You can view the full Rachel Maddow segment online here.

Richmond

Virginia Republicans capitulated by removing the vaginal penetration ultrasound mandate, but this new bill, which we’re told Governor Bob McDonnell personally wrote, creates more problems. This sloppy attempt by politicians to play doctor will add to the trauma of rape victims and women suffering miscarriages.

Instead of using vaginal penetration to bully women into not having abortions, Governor McDonnell’s new bill bullies women with medically unnecessary waiting periods and ultrasound requirements, even requiring that rape victims and women suffering miscarriages have ultrasound images placed in their medical records. Adding insult to injury, these medically unnecessary requirements will drive up health care costs and add to the financial strain of women already facing difficult circumstances.

Instead of trying to play doctor, Governor McDonnell should veto this bill and leave these difficult medical and moral choices to women and their doctors.  

Delegate David Englin is serving his fourth term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee. He is an Air Force veteran, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and he lives in Alexandria with his wife and son.

For more information, visit www.davidenglin.org.

Click the image to see the video of David’s remarks.

Unfortunately, with just a few weeks to finalize the budget, we continue to be distracted by the Republican majority’s “Guns, God, Gays, and Abortion” social agenda, which I fear is turning Virginia into a national laughingstock. During his annual State of the Commonwealth address, Governor McDonnell cautioned the new Republican majority in Richmond against arrogance and overreach, especially on divisive social issues. As the following litany demonstrates, they didn’t heed his advice:

Prior to our state law limiting handgun purchases to one per month, Virginia was a major source of arms used while committing crimes in other states. We likely will be again now that the Republican majority has repealed that law. The new “personhood” bill, which voters in Mississippi and Colorado overwhelmingly rejected last year, grants full rights of personhood beginning at conception, effectively outlawing the most common forms of contraception. Under the guise of religion, another bill will allow groups to place gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender foster children in homes where they will be subject to abusive “conversion” and “reparative” therapy that has been discredited by the American Psychological Association. Another bill will require many women in Virginia to undergo vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent in order to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion, even for nonsurgical, noninvasive, pharmaceutical abortions.

Republicans in Richmond note correctly that these represent only a small fraction of hundreds of bills, most of which draw little controversy. The point is not the sheer numbers of these bills but the disproportionate legislative energy they consume and how dramatically they undermine the progress Virginians have made together. It is true that this agenda is nothing new for House Republicans, who have always been an aggressively conservative bunch. However, we used to always know that the Senate would reject these bills. But now that they have total control in Richmond, these bills are actually on track to become law. What I wouldn’t give to spend just one legislative session without having to fight against this divisive conservative social agenda! Rest assured that I will continue standing up to this agenda while also working to ensure the best possible state budget for our community.

– David

“Our country is founded on the notion that all people deserve to be equal in freedom, with a fair shot at life and an equal chance to strive for their dreams,” said David.  “We must work together to make sure that dream truly applies to all people, including people with the added challenge of a disability.”

For more information about the ARC of Virginia, visit www.thearcofva.org.

“It is extremely disappointing that, while thousands of Virginians are counting on their government to take measures to improve our economy, fix our roads, and enhance our schools, the Republican majority has instead decided to focus on divisive social issues,” said David. “Virginians deserve better.”  

The full text of the press release from this morning’s press conference can be found below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2012

VIRGINIA PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS RELEASES 2012 GENERAL ASSEMBLY REPORT CARD

General Assembly Has Failed On The Issues Affecting Virginians

Richmond – Today, following “Crossover” at the Virginia General Assembly, members of the Progressive Caucus released a “2012 Report Card” showing that the legislature has earned failing grades on all of the subjects that affect the lives of Virginians.

The General Assembly’s leaders have made this a divisive session: from their refusal to produce meaningful jobs legislation, to their decision to ignore common-sense measures to protect our natural resources, to their long list of destructive bills designed to take away Virginians’ rights. They have missed the opportunity to make progress on the important issues affecting the daily lives of Virginians.

Delegate Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), co-Chairman of the Progressive Caucus, said, “Conservatives campaigned on a pledge to address real issues to help Virginia families, but instead their radical right-wing agenda has been the focus and has only made problems worse. We believe it’s time to put partisanship and ideology aside to work toward real solutions that grow our economy, repair Virginia’s crumbling infrastructure, and invest in a world-class education for our children so they can compete in a global economy.”

Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), co-Chairman of the Progressive Caucus, said, “It’s time to invest in a Virginia that works for everyone. We should be supporting working middle-class Virginians, not taking away their rights. Virginians across the Commonwealth are concerned about creating jobs and getting our economy on track. It’s time for Virginia’s leaders to put Virginia families first. We need to move the state forward, not drag it backward.”

2012 REPORT CARD
Name: Virginia General Assembly
Period: Crossover

Subject: Grade:

Job Creation – F

Education - F

Health Care - F

Environment - F

Voting Rights - F

Transportation -  F

Workers’ Rights - F

Immigrants’ Rights -  F

LGBT Rights - F

Women’s Right To Choose -  F

###

You can view the full Rachel Maddow segement online here.

Located in Shirlington in Arlington, Signature Theatre is a Tony Award®-winning, non-profit professional theater company with a mission to produce contemporary musicals and plays, reinvent classic musicals, develop new work, and reach its community through engaging educational and outreach opportunities.

“Signature Theatre is a perfect example of how the arts can both enrich our community culturally and serve as an economic driver,” said Englin.  ”In addition to their educational and outreach work, Signature has helped turn Shirlington into an arts destination, where people traveling from across the region to enjoy Signature productions also contribute to our local economy.”  

Musical Theater is Signature’s “signature,” and the theatre is renowned for its definitive Sondheim productions, inventive adaptations of overlooked or forgotten works, and investment in fresh new projects. Signature has received 284 Helen Hayes Award nominations and 70 Hayes Awards and garners praise from local and national press including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Variety, USA Today and American Theatre.

In 2007, after thirteen successful years of operating in a renovated auto garage in a blighted neighborhood of Arlington, Signature moved into a dramatic new building that serves as a cultural anchor of the vibrant urban Arlington location Shirlington Village. Since the move, Signature has attracted scores of patrons to the theatre. Two black-box theaters more than double the capacity of Signature’s former “garage” space, and Signature attracts more than 80,000 patrons each season, increasingly gaining recognition as one of the nation’s best regional theaters.

Signature gives back to the community through education and outreach programs that engage the area’s increasingly diverse population and target those traditionally underserved by the arts.  Outreach initiatives include a comprehensive arts education program for Northern Virginia high school students, a performance-training institute, a free public lecture series co-hosted by the Arlington County Public Library, and an annual Open House and Summer Concert.  Signature’s free outreach programs provide meaningful resources for at-risk teens and non-traditional theatergoers.  Signature’s targeted outreach and pricing incentives have attracted a diverse student following, who presently makes up 11% of the theatre’s audience. The Signature In The Schools program, for example, reaches Hispanic, White, African-American, and Asian high school students (ages 14 to 18) in Northern Virginia.

Check out some of the shows Signature is featuring now at signature-theatre.org.

Bills that passed the House with bipartisan support included my joint effort with the chairman of the Conservative Caucus to sunset new tax credits to prevent them from accumulating on the books without scrutiny.  In addition to this successful legislation, I have been using my seat on the House Finance Committee as a platform to draw attention to the billions of dollars Virginia loses each year in tax preferences.  As a result, several delegates amended their own tax credit proposals to include new transparency and accountability provisions. After years of talking about the need for tax reform in Virginia, by finding common ground with my political opposites and working closely with them on this issue, together we are starting to change the culture in Richmond to bring more transparency and accountability to Virginia’s finances.

Unlike Washington, Virginia still clings to the kind of collegiality that has us locked in legislative combat one minute but working together the next, and we still tend to like each other enough personally to share a drink at the end of a bruising day of heated debate. That was case this week when House Republicans pushed through legislation to expand access to handguns, define “personhood” as beginning at conception, propose changing the First Amendment to allow Christian prayers in public schools, and create new barriers for women seeking safe, legal abortions.

One especially egregious bill will require many women in Virginia to undergo vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent in order to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion, even for nonsurgical, noninvasive, pharmaceutical abortions. I proposed an amendment to require a woman’s consent before making her undergo an ultrasound procedure involving bodily penetration. The lone ob-gyn doctor serving in the General Assembly was among the small handful of Republicans who crossed party lines to support my amendment, which was some small satisfaction. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Republicans voted against my amendment and for the bill, demonstrating the disturbing lengths they will go to insert politicians into decisions that should be between women and their doctors.

During the second half of the General Assembly session, I will be shepherding some of my own bills through the Virginia Senate while also weighing in legislation Senators are trying to move through the House. If you have comments on legislation, or if my office can be of service or assistance in any way, please be in touch at vog.ainigriv.esuohnull@nilgnEDleD.

– David