| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
Tonight, President Trump arrives in South Korea to meet with President E.J. Myung on the final stop of his trip to Asia as South Korea hosts the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which President Trump is also attending. | |
| Watch live coverage of the bilateral meeting on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org. | ||
| Democratic leadership of the Virginia House of Delegates held a special session to consider congressional redistricting using a procedural tactic to reopen a session from 2024. | ||
| Several Republican delegates objected to the session, questioning the logistics of approving new congressional maps ahead of the 2026 election, as well as the motivations behind redistricting. | ||
| By a vote of 50 to 42, the House of Delegates agreed to open the scope of the special session to include redistricting, sending the resolution to the Virginia State Senate. | ||
| motion Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise for a motion. | ||
| Doug has the floor. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I move that the body adopt House Joint Resolution 6006 in speaking to that motion. | ||
| The clerk will report a resolution. | ||
| House Joint Resolution 6006 relating to the scope of business that may come before the 2024 Special Session 1 of the General Assembly of Virginia. | ||
| This House joint resolution is available online to the public and to the members via electronic means. | ||
| Delegate from Alexandria, Douglas-Herring. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, on Friday, I provided the minority leader a copy of the resolution and it went live this morning. | ||
| It includes the same language adopted by this body on February 22nd, 2025. | ||
| An additional language is added on lines 13 through 15 for a topic that we can also consider during this special session. | ||
| I move the adoption. | ||
| Shall we have a question? | ||
| The delegate from Spotsylvania, Delegate Orba. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, Parliamentary Inquiry. | ||
| Doug has the floor. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, my first inquiry would be: given that special sessions have, by their very nature, only occurred for specific reasons. | ||
| Ergo, we have resolutions controlling what can be considered during them. | ||
| And subsequently, to my knowledge and experience here, they've never extended for more than a one-year period. | ||
| However, the original resolution, 6001, was precipitated by the Assembly's inability in 2024 during the regular session to come up with a budget. | ||
| Thereby, we went into special sessions specifically to address the need to have a budget going forward. | ||
| Two subsequent amendments to that similarly were related to potential budget action. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, my first parliamentary inquiry would be: given that we have now acted on final action on the 2024 budget and all amendments thereto and adjourned sign the die, are we not in a posture whereby, given the constraints of the early resolution, the initial resolution, that it is moot on its face and we are not here specifically on that same purpose, ergo not properly in a special session. | ||
| No, we're in proper session. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Motion is in order. | ||
| The delegate from a further parliamentary inquiry. | ||
| Second. | ||
| A further parliamentary inquiry. | ||
| The delegate has the floor. | ||
| Given that rule, Mr. Speaker, given that the original amendments to House Resolution 6001 were bound by the fact that the original resolution was only to address the budget, and those two did have budget implications. | ||
| The language of this amendment or this resolution being proposed goes beyond the original purpose of that special session. | ||
| I would therefore ask the Speaker to rule on whether they are germane as an amendment to that earlier special session, given that its purpose was only to address the budget and its financial implications on the Commonwealth. | ||
| House of Gordies, the motion is, the procedural resolution motion is germane. | ||
| All right. | ||
| One final if I may, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Delegate for Spencervania, Delegate Orock. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| What will be the vote necessary to adopt this resolution today? | ||
| Simple majority of the members present. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The delegate from Scott County, Delegate Kilgore. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Would the delegate rise for a series of yields? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Speaker, but according I yes, I yield for a question. | |
| Yes, I'll ask you. | ||
| The delegate yield for a question. | ||
| Yes, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| You might want to give me an opportunity to intervene. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The delegate from Scott County. | |
| You know, I'm reading the, and thank you for supplying me with the House joint resolution language over the weekend, but I'm reading it. | ||
| And of course, on this side, we do not know what the process is going to be for the week. | ||
| The first question I have, Mr. Speaker, it says a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia relating to reapportionment or redistricting may be offered. | ||
| And the question I have, ladies and gentlemen, is such a reportment or redistricting resolution going to be offered during this session. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The delegate from Alexandria, Delegate Herring. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I respond that the plain language of the document is clear. | ||
| It says what it says during this 2024 special session. | ||
| Further question, Mr. Speaker? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Delegate has the floor. | |
| Just so we can make plans on this side of the aisle, could you walk me through the schedule for the week? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Delegate from Alexandria, Delegate Herring. | |
| Yes, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The delegate will likely hear me move that we adjourn until Wednesday. | ||
| That is my understanding when the committee will meet. | ||
| That's the plan. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Further question? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Will the delegate entertain another question? | |
| I will yield for another question. | ||
| So we'll not be meeting tomorrow. | ||
| Is that correct? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The delegate from Alexandria. | |
| Yes, Mr. Speaker, that is. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I respond to the delegate that we will not be meeting on Tuesday. | ||
| That's not the plan. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The delegate from Chesapeake, Delegate Lefwich. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I asked if the patron would yield for a question. | ||
| The delegate yield. | ||
| I yield, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| So I wanted to start out with there is a question here, Mr. Speaker, but I think I need to preface that with reading a statute that talks about adopting constitutional amendments. | ||
| And it's section 30-13 of the Code of Virginia. | ||
| And it says, in addition to such duties as may be prescribed by the rules of the House of Delegates, the clerk of the House of Delegates shall, at the end of the session of the General Assembly, prepare a well-arranged index of the journal of the House and the documents printed during the session by order of the House. | ||
| He shall have published with the acts and joint resolutions proposing amendments to the Constitution, joint resolutions providing for studies for legislation of each session of the General Assembly, the unadjusted United States decennial census counts for the Commonwealth's counties, cities, and towns, and a carefully prepared and well-arranged index of the acts and joint resolutions. | ||
| It goes on to say, Mr. Speaker, the clerk of the House of Delegates shall have published all proposed amendments to the Constitution for the distribution from his office and to the clerk of the circuit court of each county and the city two copies of the proposed amendments, one of which shall be posted at the front door of the courthouse and the other shall be made available for public for inspection for public inspection. | ||
| Every clerk in the circuit court shall complete the posting required not later than three months prior to the next ensuing general election of the members of the House of Delegates and shall certify such posting to the clerk of the House of Delegates. | ||
| The clerk of House Delegates shall report to the General Assembly at its next regular session the action taken by him under this section, including the costs incurred in the printing and distribution of the amendments. | ||
| The report shall be published in the Journal of the House of Delegates. | ||
| I assume, Mr. Speaker, with that backdrop, my first question to the patron would be: Would the clerk of the circuit court who posts a proposed constitutional amendment pursuant to this special session, which would be within three months of the next general election for the House of Delegates, be violating 30-13? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the delegate from Alexandria, Delegate Harry. | ||
| Yes, Mr. Speaker, I would respond to the delegate that the section, the code section that he read predates the 1971 Constitution, which does not have the requirement. | ||
| And the legislature actually explicitly in the debate in the House intended to exclude those provisions and our Constitution Title 12 I mean sorry. | ||
| Article 12, section 1 does not have that requirement. | ||
| Okay, so would the patron yield for a second question? | ||
| The delegate from Chelsea? | ||
| Will the delegate yield? | ||
| So if the delegate yield, I yield, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, the delegate has the floor. | ||
| The delegate will yield. | ||
| So if the General Assembly did not intend to follow this statute, why was this statute not repealed? | ||
| And secondly, would the clerk of the circuit court, who fails to post a proposed constitutional amendment pursuant to this special session at all prior to the general election of the house delegates, be violating this section? | ||
| Delegate from Fairfax. | ||
| Point of order. | ||
| Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Delegate has the floor. | ||
| I, I understand. | ||
| I thought that the delegate was yielding for questions about the procedural resolution. | ||
| These questions seem to go far beyond the procedural resolution that's up for debate. | ||
| Is this, is question in order? | ||
| The questions are not. | ||
| They're out of order. | ||
| They're not germane to the procedural resolution. | ||
| They may be in order later on down the road, but not now. | ||
| The delegate from Buckingham. | ||
| Delegate Garrett. | ||
| Thank you, mr speaker. | ||
| Um, i'm just curious if the patron would yield for a question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Will the patron yield for a question? | |
| I yield, mr speaker. | ||
| Thank you, mr speaker. | ||
| The constitution of Virginia doesn't prohibit murder, but that's in the Code Of Virginia, as is section 30-13, point of order, the delegate. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The delegate is out of order. | |
| Do you have a question? | ||
| Absolutely i'm curious how the clerks of the Court OF THE Commonwealth OF Virginia are to comply with posting these 90 days before an election, when they didn't know about it until far less than 90 days before an election. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The delegate is out of order. | |
| I just said that that question is not germane to the procedural resolution that's before us. | ||
| It may be relevant later, but it's not right now to the procedural resolution that is before us. | ||
| Whether we can adopt this language or not, not the constitutional amendment that you want to talk about down the road. | ||
| The delegate from Powertown. | ||
| Delegate WARE. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I'd like to speak to the resolution. | ||
| The delegate has the floor. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| So, here we are, eight days before Election Day, near the conclusion of our 46-day election season, sitting in Richmond. | ||
| The purpose of this unprecedented special session during an election is to hitch Virginia, belatedly, to the Pell-Mell bandwagon to redistrict, or to speak more honestly, to gerrymander the Commonwealth's electoral districts. | ||
| This session will shortly see, in fact, now has seen, the preliminaries to an amendment proposed to abolish the nonpartisan redistricting commission process adopted by Virginians nearly two to one just four years, five years ago. | ||
| This amendment will be proposed by one party only, although candor requires admitting that this bad idea of mid-decade redistricting did get its 2025 launch by the president. | ||
| However, just because a bad idea was proposed and even taken up by a few of our sister states, such as North Carolina or California, is not a reason for Virginia to follow suit. | ||
| For nearly two and a half centuries, the states have redistricted following the decennial census, responding to the population shifts both in our country and in the states. | ||
| Even this can be a confusing process for our citizens, as I'm sure many of you can attest from speaking to folks you represent. | ||
| To give our imprimatur as Virginians to mid-decade changes can only dishearten citizens and heighten their cynicism about politics. | ||
| Moreover, to do this means undoing this redistricting commission process that state voters approved by more than 65 percent of their ballots just five years ago. | ||
| All this for a transparent political power play aimed at heightening one party's power. | ||
| To see how this power play could work out, just take a look, for example, at Illinois. | ||
| Illinois went 54 percent to 44 percent for Kamala Harris. | ||
| That same election sent 14 of 17 Democrats to represent the state of Illinois, 82 percent of the representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives. | ||
| How is that possible? | ||
| It's possible only by trampling flagrantly on the principle of keeping communities of common interest together. | ||
| It's done only by grotesquely misshapen districts that make Elbridge Jerry's Federalist salamander look positively symmetrical. | ||
| To travel down this tortuous path is to transgress long-standing precedent in Virginia. | ||
| It is to turn our backs on the Virginia way. | ||
| It is to stride down a road of doubtful constitutional propriety with an election season well underway in which 900,000 Virginians have already voted. | ||
| It's to embark on a scramble to cram a second legislative vote, a 90-day waiting period, a referendum, a primary, and a regular election, the last three all requiring 46 days plus time for counting and certifying each process. | ||
| In short, it is to belatedly attach Virginia to the tail of a bandwagon that is unworthy of her history and unworthy of this body's long heritage. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Shall the resolution be agreed to? | ||
| Clerk will open the row. | ||
| Clerk will close the row. | ||
| Ayes 50, noes 42. | ||
| Ayes 50, noes 42. | ||
| The resolution is agreed to. | ||
| The delegate from Alexandria, Doug Heron, will communicate the action of the House of Delegates to the Senate and request this concurrence. | ||
| The House will be at ease. | ||
| Welcome to today's Washington Journal. | ||
| While you're calling in, we're going to speak to a congressional reporter at Politico, Nicholas Wu joins us. | ||
| Nicholas, welcome to the program. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks for having me. | |
| So it is day 28. | ||
| Are we any closer to ending the federal government shutdown? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Unfortunately, we are no closer to ending the shutdown. | |
| Right now, there's still no signs that there's any forward progress on negotiations. | ||
| There's no talks between congressional leadership. | ||
| The president is not. |