Republicans
NC House okays GOP bills to alter election board appointments, open voting records
The state House voted along party lines Tuesday on a Republican plan to give legislators more control over elections. The governor would be stripped of the power to appoint members of the state Board of Elections. Legislators would select all members of state and local elections boards, with Republican and Democratic leaders appointing equal numbers. […]
USDA’s climate grants for farms and forests run into Republican buzzsaw
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is spending more than $3 billion to cultivate more American farmers and forest landowners as partners to mitigate climate change — even while some Republicans on Capitol Hill try to stop the program entirely. The administration launched a new farm program, Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities, this year. It is […]
Former Congressman Mark Walker to seek GOP nomination for governor
Former Congressman Mark Walker will join the race for the GOP nomination for governor later this month, according to sources close to the campaign. Walker telegraphed his intentions publicly for the first time Tuesday after months of teasing a possible run, with a statement from Tim Murtaugh, vice president of communication for National Public Affairs, […]
After Nashville shooting, Democratic states push for new gun restrictions
This story was first published by Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. After a shooter killed three elementary school children and three faculty members in Nashville last month, hundreds of student activists flooded the Tennessee state Capitol to demand new gun restrictions. On the state House floor, three Democratic members disrupted proceedings by […]
Lawmakers are making more school boards partisan, and getting more Republicans elected
One local bill at a time, state lawmakers have nearly tripled the number of partisan school boards across the state over the last decade — often over the objections of school board members themselves. It’s a move some board members say is turning their school system from a hyperlocal, traditionally apolitical governing board into a contentious microcosm of national political debates.
The 2023 legislative session: Out of the starting gate — sideways
We weren’t expecting it to be pretty – “it” being the launch of the N.C. General Assembly’s new session, with freshly emboldened conservatives eager to flex their muscles. The reality, one month after things got under way, hasn’t failed to disappoint. Two themes stand out:
U.S. House and Senate GOP at odds over massive government spending deal
WASHINGTON — Congress is trying to wrap up its remaining must-pass bills before leaving for the holidays — but a split between Senate and House Republican leaders could hamstring the all-important task of funding government operations and averting a partial shutdown. Senate Republicans are working with Democrats in both chambers to negotiate a major omnibus […]
Study: More Republicans than Democrats likely died of COVID
It’s already known that hundreds of thousands of Americans would still be alive if every eligible person had gotten vaccinated against COVID-19. Now new research strongly suggests that many more of those “excess deaths” in Ohio and Florida were among people with Republican voter registrations. It’s perhaps unsurprising that Republicans were more reluctant to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, which has so far killed more than 1 million in the United States and more than 6.5 million worldwide.
Republicans in Congress shy away from campaigning on national abortion platform
WASHINGTON — Republicans, hoping to flip control of Congress in the November elections, appear to have decided against campaigning on a unified abortion platform that would specify exactly what conservatives plan to do if given control of the U.S. House and Senate. Yet Republicans in Congress have written dozens of proposals that, if passed, would restrict abortion nationwide.
Incremental GOP moves on guns, Medicaid and pot are promising and maddening at the same time
A lot of things have been happening in the world of policy and politics of late that, not all that long ago, seemed fairly unimaginable. In Washington over the weekend, a group of 10 Republican U.S. senators, including North Carolina’s Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, came together with a group of Democrats to announce an important agreement on gun safety legislation. Though extremely modest in scope...
Critics say new NC school bill is not needed, will hurt LGBTQ students
The state Senate is set to begin debating proposed legislation that would require schools to tell parents if their children want to change their pronouns or seek counseling, and would ban teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3 classrooms. The provisions are part of a larger measure that Republican sponsors say would make […]
