NEW YORK — Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R - Virginia) appeared on "CBS Mornings" Thursday morning to discuss the gas tax holiday proposal, abortion laws, and gun reform in Virginia.
The interview opened with questions about the gas tax holiday that both Youngkin and President Joe Biden have proposed.
Youngkin pushed for a Virginia gas tax holiday to be included in the new state budget, but state legislators rejected the proposal.
"The easiest way as a governor to give Virginians a break when we can afford it in Virginia is to suspend our gas tax for three months, it’s roughly 26 cents a gallon, and unfortunately our senate led by Democrats said no and I’ve sent the bill down three times and they said no three times and I don’t understand why because this is such an easy way for us to give Virginians a break,” Youngkin said on the morning show. “We have plenty of money in our Commonwealth transportation fund, over $1 billion more than we anticipated, this costs a little over $400 million to provide this break and I think Virginia deserves it and I think we should get this done.”
Senate Democrats, like Jennifer Boysko, explained their vote.
"I understand that prices are high and people are hurting at the pump... and we'd love to do something to help support them. However, there is no there's no obligation on the gas companies or on the sellers of the gas to give the people the relief. This is really a giveaway to the oil companies," Sen. Boysko (D - Fairfax) said. "We did other things we are repealing the grocery tax, the menstrual supply tax, we are increasing the minimum deduction so people will have more money in their pockets."
The governor also spoke on the upcoming decision from the Supreme Court that could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade.
"My first job is to keep Virginia safe and so we’re going to protect our constitutional right to protest if people want to protest and demonstrate but we’re also going to enforce the law and make sure there’s no violence and so we’ve coordinated with mayors and local police and state police to make sure that people get to express their constitutional rights but we’re gonna keep people safe and if they break the law we’re going to arrest them.”
In Virginia, abortion access is currently legal until 25 weeks.
Gun violence has been an issue affecting communities across the U.S., including here in Hampton Roads.
Youngkin was asked about gun violence in the country and the bipartisan gun law proposal on "CBS Mornings" and admitted that he "hasn't studied the law in detail," but discussed what Virginia was doing in response to the recent violence.
"After these two horrific shootings, we pulled together local educators and local law enforcement to make sure we can preempt any, a God forbid, copycat crime. We immediately went to work to find extra money in for school resource officers and we got it in our budget, said Youngkin. " We signed a bill that would require schools in law enforcement to collaborate on school safety plans. These are things that I could do right out of the box, and then finally we’re in a mental health crisis in America we know it… we’re in it in Virginia, and so we just signed budget that includes enhanced funding for mental health support things."
This was Youngkin's second time on the morning show and the hosts invited him back again for a third time.
