RICHMOND, Va. (AP)- The legislation to keep state operations funded the next two years clings to life in a recessed Senate, the victim of a partisan dispute over a major northern Virginia mass transit project.
For the third time in two months, the Senate failed to approve a state budget on Tuesday. Democrats, denied additional funding by Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell for a Washington Metro rail extension to Dulles International Airport, voted against the budget.
Democrats and Republicans each control 20 seats in the 40-member Senate, and Republicans could not muster the necessary 21st vote to pass the budget.
As long as the session remains in recess and is not adjourned, the budget can be reconsidered, but neither party offers a hopeful prognosis for its survival before legislators finish their business Wednesday.
