“They twisted my arm and bent my ear, but I still told them 'no,'” she said.
On Wednesday night, Lucas tweeted a meme of himself flashing a peace sign over a grave with a headstone that reads “Youngkin and Leonsis' 5 Billion Dollar Arena.” Supporters of the plan peg the cost at less than half that.
“Who did this?!” the caption read, highlighted with crying-laughing emojis.
A last-minute reversal before the General Assembly adjourns on Saturday is unlikely, but without it, it means Youngkin (R) would have to introduce a budget amendment or standalone bill to reinstate the arena. . Lawmakers will vote on them in a future session.he may call a special session It's a costly measure that Yonkin has resisted in the past on other issues, but he could consider this arena at any time or when the Legislature resumes April 17 with a bill that the governor has vetoed or amended. Measures can also be proposed.
House Appropriations Vice Chairman Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax), one of the budget negotiators, said there are too many questions about the arena plan that are currently being worked out. “It's not ready for prime time yet,” he said Wednesday night. “I have doubts about that… No consensus bill for arenas has been developed yet.”
In an interview with The Post on Wednesday night, House Speaker Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) said he was not yet ready to declare the arena obsolete.
“There was some back and forth. It's not final until it's final,” he said. But, he added, “There are workers, on this side of the aisle and across the aisle, who are willing to try in good faith to see if we can consider what this opportunity is.” And if we don't get there, the Commonwealth will still be fine and we'll be able to do more economic development deals whether this happens or not. .”
Yonkin has remained silent on specific steps he will take if lawmakers send him a budget proposal that doesn't use arena language. But asking lawmakers to vote on an arena budget amendment or standalone bill is riskier, requiring support from a majority of members in both chambers to pass. The plan might have passed more easily if the Arena language had been included in the negotiated state budget, but the budget overall received only yes or no votes. Passed as usual.
governor has made it clear that he considers the arena a special occasion for the nation. His office declined to comment Wednesday night. A spokesperson for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the team, also declined to comment.
When bad news for Arena began to spread in X, Youngkin considered another topic. He announced his support for former President Donald Trump's re-election bid. Trump won the state's Republican primary the night before.
Youngkin and Monumental CEO Ted Leonsis announced the arena deal with much fanfare in December, generating billions of dollars in revenue for the state and city of Alexandria and providing 30,000 seats across Virginia. He promised to separate employment. Bringing not one but two professional sports franchises to a state with none would be a major legacy maker for Youngkin, which lured Leonsis with $1.5 billion in taxpayer-backed bonds.
But the proposal has been met with opposition from the beginning, including from D.C. leaders who gave Monumental $500 million to upgrade Capital One Arena. The announcement was preceded by comments from Alexandria residents concerned about the impact on already congested roads, as well as members of Congress who complained they were being kept out of negotiations and expressed doubts about the public debt burden. was received.
Mr. Lucas is the chief skeptic. She took over the reins of the powerful Finance Committee this year after elections brought new Democratic leadership to both chambers of Congress. Lucas has denounced the project as “Glen Dome,” and she opposes subsidizing the billionaire team owner, saying she is concerned it will harm the state's finances. Stated.
Lucas suggested a reversal could occur if the governor agrees to Democratic priorities such as toll relief in the Hampton Roads area, establishing a legal marijuana market and increasing the minimum wage, but the Senate budget blocked and rejected the agreement. It could even schedule hearings on two separate bills related to it.
Scott voted in favor of keeping the arena in the House, saying it was worth considering whether the project could generate enough revenue to pay for needed transportation improvements in Northern Virginia even without development. House Appropriations Chairman Luke E. Torian (D-Prince William) has developed a budget that includes the creation of a sports and entertainment authority to oversee the construction and financing of arenas.
But after the House and Senate passed different versions of the state budget that Mr. Yonkin proposed in December, the issue became a problem this week for a smaller group tasked with quickly coming up with a workable compromise spending plan by Saturday. It was left to the conference committee. Lucas chose six budget negotiators in the Senate, including himself, and Scott chose six in the House, including Torian.
They began meeting on Sunday, but Lucas immediately signaled that he would not back down from his opposition to Arena.
Ms. Lucas did not say she had reached an agreement with Ms. Torian to remove arena terminology from the budget, but she said that's what happened in the end.
“I'm not saying I have an agreement with him, but he understands that I'm not going to make any concessions,” she said.
Still, Lucas said Torian asked him to meet with her again Thursday morning to try to convince her. She agreed to meet, but she said she had no intention of changing her position.
“He's fighting like the devil to keep things moving forward,” she said. “I said it was a waste of time, but Torian wants to talk to me again.”
Torian did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
Youngkin is halfway through his four-year term and, like other Virginia governors, is barred from seeking a second consecutive term, but since January he has been trying to rally support among lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. I have been working on this. He agreed to increase funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Democratic leaders said funding is essential regardless of the arena plan) and launched a toll relief plan for Hampton Roads.
But lawmakers from both parties complained that the governor was being asked to approve something he had negotiated without them, noting steady opposition from Northern Virginians. Many also believe that removing the Wizards and Capitals from the district's Capital One Arena would lead to crime and a lack of economic development since the coronavirus pandemic forced thousands of government workers to work from home. He expressed concern that it would have a negative impact on the struggling capital.
