WHAT VIRGINIANS ARE SEEING: Spanberger & General Assembly Leaders Unveil Affordable Virginia Agenda
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Richmond Times-Dispatch: Spanberger “Unveiled a Series of Specific, Often Highly Technical Bills Aimed at Reining in Rising Health Care and Energy Costs and at Expanding Affordable Housing’’
RICHMOND, Va. — Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger and Democratic leaders in the Virginia General Assembly yesterday announced the ‘Affordable Virginia Agenda’ — a package of legislative priorities to lower healthcare, housing, and energy costs for Virginians.
Spanberger was joined by Speaker of the House of Delegates Don Scott, Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas, House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, and Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke, who made clear that they will be relentlessly focused on lowering costs for Virginians in the upcoming General Assembly session.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Washington Post: This is how Gov.-elect Spanberger will begin tackling ‘affordability’
“Lowering costs for everyone is essential for the success of our economy,” Spanberger said in a news conference at the General Assembly Building alongside legislative leaders. “It isn’t just a family budget issue. It’s an economic competitiveness issue.”
Spanberger and Democrats who control majorities in the House of Delegates and state Senate said they realize the clock is ticking for them to show results after winning landslide victories on Nov. 4. The party will have consolidated control of state government once the General Assembly convenes Jan. 14 and Spanberger is sworn in three days later.
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Spanberger details affordability measures in health care, energy, housing
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger on Thursday unveiled a series of specific, often highly technical bills aimed at reining in rising health care and energy costs and at expanding affordable housing.
The legislation tackles medication costs, rising Affordable Care Act premiums, help with insulating homes to cut utility bills and help for renters facing eviction.
“Our mandate is to get things done,” Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger said.
“Our mandate is to get things done. Not to grandstand, not to gloat, but to come together for a stronger, safer, and — importantly — a more affordable Virginia,” Spanberger said.
NBC4 [Washington, D.C.]: Governor-elect Spanberger aims to lower costs
Inauguration Day is still about a month away, but Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger and key General Assembly Democratic leaders outlining their plans for lowering costs, describing November’s election results as a mandate from voters.
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They focused on three categories: lowering healthcare costs, finding ways to cut utility bills, and preserving and creating more affordable housing.
Their proposals also tied to specific bills being introduced in the 2026 session. For example — on healthcare — blocking pharmacy benefit managers from driving up drug costs, and starting a pilot program to offer insurance premium assistance to help people who might be losing their ACA subsidies.
7News [Washington, D.C.]: Governor-elect Spanberger says her priority for Virginia will be affordability.
The Governor-elect – joined by Democratic leadership – presented her agenda for the next legislative session beginning in mid-January.
Spanberger said rising prices and an uncertain job market here in Virginia made it obvious her political priority – affordability – a word mentioned 37 times during today’s press conference.
“And today, I’ll say it again, as the next governor of Virginia, my overarching, unrelenting focus in 2026, will be making the Commonwealth more affordable for our fellow Virginians,” said Governor-elect Spanberger.
WUSA9 [Washington, D.C]: Affordability the framework of Virginia lawmakers, Spanberger priorities
Starting in January, Spanberger said Democrats will introduce bills to lower prescription drug costs, insurance premiums and visits to the doctor’s office. She wants to hold pharmacy benefit managers accountable for hiking up drug costs and make it easier for Virginians to see the provider they need without going into “catastrophic medical debt.”
“We will begin responding to the reckless health care cuts and lack of action to prevent cost increases that we have seen from Washington over the last year,” she added.
With the Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire and cuts to Medicaid, potentially impacting 600,000 Virginians, part of the agenda includes eliminating additional fees on premiums and creating a pilot program to provide targeted premium assistance for those dropped from the marketplace due to premium hikes.
Virginia Mercury: Spanberger makes affordability centerpiece of 2026 agenda as legislative session nears
Less than a month before she takes the oath of office, Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger on Thursday rolled out a comprehensive legislative blueprint she said will lower costs for Virginia families — from prescription drugs to utility bills to housing — in a session she framed as a turning point for the commonwealth’s economic health.
Spanberger’s Affordable Virginia Agenda, announced one day after outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin introduced his final biennial budget proposal to the General Assembly, outlines a suite of legislative proposals aimed at reducing consumer costs across three major categories: health care, energy and housing.
Virginian-Pilot: Spanberger details legislative plan to cut costs for Virginians
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger plans to focus on a key theme of increasing affordability through healthcare, energy and housing in the coming legislative session.
On Thursday, she outlined a legislative plan including bills backed by Democrats that she said will reduce costs for Virginians in a variety of ways, including by addressing rising Affordable Care Act premiums, expanding solar energy access for individuals and preserving affordable housing.
“As I traveled across the commonwealth for the past two years, I’ve heard what keeps people of Virginia up at night,” she said during the event at the General Assembly Building. “It didn’t matter where I went — Eastern Shore, far Southwest Virginia, or along the 95 corridor, I heard Virginia families share their worries about how they’ll get ahead, how they’ll keep the lights on, how they’ll save for their children’s education, and how they’ll afford to buy a home, rent a home, or stay in their home.”
CBS6 [Richmond]: Abigail Spanberger unveils 17-bill plan to cut Virginia living costs that ‘will impact all Virginians’
Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger joined Democratic leaders in the General Assembly Thursday to announce a legislative agenda aimed at reducing costs for Virginia families across the healthcare, energy and housing sector.
The 17-bill package represents priorities Spanberger’s administration will pursue when the legislative session begins next month, working alongside the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.
“It is clear that we cannot accept the status quo when it comes to the high cost of living,” Spanberger said. “It is hurting the financial security of our economy, our communities and our neighbors, and changing the status quo begins next month.”
NBC12 [Richmond]: Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger unveils policy plans to lower costs
Spanberger says some of the bills are things Republican members of both the House and the Senate supported in previous years, though ended up being vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin.
She is hoping her colleagues continue their support this year so she can make her visions come to life.
“The impact of this legislation will impact all Virginians,” she said.
8News [Richmond]: Spanberger unveils affordability agenda ahead of General Assembly session
On housing, Spanberger and General Assembly Democrats are proposing several measures, including a new loan program that would provide lower-interest loans to builders who build mixed-income developments.
“Too many of our neighbors are being priced out, forced out, or shut out of housing,” Spanberger said.
When it comes to energy, Democrats say they want to increase energy storage capacity and expand programs to help low-income Virginians improve their homes’ energy efficiency.
“As the next Governor of Virginia, my overarching, unrelenting focus in 2026 will be making the Commonwealth more affordable for our fellow Virginians,” Spanberger said.
VPM: Spanberger, Virginia Democrats eye affordability bills — on a budget
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger and top Virginia Democrats are aiming to lower costs through programs with little impact on the state budget, they said in a press conference Thursday.
“We recognize that there will be real fiscal challenges that the Commonwealth is facing, which is why many of these efforts to lower costs for Virginians either don’t utilize general fund dollars or are cost neutral,” Spanberger said as she announced 17 policy goals on energy, health care and housing.
WDBJ [Roanoke]: Spanberger announces key affordability priorities before taking office
Spanberger highlighted healthcare, energy, and affordable housing as the most important issues facing the Commonwealth.
She and other Democratic leaders say their biggest goal is to lower prices.
Radio IQ WVTF [Roanoke]: Spanberger offers agenda specifics ahead of 2026 session
Spanberger said she hopes to start positively impacting Virginians’ pocketbooks as soon as possible. The first likely target? spikes in healthcare premiums and Virginia’s eviction laws.
“When you are eliminating additional fees on premiums, once you sign that bill into law you’ll start to see those impacts,” she said. “Notably the changes in eviction time frames you’ll see immediate impacts.”
And while she suggested the failure to extend ACA subsidies at the federal level would require an effort to stabilize all markets to avoid spikes across the board.
“This program, with its targeted effort to stabilize, at least here in Virginia, the ACA marketplace, given the chaos we’re seeing out of Washington, is meant to counter those efforts,” she said.
Cardinal News: Spanberger introduces proposals aimed at affordable health care, energy and housing
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, flanked by majority leaders in both chambers of the General Assembly, unveiled her economic policy plan Thursday morning, aimed at access to affordable health care, energy and housing for Virginia residents.
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“My overarching, unrelenting focus in 2026 will be making the commonwealth more affordable,” Spanberger said. “Lowering the cost of living is a major economic task, it is not easy and it cannot be done with a flip of a single switch.”
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