Both houses of the General Assembly will unveil their amendments to Governor Bob McDonnell's budget this weekend. In the Senate, it's one instance where Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling can't cast a tie breaking vote. After weeks of losing battles, Democrats could finally have some say.
A letter from McDonnell to Senate Democrats spells out Republican frustrations. With an evenly split Senate, McDonnell is urging Democrats not to stonewall passage of a budget for political gain.
"I would say the governor is correct in saying that we ought to get together, we ought to reconcile, and we've tried to do that in our subcommittees," Republican Senate Finance Committee Chair Walter Stosch said.
Democrats have resisted the governor's proposal to use general fund money to pay for roads. Senator Dick Saslaw would rather raise the gas tax.
"Right now we're at 17 and a half cents a gallon, which is one of the lowest ones in America," Saslaw said.
How to fund transportation could stall the whole process.
"The governor believes that transportation is a core function of government and chose to fund it in that fashion," Stosch said.
In an appeal to Democrats, that proposal to fund roads with sales tax revenues, will be left out of the Senate version. It's still in the House version though, which is also expected to include more than $100 million in extra funding for K-12 education and reduced cuts to Medicaid funding.
"There won't be a budget as long as there's general fund sales tax money going for that. There will not be a budget," Saslaw said.
Both those proposals are set to come out Sunday afternoon.
