Lots of of hundreds of Virginians breathed a sigh of reduction on Saturday night time as federal workers, energetic responsibility army, and the contractors who work carefully with the federal government discovered that an Oct. 1 shutdown had been narrowly prevented.
Each of Virginia’s U.S. senators and eight members of its Home delegation supported the measure to maintain the federal government open, albeit quickly. However three Virginia Republicans voted in opposition to the bipartisan settlement to maintain the federal government funded by means of mid-November.
Even though Virginia is arguably the state hardest-hit by federal authorities shutdowns, Republican U.S. Reps. Ben Cline (VA-06), Bob Good (VA-05), and Morgan Griffith (VA-09) all tried to dam the invoice preserving the federal authorities open and federal workers and members of the army paid.
Virginia is second solely to California by way of residents holding federal jobs; particularly, 144,000 residents of the commonwealth obtain their paychecks from the U.S. authorities, in accordance with the U.S. Workplace of Personnel Administration (though a latest congressional report places that quantity at 170,000). Virginia can be first amongst all 50 states in army spending, with a lot of that funding divided between the Pentagon in northern Virginia and Naval Station Norfolk in Hampton Roads. The commonwealth is dwelling to greater than 89,000 energetic responsibility members of the army.
This provides as much as a disproportionate quantity of ache felt by Virginians at any time when Congress’s fiscal failures end in a authorities shutdown; federal staff and active-duty army don’t receives a commission if the federal government isn’t open.
Cline and Good took to X (Twitter) to clarify their “no” votes on the laws that stored the federal government open.
“Persevering with the bloated Pelosi spending ranges and the chaos of Biden’s open border is unacceptable,” wrote Cline.
Good took intention at each his personal celebration and Democrats in his put up.
“Kevin McCarthy put a CR on the Ground that bought 209 Democrat votes, because it stored in place the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer insurance policies which can be destroying the nation and the spending ranges which can be bankrupting us. Sadly, it additionally bought 126 Republican votes. Uni-Social gathering rule,” he wrote.
Griffith has not commented publicly on his vote.
Virginia Democrats attacked the three Republican congressmen for his or her votes in opposition to funding the federal authorities for an extra 45 days.
“Our economic system, nationwide safety, and so lots of Virginia’s hardworking households would have been harmed by the federal government shutdown if these MAGA extremists had succeeded. Fortunately, Democrats from Virginia and throughout the nation voted to maintain the federal government open,” Democratic Social gathering of Virginia chair Susan Swecker mentioned in a press assertion.
