Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) said on Thursday that the “Agenda 47” plan by President-elect Donald Trump to relocate up to 100,000 federal employees from Washington, D.C. to other parts of the country will help unite Democrats ahead of the January 7 special elections.
Scott (pictured above) made the remarks during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Katie Phang Show,” telling the host he is optimistic his party will fare well in the upcoming special elections sparked by the electoral victories of U.S. Representatives-elect Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10) and John McGuire (R-VA-05).
Subramanyam’s former seat in the Virginia Senate is currently sought by Delegate Kannan Srinivasan (D-Broadlands) and Republican Tumay Harding. In the race for Srinivasan’s seat in the House of Delegates, Republicans selected Ram Venkatachalam to represent them, while Democrats chose JJ Singh.
In the race for the seat in the Virginia Senate formerly held by McGuire, Republicans selected Luther Cifers, while Democrats chose Jack Trammell.
Scott predicted Democrats will fare well in the special election, noting, “Despite the fact that Donald Trump won the election, he still lost Virginia.”
The Virginia Democrat then referenced Trump’s plan to the network, stating, “We have over 140,000 federal civil servants who live in Virginia, who rely on the government. President-elect Trump has already said he’s going to get rid of a lot of jobs, move them away from Virginia, move them away from Maryland, move them to the middle of nowhere, to the middle states, and I think that will be a mistake, and again, impact our economy.”
Scott referenced a March 21, 2023, policy video and web page released by the Trump campaign.
Pledging to “shatter the deep state, and restore government that is controlled by the People,” Trump offered a 10-point plan aimed at gutting the federal government, including a potential relocation of federal jobs from the nation’s capital.
The eighth point in Trump’s plan will, “Continue [the] Trump administration effort to move parts of the federal bureaucracy outside of the Washington Swamp, just like President Trump moved the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado.”
According to the Trump campaign website, “Up to 100,000 government positions could be moved out of Washington.”
In the same policy page, Trump said he would sign an executive order allowing the president to “fire rogue bureaucrats,” reform federal agencies to purge “corrupt actors” in the intelligence community, and lead “a major crackdown on government leakers who collude with the media to create false narratives.”
The president also said he will create a new commission to “declassify and publish” government documents about spying, censorship, and abuse, separate the Inspector General’s Office from the agencies it oversees, ban government employees from working for the companies they regulate, and push for term limits for Congress.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Don Scott” by Don Scott.Â
