Gov. Youngkin visits Salem Fair, speaks with WDBJ7

SALEM, Va. (WDBJ) – Friday afternoon, Gov. Glenn Youngkin visited the Salem Fair, where he shook hands and shot baskets. And in an interview with WDBJ7 he tackled two timely issues: the border and the budget.

Youngkin hit the midway shortly after the gates opened, shaking hands, meeting first responders, enjoying an animal encounter.

But in an interview with WDBJ7, he also tackled serious subjects, including his decision to send members of the Virginia National Guard to the southern border. One day after meeting with them, he responded to criticism from Democrats, who said the move was more about politics than good policy.

“I first can’t believe that anybody would think that five Virginians dying every day from fentanyl overdose that comes across the Mexican border into America is politics,” Youngkin said. “I mean these are people’s lives. And we have got to do our job here with law enforcement. And we also have to stop it at the source. We need to do both. We also have a state that’s doing everything they can to secure our border. It’s a drug crisis, a humanitarian crisis and a national security crisis and they called for help and this is what we do. We go help.”

On the continuing budget stalemate, Youngkin said he remains deeply disappointed that House and Senate negotiators have failed to reach agreement.

He said a new report on state revenues expected soon with bolster his bid for a billion dollars in permanent tax relief.

“We’ll have our final June numbers out shortly, and I think they’ll show there’s even more money in the system. We can afford this. We can get this done,” Youngkin said. “So I’m going to wait and get these numbers for everybody and remove all doubt that we can afford this, and then we’re going to go to work and get this budget done.”

Although Youngkin is still waiting for a legislative victory on the budget, he took top honors on the midway, shooting hoops with two Congressmen and two members of the General Assembly.

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