By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
August 28, 2015
RALEIGH – North Carolina lawmakers who anticipated having a budget done and heading home before Independence Day may still be in Raleigh when Labor Day rolls around. The Legislature on Thursday passed a third “continuing resolution,” a temporary measure that allows state agencies to keep operating even without an approved spending plan.
The first stopgap measure, approved when the General Assembly failed to meet its July 1 fiscal year deadline, expired Aug. 14. The second expires Monday, and the one approved this week will keep the government running until Sept. 18.
As lawmakers hash out their differences on issues such as teacher pay, the Christian Action League’s Rev. Mark Creech is hopeful they will also agree to defund Planned Parenthood and to defeat a proposed lottery expansion.
“The North Carolina General Assembly is currently a predominantly pro-life body, having passed a number of critical pieces of legislation in the last three years that have saved thousands of unborn children in the Tar Heel state,” said Dr. Creech. “We anticipate that they will do whatever it takes to halt any funding to Planned Parenthood, especially in light of the recent reports we’ve all seen from the Center for Medical Progress.”
Speaker of the House Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) recently released a statement regarding the budget in which he promised “to include language in the final document that states in no uncertain terms, no state funds will go to organizations that are involved in the reprehensible practice of profiting from the sale of a baby’s remains.”
Dr. Creech said it will take more pressure from the public to elicit a promise from lawmakers to block the proposed lottery expansion.
The Senate budget proposal would allow a 50 percent increase in lottery advertising, a hike of more than $9 million in additional lottery ads in attempt to capture more than $60 million in additional revenue.
“Tight budget years always have lawmakers looking for any revenue they can find, but increasing state-sponsored gambling is nothing short of preying on the poor,” said Dr. Creech. “The lottery is a failed experiment that has not helped our schools and has done much harm by creating gambling addicts. We suggest lawmakers scratch this idea off their list.”
Take Christian Action:
The Christian Action League urges supporters to contact their lawmakers about these two aspects of the state’s $21.74 billion spending plan and to pray for wisdom as our state’s leaders struggle to come to a budget agreement.
If you do not know who represents you in the N.C. House and Senate, go to WRAL’s Find Your Lawmakers and type in your address. It will provide you with their contact information.