The federal shutdown has lasted more than a week and, with no end in sight, elected officials in Virginia are about as far apart on a solution as those in Washington.
But Senator Tim Kaine thinks the same issue that brought President Donald Trump to the negotiation table during the 2018 shutdown could bring him back this time.
Among those working without pay right now are air traffic controllers - the folks who help land your planes. And eight days into the latest government shutdown, Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin is blaming Democrats saying they’re putting the country at risk.
“That’s why the Schumer shutdown really worries me because we see air traffic controllers who aren’t getting paid, the military who’s not getting paid," Youngkin said Tuesday. "And therefore, safety in the air and on the ground and, of course, protecting our national freedoms is at risk.”
But Virginia Senator Tim Kaine said in a press conference Wednesday the shutdown was about Democrats’ effort to restore health care subsidies that he says could increase Affordable Care Act premiums.
Kaine pointed to the last big government shutdown in 2018, and concerns about air travel that he said helped sway President Trump.
“The air traffic issue that finally made him sit down at the table and find a path. So, we don’t want to disrupt air travel," Kaine said Wednesday. "If the pressure helps President Trump decide to do what other presidents, including himself, have done and negotiate a way out, let's find a way out.”
Youngkin made his remarks Tuesday at an unrelated event, but he asked Kaine and his fellow Democratic Senator Mark Warner to go back to D.C. and “vote for Virginia.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
