Please join us in celebrating our fifth anniversary and honoring the service of retiring Senator Mary Margaret Whipple at the Rural Electric Cooperative, Arlington, Virginia.
Save the Date: February 16, 2012, 7-8:30 p.m.
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Governor’s Budget
Reality Check
Governor’s 2012-2014 Budget Ignores Current Needs
In his effort to balance the state’s budget and close major funding gaps, Governor McDonnell has presented legislators with a budget that ignores the reality of growing need, shifts obligations to others, hides real cuts in education funding and will cost Virginia jobs. Instead of reforming, reallocating and reinvesting in the programs that make government more efficient, effective and accountable, the Governor’s proposal strikes at – and cuts – the core services that Virginians rely on every day while at the same time widening tax loopholes that drain yet more resources from the state. >>Read post
Governor’s Budget
Cuts to Health Care Are Bad for Virginia’s Economy
New report shows Governor’s budget proposal will eliminate services for thousands of Virginians and jobs
Governor McDonnell proposes a set of deep cuts to health care in Virginia that will mean over $800 million in lost business activity in the economy, further increased costs for Virginians with private insurance, near elimination of state support for cost-effective health care providers such as community health centers, and reduced access to needed services for thousands of Virginians. >>Read post
Recent Work
Unemployed, Underutilized, Undone
First Year of Recovery More Like Another Year of Recession
Virginia faces greater challenges now than after prior recessions
Unemployment in Virginia rose 14 percent in 2010 – the largest jump in the South Atlantic Region — to its highest level since the recession of the early 1980s, making the first year of recovery seem more like another year of recession for many Virginians. In addition, nearly four years since the start of the Great Recession – a point when Virginia had not only regained but surpassed pre-recession employment levels in prior recessions – Virginia remains 128,200 jobs below pre-recession job levels. >>Read post