Northam checked the usual left-wing boxes: higher spending, tax hikes, gun control, repealing voter ID, and abortion, opening a legislative session which may prove to be the most liberal ever.
VCU Poll Shows Virginians Split On Arming Teachers
As the nationwide debate on gun control and school safety continues, 47 percent of Virginians support arming teachers, while 49 percent disagree.
Bill Lifting Virginia Ban On Firearms In Church To Be Considered In Legislative Session
“Existing Virginia law is ambiguous about the use of firearms on church property,” Senator Dick Black (R-Loudoun) said, adding that he “would like to clarify that.”
Balance Of Power In Virginia State Senate Remains 21-19 After Today’s Special Election
The 33rd Senate District special election has been called for Delegate Jennifer Boysko, who beat out Republican candidate Joe May just one day before the session begins in Richmond.
SCOTUS Denies Speaker Cox’s Request For Stay In Virginia Redistricting Case
The order was issued Tuesday, two days ahead of a scheduled lower court hearing in Richmond on new state legislative maps, which may have some powerful Republican lawmakers contending with tougher campaigns in 2019.
Congressional Democrats Call For Trillion Dollar Tax Hike, Repealing Trump Tax Cuts
For 2016 tax filings, 97 percent of total individual income taxes were paid by the top 50 percent of earners. However, that is apparently not their “fair share,” according to progressives in Congress.
GOP’s Kilgore Says Northam’s Gun Control Bills ‘Dead on Arrival’
Republican Delegate Terry Kilgore (R-Gate City) said Governor Ralph Northam’s sweeping package of gun control bills was “dead on arrival” in the House of Delegates, reaffirming the party’s commitment to defend the Second Amendment ahead of a critical legislative session during an election year.
The lawmaker from Southwest Virginia, who strongly favors gun rights, weighed in on the upcoming session during a Tuesday morning interview on the John Fredericks show.
While the interview began with discussion of the House GOP’s tax relief plan, the conversation quickly pivoted towards gun rights, which became a top issue for session after the Democratic governor unveiled a sweeping gun control agenda last Friday.
Kilgore said defending the Second Amendment was a priority for Republicans in 2019. He also dismissed unfounded Internet rumors suggesting that Republicans were planning to cut a deal with Governor Northam on gun control.
“There’s some rumor going around, here’s a text I got from William in Norfolk, VA, who said: ‘John you said the Republicans wouldn’t go after our guns. Well, one of the new laws they’re trying to propose and cut a deal with Ralph Northam is an assault weapons ban. There’s secret meetings. I saw this all over the Internet,'” reported Fredericks, highlighting unfounded accusations he received from a listener via text message.
“No, that’s not true,” responded Kilgore. “Our caucus believes in the Second Amendment. We’re not making any secret deals with Governor Northam to take your Second Amendment rights away, to ban assault weapons, anything of that nature.”
“People just make things up and get behind a keyboard and start typing,” Kilgore continued. “I don’t know where those come from, but I can tell you, those bills are dead on arrival. I do not see any of those even getting to the floor, and then I don’t see them passing.”
Last Friday, flanked by Democratic lawmakers, Governor Northam unveiled a broad gun control package which would ban certain semiautomatic weapons, ban private party transactions, reinstitute Virginia’s “One Handgun a Month” law, and institute “Red Flag” laws which gun rights supporters say fall short of constitutional due process requirements.
Some reports indicated that the proposal was so overreaching, it would ban the common 10/22 rifle used by countless youth to learn gun safety and marksmanship, based solely on the size of detachable magazines that model is capable of accepting.
Aggressive gun control proposals have even made their way to the campaign trail, where Dan Helmer, a Democratic candidate challenging Delegate Tim Hugo (R-Clifton), called for “SKU-level reporting” of every box of ammunition sold to a central database, which investigators would would comb through to try and identify mass shooters. Helmer offered no means to distinguish law-abiding gun owners from a would-be killer who purchases only a few boxes of ammo.
Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) also weighed in on the debate, calling the unfounded reports, “very frustrating fake news” during an earlier interview with Fredericks.
“I’m certainly not negotiating a backroom deal with the governor,” Cox said. “I’ve been very clear with him, on any meetings, that I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. You can look at my voting history.”
“The Virginia House GOP will steadfastly fight to defend the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens from far-left gun control proposals this session,” Cox tweeted yesterday.
While gun rights appear to be safe, for now, November’s elections could change the political landscape and make passage possible if Democrats succeed in winning majorities in the General Assembly’s House of Delegates and Senate, both of which are currently controlled by Republicans, each by a one seat majority.
Northam’s gun control bills will be heard and debated during the 2019 legislative session, which convenes in Richmond tomorrow.
Northern Virginia Voters Head To The Polls In Today’s 33rd Senate District Special Election
The first election of 2019 will feature Republican candidate and former House of Delegates member Joe May and Democratic candidate and Delegate Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax) in today’s January 8 special election.
President Trump To Address The Nation Tomorrow On Border Security Amid Shutdown
Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. EST, President Donald Trump will address the nation as the partial government shutdown affecting at least 800,000 federal workers as now been lingering on through 17 days. Federal funding ran out on Friday, December 21, closing nine departments within the U.S. government amid the Democrats regaining the majority in the House of Representatives, continuing the standoff between the commander in chief and Congress.
President Trump will also be traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border later this week to view the beginning of construction on part of the southern border wall as he seeks to highlight border security and push Democrats towards funding for the wall. Nevertheless, in his first Oval Office address to the nation, the president said hours ago on Twitter, “I am pleased to inform you that I will Address the Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border. Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern.”
Legislation forwarded on the opening day of the 116th Congress from Democrats, led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (CA-14), included funding for the closed departments through September 30, with another measure keeping the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) open until February 8 as contention still surrounds the proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall and other immigration policies stemming from the Trump Administration. The package includes $1.3 billion for border security, a figure far less than the $5.7 billion Trump has requested, and will only be used to improve existing and build new border fencing, not build the wall.
Senate Republicans, however, have not deliberated the measure.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), ready to battle against the opposition party, said last week that any funding package President Trump does not support will not have a scheduled vote.
Recently, Trump said that his request for $5.7 billion in funding will help construct 234 miles of wall, with an additional $7 billion requested by the White House for additional immigration judges, border agents, medical supplies, and detention facilities. Depending on what occurs in the next few days in Washington, the commander in chief also said he may look to declare “a national emergency” to secure funding for the southern border wall.
During a White House press conference on Friday afternoon in the Rose Garden, President Trump said to reporters that he told Democratic congressional leaders in a meeting that he would keep the government partially closed for “months, or even years,” or “as long as it takes” to get the funding necessary to construct his campaign promise of a southern border wall to stave off illegal immigration.
Nevertheless, over the weekend, the president moved to call for a steel wall, rather than a concrete barrier, at the southern border.
“They don’t like concrete, so we’ll give them steel,” Trump told reporters over the weekend, alluding to a possible concession to Democrats.
As Trump could possibly break the record for the longest government shutdown – set by then-President Bill Clinton, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996, at 21 days – he must begin to contend with waning support for the closure as more and more Americans feel the brunt of a closed federal government. With Democrats also looking to block any and all legislation that does not re-open the federal government, gridlock in Washington could reach new heights.
Statewide Jet Fuel Tax Hike Earmarked for Northern Virginia Metrorail Construction, Dulles Toll Road
A statewide increase in jet fuel taxes would be earmarked for rail construction in Northern Virginia, and the Dulles Toll Road, under a bill filed by a Prince William County lawmaker.