Politixia
When state lawmakers returned to Raleigh last week, the word on the street was that, at last, two-and-a-half months into the new state fiscal year, a budget agreement between House and Senate Republicans had finally been achieved. As it turned out, however, this rumor proved inaccurate as a dispute over whether to introduce casino gambling to the state continued to divide Republican legislators.
For State Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham County, the collapse in budget talks was just the latest in a maddening series of failures this session on a long list of issues. As she told NC Newsline in a recent extended conversation we had, the failure to enact a state budget is causing huge problems for our schools and an array of core public services. What’s more, in the case of people hoping to obtain health insurance through an expanded Medicaid program, the failure literally puts lives at risk.
In Part Two of our conversation, we discussed the recent inspiring activism of UNC-Chapel Hill students in demanding action to combat gun violence in the aftermath of the recent tragic shooting on their campus as well as the continued onslaught of Republican legislation that would make voting more difficult and further consolidate GOP control over how state elections are conducted.
