None of the $130 million in fee and tax increases passed Virginia’s Assembly on separate record votes. Members claimed they “had to vote for the hikes” or risk shutting Virginia’s government down.

Citizens reject Washington politicians who do this. Why accept them from Richmond Republicans who voted for fee and tax hikes as part of the Budget?

Support Delegate Bob Marshall’s Amendment to the Virginia Constitution for the 2011 Assembly.

SIGN the TAXPAYER PROTECTION AMENDMENT NOW!

“Well Hallejuiah, there’s more lanes.”

Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) underscored the sentiment of western Prince William County commuters after VDOT opened six westbound lanes of Interstate 66 on April 2.

Three lanes are designated for through traffic, eventually merging into two lanes along the way toward Haymarket.

Two lanes are for Exit 43A, which leads motorists south on U.S. 29 into Gainesville toward Warrenton.

The furthest right lane for Exit 43B is for northbound traffic heading toward U.S. 29 and Heathcote Boulevard.

The new westbound lanes mean more than just a quicker commute near Gainesville.

Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, called the project “another important missing link in the system in terms of of widening (I-66) out to Gainesville and ultimately beyond.”

READ THE FULL TEXT at THE GAINESVILLE TIMES

Virginia’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s health care overhaul law.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli filed the suit today in U.S. District Court immediately after President Barack Obama signed the landmark measure into law. Cuccinelli, a Republican, and other conservatives claim the law represents an unconstitutional overreach of federal authority.

“Congress lacks the political will to fund comprehensive health care in this way because taxes above those already provided in (the legislation) would produce too much opposition,“ his suit states. “The alternative, which was also a centerpiece of the failed Clinton administration health care proposal, is to fund universal health care in part by making healthy young adults and other rationally uninsured individuals cross-subsidize older and less healthy citizens.“ …

READ THE FULL TEXT at TimesDispatch.com

Date published: 3/9/2010

Sickle-cell anemia deserves attention

As parents of and advocates for those who suffer the debilitating, devastating effects of sickle-cell anemia, we were encouraged by the March 3 editorial ["Striking a cord"].

In the current national health care debate, with its drama and divisiveness, it was refreshing to see the cooperative efforts of those in our state legislature addressing the long-neglected needs for relief for the more than 70,000 minorities (predominantly African-Americans) nationwide who suffer from this disease.

We thank Del. Bob Marshall for introducing the bill to promote education for the healing potential of umbilical-cord blood.

Our continued gratitude goes to Sen. Edd Houck in his role as chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Health for his consistent, outstanding commitment to the cause of sickle-cell diseases, and our congratulations go to the Davis family for their courage and persistence.

All have helped to make this disease and its ramifications more visible and its ultimate cure possible.

Lawrence A. Davies and Janice P. Davies

Fredericksburg

The writers are co-presidents, Fredericksburg Area Sickle Cell Association, Inc.

RICHMOND – Here in the former capital of the Old Confederacy, where resistance to the supremacy of federal law has a long and tortuous history, a new battle is being waged over a question that could undercut a key part of President Obama’s health care proposal: whether Washington can require that most Americans have health insurance.

The Virginia Legislature this week is poised to become the first state to pass legislation that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance.

Dozens of other states are considering similar measures, possibly setting the stage for one of the greatest tests of federal power over the states since the civil rights era.

If states are allowed to opt out of the mandate, the foundation of Obama’s effort would be undermined, turning the nascent revolt here into one with national implications.

The debate goes far beyond a disagreement with the approach to health care coverage taken in Massachusetts.

Rather, Virginia’s lawmakers are focused on constitutional questions and the power of states to run their own affairs.

“The administration is trying to shift from a government by social compact, agreement between elected officials and citizens, to a government where the leaders tell the subjects what to do,’’ said Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, a Republican and chief sponsor of the measure. “That is not what the American Revolution was about.’’

Versions of the bill have passed the Virginia House and Senate, with final passage considered all but certain. The Republican governor, Bob McDonnell, supports the measure.

READ THE FULL TEXT at THE BOSTON GLOBE

This is an except from the Richmond Times Dispatch, General Assembly Brief, March 5.

Another attempt to mandate health insurance for autistic children was turned aside on the House of Delegates floor yesterday.

Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, sought to amend a bill that would allow health maintenance organizations to offer to small businesses health insurance that does not mandate insurance coverage, but Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, ruled the amendment was not germane.

READ THE FULL TEXT at TimesDispatch.com

Congress hasn’t even passed Obamacare yet, but if and when it does, Virginia’s General Assembly has already fired the first round in what could be a major legal showdown with Washington over the limits of federal power.

On Thursday, the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere became the first state to enact legislation that prohibits the federal government from forcing its citizens to purchase government-approved health insurance. The measure was sponsored by two Northern Virginians – State Senator Jill Vogel, R-Warrenton, and Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas – who also co-signed a Feb. 24 letter to President Obama protesting state legislators’ exclusion from his recent health care summit.

In an ominous sign for the president’s top domestic priority, five Democrats in the Virginia Senate joined 18 Republicans to vote for the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act in a state Obama won handily less than 18 months ago. They were, perhaps, influenced by the 2,400 grassroots activists who trekked to Richmond last month to oppose federally mandated insurance coverage.

A constitutional amendment passed earlier in Arizona, but has yet to be approved by voters. It will be on the ballot in November.

Legislators in more than 30 other states are also considering similar bills based on the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Freedom of Choice in Health Care model.

The Tenth Amendment Center has a map of pending health care “nullification” bills that challenge the federal government’s jurisdiction based on its reading of the Constitution.

So even if Obamacare passes, this brewing constitutional battle could delay enactment for quite some time.

DEL. BOB MARSHALL, R-Manassas, is known for his often strident pro-life positions, but the witnesses he brought to a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Education and Health left legislators more misty-eyed than mystified.

At issue was Mr. Marshall’s bill promoting education on the healing potential of umbilical-cord blood. To illustrate, he invited the Davis family from Texas to testify, notes Scott Leake of the Thomas Jefferson Institute.

Mr. Davis explained that his older son was born with sickle cell anemia, a devastating disease that may be ameliorated by cord blood. The Davises were unable to find a match–until they were blessed with a second son, whose umbilical-cord blood provided just the cells needed to help his big brother.

The testimony of the family–including the two little boys–moved even jaded lawmakers. “The only superfluous moment,” reports Mr. Leake, “was when Chairman [Edd] Houck, who by Senate procedure had to pose the question, asked if anyone wanted to speak in opposition to the bill. Since Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, and Satan were absent, no one spoke.”

The bill passed 15-0.

The House of Delegates and Virginia Senate easily approved budget bills yesterday, but the hard part, trying to reach agreement on widely different bills, lies ahead.

The two bodies now have about two weeks to fashion a budget on which they can agree before the scheduled March 13 adjournment.

After almost four hours of partisan wrangling, the House passed its budget bill 61-38, with all the Republicans and two independents voting for it and all Democrats voting against.

The Senate plowed through its budget-balancing plan in about an hour, approving the package 30-10.

“I’ve seen some difficult budgets but never as tough as this one,” said Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William, a 34-year veteran.

Only Republicans voted against the measure. They included two from the Richmond area, Stephen H. Martin of Chesterfield County and Ryan T. McDougle of Hanover County.

In the House, Del. Lacey E. Putney, I-Bedford, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, acknowledged the difficulty in making $4 billion in cuts to balance the budget.

“However, I believe that the budget before us today strikes a sensible balance between meeting the core commitments that we as politicians like to talk about and the burden placed on the taxpayers who must foot the bill.”

READ THE FULL TEXT at TimesDispatch.com

Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, embroiled in a firestorm over his recent remarks on abortion, never has been reluctant to speak his mind — or to challenge fellow Republicans.

“Bob Marshall marches to his own beat, and sometimes that rhythm is in time with us and sometimes it’s not,” said G. Paul Nardo, chief of staff to House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford.

It was Marshall whose lawsuit led the Virginia Supreme Court to throw out, as unconstitutional, the state’s 2007 transportation-funding package, which then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell, now governor, had approved and Howell had hoped would pave the way to Republican gains in that fall’s House elections.

READ THE FULL TEXT at TimesDispatch.com