ICYMI – Roanoke Times, Staunton News-Leader confront McDonnell’s ‘tone deaf’ support for federal transportation cuts

July 19, 2011

Contact: Brian Coy, 804-644-1966, brian@vademocrats.org

ICYMI – Roanoke Times, Staunton News-Leader confront McDonnell’s ‘tone deaf’ support for federal transportation cuts

Two editorial boards have weighed on in Governor Bob McDonnell’s embrace of a Republican plan to cut federal transportation funding dramatically. The Democratic staff of the House transportation committee estimates that the Republican cuts could cost Virginia more than $340 million and 11,000 jobs in fiscal year 2012.

The Governor may have calculated that building his national political reputation as a conservative is worth the sacrifice of these jobs and the funding we need for transportation maintenance and construction, but it’s difficult to imagine that Virginians who are out of work or stuck in traffic would agree.

Roanoke Times - McDonnell tone deaf on budget advice

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

Virginia is heavily dependant on the $800 million in annual federal aid it receives for building and upgrading its transportation network. It's appropriate that Gov. Bob McDonnell weigh in on the debate over road spending now unfurling on Capitol Hill, but his lectures to Congress would benefit from a bit more self-reflection.

The Republican governor supports his GOP colleagues in the House of Representatives, who have floated a plan that would reduce federal aid for roads and transit by a third. Democratic analysts in Washington, D.C., estimate that Virginia could see its annual allotment drop by $340 million, while state Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton guesses the impact would be closer to $100 million. That's still a sizable chunk of the commonwealth's road budget.

No worries, McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin told the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week. "You can reduce government spending and build roads at the same time," he said. "It's called setting priorities."

In Virginia, it's called borrowing. McDonnell pushed $3 billion in bonds through the General Assembly this year. The governor proposes to use $80 million annually in federal aid to pay back a third of that debt. 

In case the governor hasn't been keeping up with the headlines, the federal government has been doing a lot of borrowing and now finds itself bumping up against its self-imposed debt ceiling.

To read the full editorial click here: http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/293095

Staunton News-Leader - Roads need funding Sooner or later new revenue will be needed

As there often is, there has been a lot of back and forth about whether Gov. Bob McDonnell supports the Republican idea for budget cuts to the federal spending that includes a lot of roads money for states. Virginia's desperate need to fix its roads, especially its portions of busy, ill-maintained interstates, is not new.

In fact, McDonnell was the third governor who strongly campaigned on his plan to fix roads.

And like all governors, he was depending on federal dollars for the improvements — most of which have yet to come to fruition. So it is unimaginable that he would come out in favor of any cuts to road funding, debt ceiling politics aside.

McDonnell is eyeing a political career beyond his one term as governor of the Old Dominion. That's commendable — one of the positives of having a young and savvy leader in the executive mansion. But's frightening if that ambition puts the state he is leading at risk.

The largest chunk of the need for federal dollars would be to help repay the $1.1 billion in loans the state took out for hundreds of road projects.

McDonnell argues that should Congress cut transportation funds, Virginia wouldn't be impacted as much as critics say. But there is no getting around the fact that roads projects are ongoing, that we already are behind the eight-ball in getting hundreds of other projects off the drawing board to completion and that maintenance issues continue to pile up.

To read the full editorial click here: http://www.newsleader.com/article/20110719/OPINION01/107190312/Roads-need-funding-Sooner-later-new-revenue-will-needed?odyssey=nav|head