Stealing from Military Families

Proponents of predatory “skill games” stole the focus from military families seeking a fix to the Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP) on Tuesday during a special-called Senate Finance and Appropriations committee meeting.

Tuesday was supposed to be the day the Senate approved a fix to remove barriers to financial aid under the VMSDEP in the budget, but instead proponents of so-called “skill games” (a.k.a., neighborhood slot machines) showed up in mass with their yellow t-shirts, taking nearly every front row seat in the room, and pushing military families into one small section not viewable on the camera.

They take advantage of the poor, they steal the innocence from young minors, they entice people struggling with addictions, and now they steal the focus away from deserving military families who sacrificed their livelihoods for our freedoms.

Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations committee, did not allow votes on any bills and instead created a work group to address the VMSDEP funding.  In addition, Sen. Lucas did not allow a vote on her skill games bill (SB 6008) since Governor Youngkin signaled that he wouldn’t address the issue until the VMSDEP funding was addressed.

Based on everything that transpired Tuesday, Senator Lucas is choosing to play politics with VMSDEP funding unless she gets her neighborhood slot machines approved.

The House of Delegates returns to Richmond on June 28, to hopefully do what the Senate wasn’t able to do – help military families.