Video: Democratic Leader Toscano Explains Why Republican Budget "Doesn't Go Far Enough"
Friday, February 13, 2015
1. Education, including teacher salaries, is badly underfunded, and that lack of investment is hurting Virginia's education quality; 2) Tax preferences, which represent "massive transfers of Virginia taxpayer dollars to a small number of companies" and don't "work for their intended purpose"; 3) Medicaid is the biggest piece of why this budget "doesn't go far enough" - "billions of dollars in federal money...400,000 Virginians...30,000 jobs," money that could have been freed up to spend on education, public safety, mental health, etc.
The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog, founded by me (Lowell Feld), but now including several other progressive writers. I can't speak for the other "front pagers," but I consider myself a progressive in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, RFK and actually a bunch of progressive Republicans (e.g., Jacob Javits, Lowell Weicker). As such, I believe in expanding opportunities to all, utilizing government as a tool to promote the general welfare and the common good, protecting the environment for ourselves and for future generations, and expanding the rights promised in our Constitution and Bill of Rights to all Americans.
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