Virginia lawmakers recess special session without a budget deal

The Virginia General Assembly convened for a special session Thursday to finalize the state’s $212 billion budget, but recessed after just a few hours without a deal, underscoring deep divisions within the Democratic majorities and leaving the spending plan unresolved.

After a brief floor session, lawmakers left Richmond and returned to their districts, with no clear timeline for when negotiations might produce a compromise on the two-year spending plan.

At the center of the impasse is a dispute within the Democratic majority over whether to scale back a lucrative tax incentive that has helped fuel Virginia’s rise as the world’s largest data center hub.