Gov. Glenn Youngkin vows to cut more than $2.6 billion in tax increases from the state’s biennial budget that the General Assembly sent him last week, and he won’t rule out vetoing the entire spending plan if lawmakers don’t include the proposed $2 billion sports arena that Senate Democrats have refused to even consider.
“My hope is that we don’t get there,” Youngkin told reporters after speaking to a crowd of supporters on Thursday at Eggs Up Grill, a breakfast restaurant in the Richmond suburbs of Chesterfield County, where he kicked off what will be a statewide campaign to rally support for his proposed changes to what he calls “the backward budget.”
“My hope is that we can work through and deliver a budget to the General Assembly that they can review and vote for,” Youngkin said, referring to the so-called reconvened session set for April 17. “I think that’s really important. And that’s the work we are going to go through over the next three weeks, to come up with a budget that does not have tax increases in it, and make sure we are funding our key priorities.” 
The General Assembly adjourned its regular 2024 session on Saturday after adopting the conference reports for the state’s $188 billion biennial budget for fiscal years 2024-26 that is set to take effect July 1. Unlike the federal government, which can continue to operate without a budget through continuing resolutions, Virginia’s state government would shut down without a deal by this deadline.
The budget includes more than $2.5 billion in new funding for K-12 public education, a 3% salary increase for teachers and state employees, and funding for some regional projects in Southwest Virginia including $2.5 million for a proposed inland port in Washington County and $70 million in one-time general fund support to accelerate the Interstate 81 northbound lane widening project.
But despite the bipartisan support for the budget bill — the House voted 62-37 and the Senate 24-14 — a sticking point for many Republicans remains what they consider an additional tax burden on Virginians, which is the opposite of what Youngkin had pushed for in his own budget proposal that he rolled out in December. The governor’s proposal included another $1 billion in tax relief and an overhaul of Virginia’s tax base that would pay for a reduction in the income tax by raising the sales tax rate.
During his 20-minute speech in Chesterfield County on Thursday, Youngkin said that the General Assembly is trying to undo the economic progress that Virginia has made since he took office in January 2022.
“At the top of the list is a budget that instead of including the tax relief, decrease and restructuring that I included, they wiped all that out and put in $2.6 billion of tax increases on Virginians,” Youngkin said.
“They did this without telling anybody, they kind of wanted to pretend like they weren’t doing it. But let’s just be clear, $2 billion of sales tax increases across the commonwealth is going to show up in everyone’s shrinking wallet. They put their hand in your pocket to take your money that you deserve to keep, and go do projects with it.”
The spokespersons for House and Senate Democrats did not respond to an email seeking comment on Thursday. 
Youngkin also reiterated his frustration with Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, the chair of the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, who had refused to take up the arena legislation, even after it passed in the House with bipartisan support.
“One of the most frustrating aspects is that the House did extraordinary work, they hired outside counsel and advisers, and they concluded it was really good for all of Virginia, and it was really well structured. The Senate did no work,” Youngkin said, not mentioning Lucas by name.
Youngkin and businessman Ted Leonsis, the owner of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards, announced in December that they had agreed on a deal to relocate the two teams from Washington to the Potomac Yard section of Alexandria.
Under the agreement, about $500 million for the project would be funded by Leonsis’ firm Monumental and the city of Alexandria, and $1.5 billion would be financed through bonds issued by a governmental entity created for this purpose, backed by Virginia taxpayers.
On Thursday, Youngkin called the arena project — dubbed the “Glenn-Dome” by its critics — the “single biggest economic development opportunity” in the history of the commonwealth that would generate “so much free cash flow that it we can fund literally highway projects, including much needed investment in I-81, [and] we can support teacher raises, particularly in parts of the commonwealth that are struggling to keep up with teacher raises.”
The project would even fund toll relief in Hampton Roads, “which is one of the pet projects that somebody wants,” Youngkin said, referring to Lucas.
Lucas said in a brief interview outside the state Capitol last week that she didn’t believe it was in the best interest of the commonwealth to bring that arena “on the back of the taxpayers of Virginia” to Alexandria. “If they really believe that this is a good project, tell them to hold a referendum,” Lucas said.
Youngkin said Thursday that he considers adding the arena back into the budget, forcing the Senate to take action at the reconvened session next month.
“I am hoping that I can help them in any way that I possibly can to do this work as quickly as they can,” he said. “I would strongly suggest that they piggyback on the great work that was done in the House, so we can get together and deliver something for Virginia that helps all of Virginia in the most extraordinary economic development opportunity that I think Virginia has seen.” 
Just minutes before Youngkin’s event in Chesterfield, his office released a list of additional bills that the governor has taken action on this week. Of the 50 pieces of legislation, he signed 30 bills into law and vetoed 20, bringing the total count of vetos to 28 so far — which is already more than the 25 measures that he vetoed in 2022. Last year, he vetoed just eight.
Notably absent from the latest list of vetoed legislation was SB 448, sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, which would create a legal adult-use marketplace for cannabis products in Virginia by May 2025.
But in a brief interview Thursday, Youngkin denied that Rouse’s proposal, which had passed both chambers with bipartisan support, was still on the table as a bargaining chip for a potential arena deal. “The cannabis bill is 70 or 80 pages long, and I commit to actually do the work and read the bills, which is what I do,” Youngkin said.
“The reality is that I haven’t read all the way through it yet because it’s so long. But I’ve been clear this entire time, I have no interest in a retail cannabis market in Virginia. But of course we’ll do something with the cannabis bill that the Senate didn’t do with the arena bill, which is I’m going to read it so I am at least understanding what they are asking for.” 
Governor meets a life-saver
At his event at Eggs Up Grill in Chesterfield County on Thursday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin lauded Nyla Harris, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, calling her a hero for her quick response and courage in saving another patron’s life last week in an incident that he called “an amazing story.”
Rob Thompson, the restaurant’s owner, told NBC12 that a woman who was having breakfast with her husband in a booth suddenly collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. When the woman stopped breathing, Harris stepped in to perform CPR on her, keeping her alive until paramedics arrived.
“This is what happens when people come in here and are part of a community. Nyla is in here and a woman ends up in distress, and Nyla gets up and saves her life,” Youngkin said. “I just want to thank you for being willing to jump to problems when a lot of people are running away from them. People do things like this and we all act like they are supposed to. That is a hero, a hero at work, and I am just so impressed by you.”
