Senate Blocks Gov Youngkin’s Pro-life Budget Amendment!

On Friday the General Assembly reconvened to consider Governor Youngkin’s amendments to the 2022-2024 state budget.  The Governor sought to make several critical changes from protecting Virginia’s primary school choice program, to reducing the cost at the gas pump, to limiting taxpayer funding for abortions.  However, once again the Democrat-majority in the Senate blocked many of his amendments.

EISTC Funding Restored!

A major victory on Friday was the approval of the Governor's Amendment 29 to restore the full funding back to the Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit (EISTC) program, which anti-school choice senators attempted to cut from $25M to $12M.  This was such a critical amendment since it’s estimated that a 50% or more reduction in EISTC funding would’ve resulted in at least 300 low-income students losing scholarships and jeopardize an important program that is helping many low-income families have access to an education from a school that best meets their child’s needs.

After hearing from a coalition of organizations, scholarship foundations, private schools, and impacted families, Governor Youngkin responded by proposing an amendment supported by a bi-partisan collection of senators and delegates that restored full funding back to the EISTC!  The overwhelming response by parents and families serve as an important reminder that families are desperately searching for more education opportunities for their children.

Amendments Blocked by the Senate

The Governor’s pro-life Amendment 30, that would’ve simply brought Virginia in line with the majority of states and with the federal Hyde Amendment to limit taxpayer funding for abortions except for the narrow cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother, ultimately failed in the Seante 19-20 on a party line vote after being approved by the Republican-led House.

This was a very disheartening outcome, especially after learning earlier last week the Governor wasn’t going to submit a budget amendment to re-prioritize state grants to federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics that do not perform abortions - which would’ve suffered the same outcome as the Hyde amendment.

While Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) was absent from Friday’s vote, the senate’s remaining 20 Democrats, which included self-professed “pro-life” Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond), was just enough to reject the pro-life amendment. The failure of this measure means that Virginia taxpayers will continue to be forced to fund the death of a pre-born child if two physicians who work for the Department of Health think it’s justified.

And after being approved by the Republican-led House, the Senate also rejected Governor Youngkin’s attempt to pass a three-month gas tax holiday (Amendment 31), with Sen. Emmett Hanger (R-Augusta) siding with Democrats to deny a 26 cent per gallon savings.  According to Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax), “Taxes have virtually nothing to do with the price of gasoline.”  And yet gas prices continue to soar in Virginia and families are feeling the financial squeeze that’s making it challenging for them to pay for basic goods and services that are necessary for everyday life.

Important Takeaways

Now that the 2022 Special Session and the budget process are nearly complete, with only the Governor’s approval of the final budget remaining, there are a couple of important takeaways to consider.  

One is the vote on the Hyde amendment further demonstrates that there is a clear party-line division on the issue of abortion, and that any hope of advancing pro-life legislation hinges on electing more pro-life senators. The other is that the overwhelming response by families in support of the Governor’s amendment to restore the full funding to the EISTCP should serve as a strong notice to all legislators, especially those who stand in the way of more education opportunities, that parents are still fighting hard to protect their fundamental right to direct the education of their children.

While the 2022 Special Session may be wrapping up, the work doesn’t stop for our Policy team, as they now turn their attention to researching issues and preparing for the next session.