GOP Leaders Jet Off to Europe in Middle of Budget Talks

 

(From NCDEMS) Senate Leader Phil Berger and Chief Budget Writer and Majority Leader Harry Brown skipped town last week in the middle of budget talks to attend a Senate President conference in Berlin. Their foreign foray comes just 3 days after Berger released a statement saying that the Governor’s attempts to negotiate were “not what a good-faith conversation looks like.” Governor Roy Cooper recently vetoed a Republican budget proposal that he said shortchanged education funding and rejected critical Medicaid funding in North Carolina.   

 

Governor Cooper has proposed a compromise budget to move negotiations forward on vital issues like Medicaid expansion and teacher pay. Instead of coming to the table and working with the Governor, Berger and Brown left town. Republicans don’t have the votes to override Governor Cooper’s veto of their bad budget, despite their best efforts. Republicans recently tried tempting North Carolina House of Representatives members with a bill that partially expands Medicaid. The gambit failed, and last week's session wrapped with no budget veto vote, no Medicaid expansion, and a trip to Germany for Berger and Brown.

 

Tillis Stands By as Republicans Try to Kill the Affordable Care Act

 

Last week, North Carolinians who rely on vital protections under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) rallied to hold Senator Tillis accountable for his unwillingness to stand up to a Trump-administration-backed lawsuit that would gut protections for people with preexisting conditions, allow insurers to reinstate lifetime or annual limits on care or charge women more for care, and end other important consumer protections. 

 

According to NPR, the fate of the ACA , commonly known as Obamacare, again was on the line last week, as a federal appeals court in New Orleans takes up a case in which a lower court judge has already ruled the massive health law unconstitutional. If the lower court ruling is ultimately upheld, the case has the potential to shake the nation's entire health care system to its core. First, such a decision would immediately affect the estimated 20 million people who get their health coverage through programs created under the law. But ending the ACA would also create chaos in other parts of the health care system that were directly or indirectly changed under the law's multitude of provisions — including calorie counts on menus, a pathway for approval of generic copies of expensive biologic drugs and, perhaps most important politically, protections for people who have preexisting conditions.

 

Protesters gathered at Tillis' Raleigh offices last week to urge him to stand up against the challenge to the ACA. However NCDEMS said Tillis told Specturm News last week: "What I should say though is I support anything that ultimately takes a failed health care plan – Obamacare – off the table…” Tillis instead supports a Republican plan that would not go nearly as far as the ACA. According to NCDEMS: Senator Tillis is hiding behind a sham bill that “would do little to protect people with pre-existing conditions” and has been widely panned as “political cover” and a “false promise” that leaves protections “on the cutting room floor.”

 

New Hanover County Board of Elections to Hold Voter Education Seminars

 

Beginning with the critical votes of 2020, North Carolina voters will be required to provide photo identification before they vote. This includes both in-person and by-mail voting, with some exceptions. The New Hanover County Board of Elections will hold two educational seminars about the new requirements on Tuesday, July 23. The first will be at 2:00 p.m. at the New Hanover County Government Center on Government Center Drive. The second session will be at 6:00 p.m. at Cape Fear Community College's Union Station Building on Front Street downtown.

 

The seminars, which are required by law, will cover voting options including absentee-by-mail voting, One-Stop early voting and Election Day voting. Information about provisional voting, the availability of free North Carolina voter ID cards and residency requirements will also be provided. For more information on the new North Carolina voter ID requirements, please go to this site.

 

Debate Watch Parties

 

There are more Democratic presidential debates coming on July 30th and 31st! It would be great to have watch parties around the county to watch them with fellow Democrats. So far we have been notified about the following events:

• Watch Party and Summer Potluck and Social hosted by Precinct W25,  Tuesday, July 30, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., at the Ironclad Brewery, 115 N. 2nd Street, downtown Wilmington. Jim Nesbit, one of the plaintiffs in the NC gerrymandering case has agreed to speak if the trial has ended (the trial attorneys have asked him not to speak about the case until it is over). Richard Poole will be following the trial closely and will discuss the progress of the trial if Jim is unable. The Ironclad is also reserved on Wednesday, July 31,  from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., however, this time no speakers or Potluck. 

• FP07 watch party hosted by Tony and Marlene Barney, Wednesday, July 31, 7:00 p.m. 8508 Lakeview Drirve, Wilmington (At The Cape, near Snows Cut Bridge) To RSVP, text or call (703) 304-7623. 

If you are planning a watch party, please click here to send date, time, location and RSVP info to the editor so we can include your event in our emails.

Silent Auction Items Needed For Unity Banquet