Alexandria – Starting on or about March 19, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project will embark on a new phase of construction that is anticipated to cause periodic significant delays for motorists traveling the Inner and Outer Loops of the Capital Beltway I-95/495, Telegraph Road and Eisenhower Valley area. When completed, three new ramps will improve traffic flow by providing direct access from Telegraph Road North to Eisenhower Avenue, from the Outer Loop to Telegraph Road North, and from the Outer Loop directly to Eisenhower Avenue, and will include a bike and pedestrian path.
”While I’m pleased to see the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project coming down the home stretch, this important phase of construction will be a real challenge for our community, so I urge drivers to be well informed and plan accordingly,” said Delegate David Englin (D-45), who represents the area most affected by the construction.
The 2010 General Assembly session came to a close Sunday evening just one day later than scheduled, which is actually a record compared to the past several years. At the eleventh hour, House and Senate budget negotiators presented us with a final budget that appears to be less bad than the budget House Republicans passed Feb. 25, but which still balances the books on the backs of children and the poor and includes a fiscally irresponsible shell game with the state pension trust fund.
The good news is that we won some key concessions from House Republicans, making the final overall budget less bad than the House version of the budget hey passed Feb. 25. For example, the original House budget contained a plan to lump preschool, early reading intervention, and services for at-risk children into a lottery-funded block grant and then change the distribution formula to literally take money away from poor students and give it to students who are not poor. We soundly defeated this proposal, saving Alexandria and Arlington a combined $3.6 million in public education funds for poor and at-risk students. Continue reading ‘Englin opposes final budget balanced on the backs of children and the poor’
Richmond – Delegate David Englin (D-45) issued the following statement regarding his vote this evening against the final version of Virginia’s two-year state budget:
Budgets are moral documents that express our values as a Commonwealth and determine whom we lift up and whom we leave out. While the final version of the budget is less bad than the initial House version, I still cannot justify supporting a budget that balances the books on the backs of children and the poor and that includes a fiscally irresponsible shell game with the state pension trust fund.
Thanks to strong, unified, vocal opposition from House Democrats, the final budget is less bad than the budget House Republicans passed Feb. 25. For example, the final budget rejected the Republican plan to take money away from poor students and give it to students who are not poor, and it rejected the Republican plan to redirect federal Medicaid enhancement money from health care for the neediest Virginians to non-health care programs.
However, these concessions do not make up for the fact that the final budget cuts billions of dollars from public education, health care for the poor, public safety, and aid to localities, with no serious attempt to mitigate these cuts with revenue and no serious attempt to give localities the power to mitigate these cuts in their own. Even worse, the final budget still includes a risky, $800-million scheme to divert state contributions from the state pension trust fund, which will put Virginia’s triple-A bond rating at risk and threaten our ability to meet our pension obligations to teachers, fire fighters, law enforcement officers, and state and local employees.
Delegate David Englin is Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and is serving his third term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee. For more information, visit http://www.davidenglin.org.
Below is video of David’s remarks Wednesday, as he and fellow House Democrats kept up the pressure on Governor Bob McDonnell and House Republicans to stand up to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s anti-gay crusade against faculty, staff, and students at Virginia’s public colleges and universities. McDonnell bowed to pressure from legislators and grassroots protesters late Wednesday and issued a nondiscrimination memo. While the memo does not have the force of law, and legislative action is still urgent and necessary, moving McDonnell to this point from the virulently anti-gay statements of his past represents a small but tangible victory for pro-equality Virginians.
David joined other members of the House Jewish Caucus yesterday to welcome a diplomatic contingent of from the Embassy of Israel to discuss ongoing issues of importance to the relationship between Israel and Virginia.
Ralph Robbins, Executive Director of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, Galit Baram, Counselor for Public and Academic Affairs, and Ben Sack, Senior Officer for Public Affairs, represented the Embassy of Israel. They were joined by Ralph Robbins, Executive Director of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board. The group discussed Virginia’s progress divesting the Commonwealth’s pension trust fund investments from companies providing military support to Iran, as well as the Virginia Israel Advisory Board’s ongoing success at creating jobs in Virginia by partnering with high-tech companies in Israel.
“The strong relationship between Virginia and Israel continues to reap economic rewards, and I am pleased to be a part of its success,” said David.
Continue reading ‘David welcomes Israeli delegation to discuss Virginia-Israel economic ties’
