CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — Gridlock could cause Congress to come to a standstill during this session, and the first industry to lose funding will probably be defense, J. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia Center for Politics said.
Coleman spoke to the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. He worked at the FBI and as a defense contractor before joining the Center for Politics four years ago.
He said defense is a billion-plus dollar industry in this region, and it’s been busy.
There are all kinds of threats right now, and both sides have priorities in the defense industry. Republicans are focused on China and Democrats on Ukraine.
But legislators in the Charlottesville area may have an effect on what happens in Congress.
“You have Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy who, to get his speakership after 15 ballots of voting, had to give concessions to the hard-right members of his caucus, some of them, have very isolationist mentality,” Coleman said.
One of those hard-right members is Fifth District Representative Bob Good, whose first bill of this session was the Close Biden’s Borders Act.
But Coleman says having Seventh District Representative Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat and former CIA officer, in a neighboring district may be good news for those in the defense community.
