Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040580
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: ROB EURE POLITICAL WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
In a series of votes, the Senate - in which Wilder's Democratic colleagues hold a 3-1 majority - delivered a stinging repudiation of the governor's budget work, rejecting 59 of his 86 amendments.
Senators eliminated all of Wilder's spending cuts, approving only technical amendments.
They also retained Wilder's own ideas for more spending, including restoration of $15 million Wilder originally had recommended cutting from education.
Among the major items rejected were Wilder's plans to reduce tuition assistance grants for middle-income Virginia students, cuts of $1 million to the U.S. 58 widening project, $1 million in tourism advertising and $500,000 in grants for the arts.
The vote to keep the $15 million in school aid was particularly aimed at Wilder. The Senate eliminated most of the cuts the governor had made to raise the money to pay for the additional school spending.
Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, argued that the money could come out of Wilder's $200 million reserve, which the governor has closely guarded and mentions often in political speeches.
Wednesday's revolt was led by Andrews, Wilder's chief rival in the legislature, but the debate was neither personal nor lengthy.
And the votes were lopsided. Wilder never garnered a majority of the 30 Senate Democrats and on some votes had as few as three supporters.
The action throws the budget into a constitutional quandary over who has the stronger hand in the budgeting process, the governor or the legislature.
It also sends Wilder's tight-fisted fiscal policies - the centerpiece of his all-but-declared New Mainstream campaign for president - into uncharted waters.
Wednesday's action raised the possibility that Wilder might veto the entire budget, causing the legislature to restart the budget process.
A terse statement from Wilder's office released Wednesday night did not hint how he might respond, although it blamed the Senate for jeopardizing his plan to send more state aid to schools.
"Because of the Senate's action, the big losers today are the localities and Virginia's schoolchildren to whom the governor wanted to provide an additional $15 million," Wilder's office said.
The effect is that the budget bill returns to Wilder's desk without his amendments intact. The budget, for fiscal 1991-93, goes into effect July 1.
Although the House of Delegates approved all of the governor's amendments in a single vote - as Wilder had insisted - and the Senate approved about one-third of them, Wilder and most legislators agreed that rejection of any of his amendments effectively killed all of them.
Even senior legislators appeared unsure about what comes next. Wilder could sign the budget in its original form, veto the entire document, rework his amendments or go back in with his line-item veto power and eliminate entire programs instead of merely reducing their spending, which his amendments had been designed to do.
To confuse matters more, the Senate refused to adjourn the veto session and may extend it up to seven days. By that action, the Senate hoped to retain the power to re-examine any action Wilder may take next.
House Speaker A.L. Philpott said he knows of no constitutional provision for further budgetary action by the legislature, however.
In accordance with that belief, the House adjourned its side of the veto session. No one was quite sure if that could happen without the Senate taking similar action.
The day started with debates in both chambers over whether Wilder's amendments could be considered individually or in a bloc. Wilder had argued that the amendments must be voted on together.
The House went along with Wilder and the Senate voted against him, but legislators in both chambers argued that giving in to Wilder would usurp the legislature's power over spending money.
At first, the House killed Wilder's amendments on a 49-48 vote. But after Wilder's chief of staff, Jay Shropshire, lobbied on the House floor, delegates reconsidered and passed the amendments 54-45.
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