For six years, Virginia was named the top spot in the nation to do business. But Thursday, the Commonwealth dropped to fourth, according to a report from CNBC.

WASHINGTON — According to a new business report from CNBC, Virginia has dropped to fourth in a list of Best Places to Do Business study. The top spot now belongs to North Carolina.

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott attributes the drop largely to federal job cuts.

“It’s really sad and it’s disappointing,” he said.”

He points to Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his support of President Trump and DOGE’s cuts to the federal workforce.

“I think it’s ridiculous to think that the governor, whose job is just to protect Virginians, would embrace this harm to Virginia’s families and to our economy and to our workforce,” Scott explained.

The governor has launched an initiative to help federal workers who lost their jobs find employment, but Speaker Scott doesn’t think that’s enough.

“This is not normal,” he lamented, “the times that we’re living in right now is not normal.”

Scott said he and his fellow lawmakers are conducting a study to see what the potential long term effects of these cuts will be. He’s expecting a report by the end of August.

But more importantly, he’s calling for a bipartisan effort.

“We’re going to need republicans and democrats to say enough of the chaos, enough of the corruption, enough of the cruelty and let’s get back to the good work we were doing before Trump was elected,” he explained, “keeping Virginia the number one state to do business in.”

Youngkin responded to the study on X, saying: