Earlier today, our long-overdue, short-sighted budget finally went into effect. While I'm grateful for the stability that actually having a budget will provide, I have to be honest: I'm deeply fearful for the economic path that this budget puts North Carolina onto. I said as much on the floor of the House when the GOP passed it, and as it goes into law without the Governor’s signature, I’m seeing some pretty nasty storm clouds on the horizon for our state.
This year, for the first time since I’ve been in office, we had tax revenues that did not keep pace with inflation over the past year. That means that our tax revenues have less purchasing power than the year before—now, that’s not inherently a cause for alarm, but in our case, when we’re already unable to pay our state employees competitive wages? When we have a crisis in state employment where nearly one in four state jobs is vacant? It doesn’t take a graduate degree in economics to see that this is a sign of a looming disaster.
And yet, the GOP’s budget cuts taxes even further, slashing revenues even more and driving us toward a fiscal cliff that, if we continue on, will create a downward spiral that just makes the situation worse and worse until we no longer even have the ability to dig ourselves out of it.
We'll continue to be unable to offer competitive salaries that attract good people to these jobs. We’ll continue to bleed talent. These roles aren’t abstracts: this is about whether your kids have enough teachers to keep schools open, whether the DMV has enough staff to keep lines moving, whether the Department of Agriculture has inspectors that can make sure the food we eat is safe to consume.
They’re basic functions of state government that we need in order for our society to continue to function.
(Meanwhile, the budget basically gives the GOP their own secret police force and immunity from public records laws—I guess that’s more important to them than being able to hire enough corrections officers to adequately staff our prisons?)
Look, John, here’s the thing. North Carolina has spent the last decade of GOP control living large off a strong financial situation. Along the way, bipartisan governance enforced by the Governor’s veto pen has helped us reach some incredible economic heights—but we've squandered that opportunity, we didn’t make the investments and policy changes we needed to while there was still time, and now the crows are coming home to roost. Under GOP control, our legislature has lost the plot and lost sight of our duty to make people's lives better.
Don't get me wrong—Medicaid expansion is great. It’ll improve a lot of lives. But Medicaid expansion should never have been tied to the budget in the first place, and it can't change that the rest of this budget fails our state.
The only path forward now is to change who is in control in our state’s government. To do that, we need to support our legislative candidates so that we can break the GOP’s supermajority once more and, God willing, take the majority back so that we can change course instead of merely softening the blows. But we also need statewide candidates who are going to be able to build a winning coalition that lifts all boats, and in particular, we need an economic message that will resonate with voters in every corner of the state.
It’s all hands on deck to fight the coming storm, and we need your help. Today, I’m once again asking you if you’ll split a contribution between my campaign for Treasurer and the NC House Democrats’ campaign fund—because this moment is so much bigger than just one campaign, and we need to all stand together if we’re going to win big and avert disaster.
