State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell issued a stark rebuke Tuesday against Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s more than 200 budget amendments, in what could be interpreted as a harbinger of the political battle to come during the General Assembly’s April 2 reconvened session.
“This is not the way we budget in Virginia, this is not the way we govern in Virginia, this is not the way other governors have operated for the last two centuries. It’s really weird political behavior,” Surovell, a Democrat from Fairfax County, said. “The governor doesn’t seem to understand how the process works, he just seems more interested in scoring political points.”
Youngkin on Monday issued his proposed changes to the budget amendments package that passed the General Assembly with wide bipartisan support. The Senate voted 37-3 in support of the spending bill and the House approved the measure in a 81-18 vote on the last day of the 2025 legislation session.
“In the 16 years that I’ve served, the most I’d ever seen before I think was Bob McDonnell who maybe did 85 in a short year,” Surovell said of the number of amendments made by a governor to a spending bill during a short legislative session.
A comprehensive list of the governor’s budget amendments was not available until late Monday evening, but in the light of Tuesday morning, General Assembly members were able to view the carnage they’ll grapple with in the upcoming reconvene session.
The House of Delegates will be the first chamber to consider the governor’s amendments, since that’s where the budget originates, then the Senate will get its crack at the spending bill, when the body reconvenes.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts included in Youngkin’s amendments
Youngkin’s amendments include program cuts that add up to roughly $300 million, which was slated to be added to the state’s rainy day reserve fund, Surovell said. That additional money brought the rainy day fund to $5 billion.
Surovell contended that the governor’s slate of amendments to the bill passed by the General Assembly included about $130 million in cuts to the cap on funding for K-12 support staff; about $120 million in reallocations from Virginia’s 529 fund — a college savings plan — and a number of other cuts to programs including rental assistance, home-buyer assistance, and funding for free and mobile maternal health clinics. A $7.5 million reduction to the site-readiness program in Pulaski County was also among the governor’s cuts.
Youngkin said that his goal was to get the rainy day fund to $5 billion, and that it was not in response to ongoing uncertainty regarding federal funding and workforce cuts, when asked about the additional $300 million added to the rainy day fund during a Monday press briefing.
“There are a substantial number of opportunities for us to just simply rein in spending,” Youngkin said. “When you are in really good times, you shouldn’t spend everything you’ve got, and it is in those times that you prepare for times that may be a little less certain.”
Surovell said that the commonwealth is already well positioned to deal with a temporary economic downturn, should one happen.
“I would be really surprised if we supported putting $300 million in the reserve fund at the expense of K-12, health care and other priorities,” he said.
$80 million for VMI amid cuts to other programs
Surovell argued that the governor’s budget amendments also reintroduced a number of items that had already been rejected in the spending bill that was passed by the General Assembly. Among those was $80 million for the Virginia Military Institute, to build its Center for Leadership and Ethics.
The Senate majority leader argued that the high price tag of that amendment alone could throw the budget out of balance. The Virginia constitution requires that the General Assembly pass a balanced budget.
Funding for the project had been removed from the budget during a dispute between the state Senate and House of Delegates over costly commitments at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia, according to a report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The Republican governor had suggested that the Democratic-controlled General Assembly used the budget to try to force the VMI Board of Visitors to renew the contract of Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, the first Black superintendent of the 186-year-old public military college, according to the Times-Dispatch report.
The Board of Visitors voted at the end of February not to renew Wins’ contract, effectively ousting the superintendent.
The move followed weeks of debate among Virginia lawmakers about whether Wins’ tenure should be extended or whether efforts to keep him were solely based on efforts to advance a diversity, equity and inclusion agenda. All 10 board members who voted against an extension for Wins were appointed by Youngkin.
“I’m not surprised the governor continues to try to reward his political supporters at the Heritage Foundation and his donors by continuing to politicize VMI, but I don’t think there’s a lot of sympathy for that university right now,” Surovell said. He added that the board of visitors at a college or university is subject to control of the General Assembly, and not the governor, under state statute.
