Virginia’s governor and Democrat-led General Assembly are going back and forth over the state budget, and the fate of a $2 billion development that includes a new arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals hangs in the balance.
Earlier this month, state lawmakers approved a two-year budget that left out language for the project, which is a top priority for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The governor could still revive the plan by calling a special session to start over with a new bill. However, before the General Assembly left the arena deal out of the budget, it also rejected the proposal through two standalone bills.
Youngkin joined WTOP Thursday to talk about budget and arena negotiations, and now Sen. Louise Lucas, who’s led opposition to the arena deal, is sharing her thoughts with WTOP’s Ralph Fox in an exclusive interview.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
Ralph Fox: There’s been a lot of back and forth. Let’s start with what happened today. I understand you had a meeting with your folks and some folks from the house and the governor’s people as well.
Sen. Lucas: That is correct. And, of course, what I tried to say to the governor is that we have a structurally balanced budget. And he was calling it the backwards budget. And of course, I think he gave a good name for what his budget is — that’s the one that’s backwards. … The governor’s budget contains one-time revenue sources and gimmicks that would have resulted in long-term structural balance issues for us, which is the reason why we kept pushing back on it. He was taking money out of the rainy day fund, and he was taking money out of the literacy loan, or the literacy fund. And those are not the kind of things that we want to do to try to present a budget.
Rather, what we did, we had record investments in education, teacher salaries, school construction and health care and the issues that are important to the hard working people of Virginia. And so what the governor wanted to do was to — as always — give cuts to billionaires and people who are not even asking for tax breaks to start with. And so we’re just not in the same place. And then, of course, he wants to tie everything to the arena. And that’s a non-starter for me, because I still believe, I still contend that even if it’s a contingent backing of the state’s credit faith, it was a bridge too far for me, to put our bond rating at risk for the arena at Potomac Yards.
Ralph Fox: Now with the arena, obviously, you were on the committee there. And is there a path without your support to make it happen?
Sen. Lucas: Without my support, I don’t think so. Because it still has to come through Finance, it still has to come through the Senate Finance Committee. And so I don’t know what the governor’s proposal entails. But the fact still remains that I’m not interested in seeing the arena in Northern Virginia. For one thing, the voters don’t want it. The residents of Alexandria, they don’t want it. And it’s not just people in Alexandria, in Northern Virginia, who are not in favor of this arena. It’s kind of like a statewide thing now. And with all of the information that I’ve had coming into me from other localities and other states, I can’t find anybody who can show me that having taxpayer dollars help construct, finance, any kind of sports arena has ever been a good deal for that locality. And so I’m just not willing to take that risk. We don’t want to put that burden on the hard working voters of Virginia.
Ralph Fox: What happens now, where, you know, I understand there’s some things next month that could determine one way or the other. But what happens next?
Sen. Lucas: Well, after we had our conversation today, we decided that, of course, Del. (Luke) Torian, who is chairman of finance in the House, he and I are going to get together and talk about, there are some things that we are absolutely not going to give on. As far as I’m concerned, we have some priorities that we are not going to trim. And so if there’s any other areas, that we might be able to find some common ground, I’d just like to see what the governor’s recommendations will be. And of course, we’ll let him know what ours are. But I’m not sure that we’re going to ever get to a place of compromise. And so, what the governor says is that he may have to veto the budget, and that’s his prerogative. So, if that’s what he chooses to do, I guess that’s where we are.
Ralph Fox: Let’s talk about the positives. What did get across for Virginians? What are the things that you’re most proud of in the budget that we’re able to share?
Sen. Lucas: The fact that we made record investments in education. We put an additional $2.5 billion in K-12 education. We increased funding for our institutions of higher learning. We were able to put money in the budget for school construction. In particular, I have money in the budget for my career technical education centers … What we’ve done with this budget is something that impacts all of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia in a very positive way. And so that’s the direction that we feel that our constituents want us to go in, and that’s where we’re headed. We want to do what is in the best favor, in the best interest of all Virginians.
And of course, I will never stop working on getting toll relief for the Portsmouth-Norfolk tunnel, that’s also a part of one of my No. 1 priorities. And so, I did manage to get money in the budget for that. This has nothing to do with what the governor is putting in the budget, he hasn’t put anything in the budget for toll relief to this point, but I did get $101 million in the budget to take care of some of the delinquent toll bills that some of our constituents who can’t afford the tolls. And I also was able to put money in the budget for people who are making like $50,000 or less to be able to have 14 free trips through the tunnel each week, and things that really impact the lives of working people.
Ralph Fox: You’ve been fairly expressive on social media with your displeasure for this arena. The “GlennDome,” I believe you’ve been referring to it as. Is there anything that’s missing, anything that people don’t know about that they should?
Sen. Lucas: I think most people know as much as they want, or need to know about a sports arena, and that is: to tie tax dollars to an arena that’s going to be to the benefit of billionaires is just a non-starter for most people.
Ralph Fox: And finally, anything else you want to share? Anything that I’ve missed?
Sen. Lucas: Well, I thank you for bringing me on this afternoon. And I just want to say I will continue to work hard for the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And at no point will I ever be in a position to say I am going to commit state tax dollars for an arena that’s going to benefit billionaires. That’s, that’s a non-starter for me.
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