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The number of outages in Chesterfield has dropped significantly from earlier, but there are still a lot of folks without power. You can report an outage & track restoration by calling 1-866-366-4357 See outages here:

Cyber attacks are indeed on the rise. I put forward a bill to give law enforcement more tools to go after the bad guys who specifically target our schools with cyber attacks (HB 2299). Unfortunately, Democrats killed it on a party-line vote. Senseless.

Democrats kill on party-line vote a bill to extend help to foster-care youth aging out of the system. The bill was smart, bi-partisan, and unanimous in the House. Shame that Democrats aren’t making this a priority.

We have significant power outages due to winter weather in the 73rd District and throughout Chesterfield. (My home included!) You can report an outage & track restoration by calling 1-866-366-4357 See outages here:

Thanks to the folks at VCU’s Pauley Heart Center for giving me a tour — fascinating to see the efforts that go into this work. Not only do the doctors, nurses, and staff do great work, but there are strong efforts out in the community to improve heart health.

RT @GovernorVA: DeepSeek AI poses a threat to the security and safety of the citizens of Virginia. We must continue to take steps to safegu…

Snowy day at Capitol Square!

Appreciate the great crowd that came out to hear a mid-session legislative update and sign our petitions to get back on the ballot for 2025!

Big win for fairness and common sense. This is the right decision by these governing bodies. Thank you @GlennYoungkin @winwithwinsome & @JasonMiyaresVA for being consistent voices in the right direction.

RT @ccpsinfo: Chesterfield County schools and school division offices will be closed on Tuesday, Feb. 11. Stay safe, Team Chesterfield! htt…

Check out my interview on 1140 WRVA this morning - we talked about what bills we have been hearing, and more importantly, what bills we HAVE NOT been hearing.

The Arc does so much to support folks with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Appreciate their advocacy at the legislature.

Appreciated conversations this morning with the Richmond Academy of Medicine, ARC of Virginia, and pastors.

Democrats removed a former Ivy Leauge medical school dean from the ODU board simply for asking questions about DEI. What is it Democrats don’t want us to know?

Big week at the Capitol. Crossover, Budget-in-Progress, and Constituent Visits. Check out our weekly newsletter here:

RT @winwithwinsome: More mealy mouthed nonsense from the Congresswoman. She won’t protect women and girls and fight for what WE all know is…

Agreed.

Budget Update: Our Commonwealth has a two-year budget process. In December, the Governor presented a budget. In odd number years, such as this 2025 General Assembly session, the Governor proposes amendments to the existing biennial budget. Each Chamber then proposes their amendments to the Governor’s budget. While I wish the House looked more like the smart, conservative version sent to us by the Governor, unfortunately it doesn't. On Thursday, we took up the proposed version of the budget that came from the House Appropriations Committee. The Budget is a very large and very complicated document. As is often the case, there are a lot good things in the budget, but there's also some bad things. I am pleased that the House version does contain some tax relief for hard working Virginia families. It also contains a great deal of additional money for our schools. Some of the many additional good things in the budget include: Funding for additional Judges; Hurricane Disaster Relief; Ending the support cap for school funding; Providing some income tax rebates; Making permanent the increased standard deduction; and Funding maternal health initiatives. For all of these individual items, I voted YES. However, there are also many things I disagree with. Unfortunately Democrats did vote to remove additional car tax relief that would have helped lower income Virginia families with $900 over three years. Democrats also killed a measure that would have brought more transparency to our power bills. While there are too many to list, here are some of the major items I object to: Cutting money from Operation Ceasefire; Cutting money from our School Resource Officer Program; Killing the Education Opportunity Scholarships; Cutting money from Lab Schools; Cutting funding to law enforcement to assist with TDO transports; Spending on items that are just not core priorities, and increasing some taxes. I, along with my Republican colleagues, attempted to amend the House budget to NOT include the detrimental funding cuts, wasteful spending, and tax increases. Unfortunately, the Democratic majority overruled us and the current Budget includes these negative aspects. Because of these things, I cast a NO vote to this current version of the budget. At this point, the budget is not final and continues to be a work in progress. The Governor will be able to review and there will be negotiation before we get another vote. Hopefully, we can get this budget to a much better place soon. We'll keep you updated.

Solid work from my colleague @ObenshainChris