VA Rejects Stimulus Funds

On Wednesday, the Virginia General Assembly rejected $125 million in stimulus related unemployment funds. The Washington Post reports:

The GOP-controlled House of Delegates, a fiscally conservative body that has long opposed fundamental changes to laws that extend such benefits, killed the proposal after members argued it would translate into higher taxes for businesses once the supply of stimulus money was exhausted.

"We are being used," Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R-Fairfax) said. "Actually our constituents . . . who are now unemployed are being used by this administration to hold a gun to the head of this General Assembly with the assistance of the governor to force through a bad bill."

The defeat was a blow to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who had pushed the matter as the state legislature reconvened for a one-day session.

Virginia now joins, Alaska, South Carolina, Louisiana, and a few other States in rejecting these funds because they realize that this short term cash infusion will negatively effect their states, most notably in the form of higher taxes, when the money runs out in two years.