscal picture is a blunt warning to Congress of the dire consequences of irresponsible and unnecessary spending.”
Republican Scott Taylor Leads Democrat Elaine Luria In Run Up To Midterm Election
Leading by seven points just three weeks before Election Day, Assistant Director of the Wason Center Dr. Rachel Bitecofer said Congressman Scott Taylor “seems to be weathering a tough electoral environment well.”
JLARC Recommends Deregulation Of Burdensome Occupational Licensing Requirements
Out of 102 different lower-income occupations, Virginia regulates requirements for 67 percent of them, nine points behind California which ranks second with 76 percent.
President Trump Signs Bob Goodlatte’s Music Modernization Act Into Law
The legislation to update music copyright law for the digital era “is a great start to protect songwriters, producers, engineers — the unsung heroes behind many of these songs that go out there,” recording artist Kid Rock said at the White House ceremony after President Donald Trump signed the measure into law.
Fully-Funded Border Wall Legislation May Be Introduced In Congress Soon
If House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (CA-23) legislation is passed through the House before the midterms, the Senate will most likely not vote on the bill until January, getting it to President Trump’s desk in early 2019 at the quickest pace if all goes according to plan.
Campaigning In Iowa, Terry McAuliffe 2020 Speculation Now Has Following As ‘TMac’ PAC Created
The “Tenaciously Moving for American Change in 2020” political action committee announced that they are going to “encourage” former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to run for the Democratic presidential nomination to challenge President Donald Trump.
Leslie Cockburn Reveals Intention To Negotiate With Taliban, Criticizes Denver Riggleman’s Military Service In VA-5 Debate
Republican candidate Denver Riggleman and Democratic candidate Leslie Cockburn sparred at a debate on Monday night in front of a crowd at Piedmont Virginia Community College. During the exchange between the two hopefuls to represent Virginia’s Fifth District, Cockburn came out in support of a U.S.-Taliban negotiation which she says will end the War in Afghanistan, all the while being highly critical of her Republican opponent’s military service.
When asked about the economic situation in the Central Virginia congressional district, Cockburn sidestepped the question to say, “I’d like to address the issue of Afghanistan.”
“I covered three different wars in Afghanistan,” she said, reiterating her investigative journalism experience in foreign wars.
“As for what should be done in Afghanistan right now, we’ve been there 17 years,” Cockburn said. “My friend John Sopko, who is the inspector general, tells us that we’ve spent nearly a trillion dollars on that war and we are definitely not winning it.”
“One problem is that the patron of the Taliban is Pakistan,” Cockburn added. “We have to negotiate with the Taliban and Pakistan in order to leave that war, and I think that this should be a matter of diplomacy, and it needs to happen now.”
She attacked Riggleman, an Air Force veteran, saying that “Denver was not in Afghanistan.” Cockburn explained that he was “3,000 miles away from Afghanistan,” where he was strategizing to conduct bombing missions in the country while at a U.S. naval base at Diego Garcia, implying that he played a minor role.
Furthermore, Cockburn said that Riggleman’s work was unsuccessful in pushing back Taliban forces.
“The bombings didn’t become successful until you had special forces on the ground calling in airstrikes,” she said.
Riggleman replied that he was happy to work with those on the ground in Afghanistan on the airstrikes and doesn’t need to defend his service.
“We worked with the joint forward air controllers in Afghanistan…it’s hard to answer this in a way that doesn’t sound emotional,” Riggleman said. “I’m not going to defend my military service because of what I’ve done.”
“Those JFAC [Joint Force Air Component] strikes on the caves? Yeah, that was us. But I do appreciate the try,” Riggleman responded to Cockburn.
Virginia’s Congressional Republicans Receive NFIB’s Guardian of Small Business Award
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has listed all seven of Virginia’s Republican representatives in the 115th Congress as award winners for their key votes to bolster small business and support low-tax initiatives.