Virginia Senate takes no action to lift military fee restrictions

But Democrats on the Senate Finance and Budget Committee did not vote on the repeal bill, which the House unanimously passed on Friday because it was unconstitutional. Democrats on the committee then introduced a similar proposal, but it did not come to a vote after Republican senators blocked Democrats’ plans to fast-track it.

Republicans and Democrats accused each other of playing politics on an issue that has infuriated the families of the soldiers, who gathered again at the Capitol on Monday to call for action but left the building in frustration.

“We are trying to move this forward,” Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) said afterward.

Surovell said he and Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) met privately for hours on Monday with Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Republican) but were unable to agree on any of their proposals, including a suggestion to lift the restrictions entirely, but only for one year. The phase-out period is designed to ensure changes are made to make the program sustainable.

“He wanted a complete repeal and taxpayers should cover the cost. We’ll talk about that in January. … He basically just said, ‘Trust me,'” Surovell said. “There’s not a lot of trust there right now.”

Surovell said the meeting lasted between two and a half and three hours, and during that time Youngkin occasionally went into an adjacent room to call others and get their thoughts on the Democrats’ proposals. Youngkin’s spokesman, Rob Damschen, declined to comment for this report.

In a statement, Youngkin sharply criticized Democrats for not taking action in the Senate, which the party narrowly controls, as well as the House of Representatives. The governor said he would summon both chambers back to Richmond if they did not find a solution.

“Democratic leadership in the Senate is harming our military heroes, first responders and their families every time they show up and do nothing, and they are wasting time and taxpayer dollars,” Youngkin said in the statement. “A full, clean repeal, passed unanimously by the House and supported by a bipartisan majority in the Senate, could have been signed today.”

The program was created in 1930 to help the families of World War I veterans and has expanded over the years to include out-of-state residents, graduate students and dependents of soldiers with non-combat injuries. Costs have risen sharply in recent years, from $12 million in 2019 to more than $65 million last year. Universities have absorbed the costs or passed them on to other students.

The restrictions, which took effect Monday at the start of the state’s fiscal year, limit eligibility to Virginia residents pursuing a bachelor’s degree. They also require participants to use federal aid such as Pell Grants before they can use the state program. Students already in the program were grandfathered in, as was anyone who applied to college before May 15.

The restrictions included in the state budget in May, which had bipartisan support from the House, Senate and Youngkin, were intended to cover the program’s rising costs. Fierce opposition from families followed, and Youngkin and lawmakers quickly promised to find a solution. However, there was disagreement about how to do it.

The House and Youngkin favored a complete rollback of the changes until the issue can be studied and considered by the House as a standalone bill. Senate leaders were more inclined to leave some restrictions intact, although their latest proposal on Monday came very close to what the House passed.

The Senate met for the first time on June 18. Democratic leaders hoped to pass legislation that would waive Pell Grant and FAFSA requirements for dependents of veterans killed in the line of duty or disabled in combat, but not for dependents with non-combat disabilities. They met for more than five hours that day but made no progress on the bill.

The House voted 92-0 on Friday to completely repeal the changes to the program. Shortly after the House vote, Surovell said Senate leaders planned to support a new bill that would delay the restrictions until July 1, 2025 – essentially a complete repeal, but with a one-year term.

He said that in addition to the $20 million already included in the budget, an additional $45 million would be made available over the next 12 months to cover the costs. In addition, the state’s Joint Legislative and Audit Committee will have to review the program and make recommendations by Sept. 1. The JLARC has already begun its own investigation.

Lucas proposed a slightly different bill on Monday that was closer to the House position and called for a full repeal without the sunset clause. The bill also included the additional $45 million and the academic progress requirement, which Surovell said is standard in other state tuition programs.

However, the full Senate did not have the opportunity to vote on this bill or the House version.

The Finance Committee decided to pass the House bill for the day after Surovell said it had a constitutional problem: The language did not repeat the entire budget line, even though he said it was required by a state Supreme Court ruling.

Instead, the committee — on a party-line vote with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans against — advanced a similar bill that removed the restrictions entirely but imposed a new one: requiring students receiving financial aid to demonstrate satisfactory academic performance.

But when the proposal came up for a vote, Senate Republicans would not agree to waive certain procedural rules to allow an immediate vote, pointing out that the rules would require approval from the House of Representatives, which was absent on Monday.

The Senate has no immediate plans to return, Surovell said.

“I don’t see how we could ask taxpayers to spend another $50,000 on per diems and expenses when the House and the governor have not signaled that they are willing to pass our bill,” he said, referring to the sums the state loses each day the General Assembly is in full session.

Senate Republican Minority Leader Ryan T. McDougle said the chamber missed an opportunity to put the issue behind it and eliminate uncertainty for military families.

“The House of Representatives has passed a bill that is a clean repeal,” he said. “We can pass a clean repeal. We can do that today.”