Governor Abigail Spanberger offered a warning on Virginia’s economy at Wednesday’s joint appropriations meeting, putting much of Virginia families' future financial woes on President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
“At a time when families are already struggling to afford healthcare and groceries, the President and his allies in Congress— including some of our fellow Virginians— have made the deepest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in history,” she told legislators.
Hundreds of millions have been set aside to make up for some federal cuts, but: “The reality is that state funds simply cannot make up the gap the federal government is leaving us,” Spanberger said.
The governor’s speech was followed by a presentation from her Secretary of Finance, former delegate Mark Sickles. He said the state’s revenues grew nearly 3% more than projected, with taxes from wages up $1 billion and investment and gig work taxes up by half that. Still, he said over 40 thousand Virginia jobs have been lost in the last year. And the nearly 7% growth, Sickles said, came at a cost.
“Some of this consumption is likely being fueled by people spending or at least decreasing their savings," Sickles said. "They’re going into their savings to keep their same standard of living or not saving what they used to save.”
But a growing economy is good news, and while Spanberger took a few digs at President Trump, Delegate Terry Austin, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, wasn’t dissuaded.
“And that’s expected," he said of the governor's political comments. "But I think we’ve got some safeguards in place. We’ve got to get this job done and we’re in a good posture to do it and we’ll work to make sure that happens.”
Delegate Luke Torian, the Democratic Appropriations Committee chair, agreed.
"I think we all in general are pleased with what we heard this morning," Torian told Radio IQ. "We never know what's going to come out of Washington, but we're in a good position and we have to monitor and make sure we continue to grow."
So, what’s next? Spanberger said economic development and energy plans were both being created and would offer insight to her budget and legislative priorities for 2027 soon.
“We will be building out upon the recognition that we are the largest net importer of energy, what are the ways we can -and some of these will be aspirational goals, the places we want to drive Virginia- and what is it we most to contend with the moment with the priorities ultimately being driving down costs for Virginians,” she told reporters.
