GOP budget standoff drags through its second month

The cost of GOP budget inaction is about $42,000 per day, or about a million dollars and counting. Legislative Republicans can either hold an override vote or return to the negotiating table, but instead, they’re doing neither while pointing fingers at the governor.

• Enough House Democrats have pledged to sustain Gov. Cooper’s budget veto that Republicans have no way to override it. They have no choice but to return to the negotiating table, but they’re not doing that.
• It has now been six weeks since Gov. Cooper sent a compromise budget proposal to GOP leaders, but Republicans are sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending it doesn’t exist. This is not a party that is serious about governing.
• Politicians are collecting their per-diem pay and wasting taxpayer money in order to drag out a protracted political battle white our schools and state employees suffer. This has to end.

Republican leaders need to stop pretending it’s 2013 and they’re holding all the cards. It’s time to return to the negotiating table and work out a budget that works for everyone.