Breaking Without a Budget
We’re two months into the new fiscal year, and Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly still haven’t passed a budget. Now they’re taking a break until late September, with no clear solution in sight.
I know, I know– few things are more riveting than reading about a legislative budget battle. It’s right up there with reading a website’s terms and conditions, with watching paint dry, grass grow, and water boil. It’s like listening to someone explain the rules of an archaic card game at a dry party– except the stakes will determine whether people get health care or schools get funded.
Bear with us for just a moment, and you’ll quickly see what this Republican stalemate could mean for you and your family in the coming months.
Where Things Stand
At its core, the budget delay is due to a disagreement between Republican leaders of the NC House and NC Senate. North Carolina is heading toward a fiscal cliff, and Republicans can’t decide on how to address it. Simply put, North Carolina won’t generate enough tax revenue to cover future expenses, and Republicans are struggling to course-correct.
Rather than address this issue head on, Republicans passed what Gov. Stein called a “Band-Aid budget”– a stopgap spending plan that barely covers immediate needs.
Meanwhile, NC Republicans have prioritized legislation that aims to get more guns in schools, erodes constitutional rights, and attacks the LGBTQ+ community. They’re stalling on health care and education funding, but pushing forward with bills that make children and communities less safe.
“Not one of these culture war bills puts more money in your pocket,” House Minority Leader Robert Reives said. “Not one of these bills brings your prices down or gets your healthcare costs under control.”
Higher Costs, Less Care, Underfunded Schools
Without a comprehensive budget, NCGA Republicans have effectively cut Medicaid by over $300 million. This looks like reductions in services for patients and lower provider payment rates– the type of stuff that causes rural hospitals to close, patient costs to increase, and working class people to avoid seeking life-saving care. Add this on top of Congressional Republicans’ recent Medicaid cuts, are you’re talking about kicking hundreds of thousands of North Carolinianians off their health insurance and raising costs on thousands more.
The Band-Aid budget also leaves schools underfunded at the beginning of a new academic year. It leaves out the kind of multi-year commitments that districts count on to launch new programs, fill long-term positions, or undertake major building projects. It means no long-term raises for teachers who are already among the lowest paid in the country. And it means more financial issues for the school districts that are already hurting, some of which are laying off staff to cope with budget deficits.
If you were to boil it all down, this NC Republican budget dispute simply means higher costs, less health care, and more cuts for public schools.
What You Can Do
NCGA Republicans may be breaking for the next few weeks, but we must keep calling on them to get back to work to pass a full budget.
As Gov. Stein put it, “We have so much going for us here in North Carolina, but we cannot just rest on our laurels, do the bare minimum, and expect to continue to thrive. The General Assembly needs to get serious about investing in the people who make this state great.”
We can’t afford to break without a budget. Reach out to your legislators, and ask them to pass a spending plan that invests in our health care, our children, and our families.
