The Virginia Senate passed its biennial budget yesterday evening in a special session, after failing to pass the $85 billion bill Tuesday.
The budget passed 21-19, with Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Prince William County, joining the Senate's 20 Republicans. The Senate is currently split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who normally casts tie-breaking votes, cannot vote on the budget bill.
McDonnell said in a statement released yesterday evening he considered the budget a bipartisan piece of legislation, and he praised Colgan for voting with the final budget.
"I want to thank the members of the House of Delegates and the State Senate who came together, across party lines, to pass the biennial budget today," McDonnell said. "In the Senate, it took the courage and the statesmanship of one Democratic Senator, Chuck Colgan, to secure this outcome for the good of the citizens of Virginia ... He put policy ahead of politics."
McDonnell said the Senate Democrats had originally held up the process by focusing on their proposal for a $300 million extension of the metrorail to Dulles International Airport. Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said Democrats concentrated their efforts on the metrorail because transportation funding is critical to future development in Northern Virginia.
"Negotiations are ongoing with respect to the budget [and] the issue is transportation," Deeds said before the bill was passed. "The Dulles Rail project has been ... what has brought this to [a] head, but, frankly, we have been dragging our feet on transportation for years."
Both Democrats and Republicans had to make compromises on the bill passed yesterday. Democratic Caucus Chairman Mark Sickles, D-Franconia, said in a statement. "While this is not the budget that we would have crafted, it is a vast improvement over the original proposal."
Despite these concessions, Republicans still praised the budget for its fiscal balance and support of programs to help Virginians.
McDonnell will review the budget this weekend and propose amendments for the House and Senate to approve, according to McDonnell's statement. The budget will take effect at the start of the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, and will run until June 30, 2014.
-compiled by Joseph Liss
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