VOLUME 6 ISSUE 15
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2021
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
NC Senate, House leaders announce budget deal Raleigh The General Assembly has set its budget total for 2021-22. General-fund spending will be set not to exceed $25.7 billion, an increase of nearly 3.5%. In 2022-23, the cap will not exceed $26.7 billion. In a joint statement, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) said, “This agreement builds on the last decade of responsible Republican-led budgets. We intend to fulfill our commitment to balance the budget while saving for future needs and cutting taxes for the vast majority of residents.” The agreement reached does not include a bond or Medicaid expansion. NSJ STAFF
French leader Macron slapped in face on visit to small town Paris French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped in the face Tuesday by a man during a visit to a small town in southeastern France. The French president was greeting the public waiting for him behind barriers in the town of Tain-l’Hermitage after he visited a high school that is training students to work in hotels and restaurants. The man, who was wearing a mask, appears to have cried out “Montjoie! Saint Denis!” a centuries-old royalist war cry, before finishing with “A bas la Macronie,” or “Down with Macron.” Mounting concerns about violence against elected officials and police have been aired in France, particularly after members of the “yellow vest” economic-protest movement repeatedly clashed with riot-control officers in 2019. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Engineering firm pleads guilty to bid-rigging, fraud schemes Washington, D.C A North Carolina engineering firm has pleaded guilty to conspiracies to rig bids and defraud the N.C. Department of Transportation, and was ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution and $7 million in fines, the U.S. Department of Justice said. According to court documents, Contech pleaded guilty to one count of bidrigging and one count of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud. The firm was charged in a six-count indictment filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina on Oct. 21, 2020. Contech admitted to conspiring to rig bids and defraud the department to obtain contracts for infrastructure projects as early as 2009 and continued at least until March 2018. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PBS North Carolina, NC DIT receive emergency communications grant Research Triangle Park PBS North Carolina, jointly with the N.C. Department of Informational Technology and N.C.-based Device Solutions, announced a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to continue the development of a new emergency digital-paging system over public television. The system will help first responders with increased coverage area and penetration, reduce delay and provide a secure and reliable means for transmitting emergency alerts. Chief technology officer at PBS North Carolina, Fred Engel, said, “This award allows us to continue to explore the many other capabilities of this technology that will serve the public.” NSJ STAFF
CHRIS SEWARD | AP PHOTO
Former President Donald Trump applauds the crowd after he speaks at the North Carolina Republican Convention Saturday, June 5, 2021, in Greenville.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
Competing bills at NC General Assembly seek to end $300 bonus to unemployed GOP lawmakers say generous benefits disincentivizing work
By David Larson North State Journal RALEIGH — A North Carolina House proposal to reject the $300 federal bonus that is being added to state unemployment benefits passed 71-36 on June 3, while two days earlier, the Senate passed a proposal, by a 3510 margin, to continue accepting the funding but to use it for “getback-to-work” bonuses. The dueling strategies for how to respond to the federal funds come amidst a call by business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to scrap the federal money due to its potential for creating a reluctance to return to work. So far, 25 states have decided to reject the money in a bid to make the benefits less attractive to their respective workforces. “North Carolina businesses have reached their tipping point,” House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) said during floor debate. “While workers are being incentivized by the federal government to stay home, many business owners have cited the additional $300-per-week federal unemployment benefits as a prime reason why they can’t hire.” The House-backed bill, SB 116, titled “Putting North Carolina Back to Work Act,” would make unemployment benefits nontaxable income but also withdraw North Carolina from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Agreement. The bill received seven Democrat votes, enough to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper if any of the five GOP absences were to vote with their caucus during a final vote. On the Senate side, state Sen. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) took the lead on House Bill 128,
titled “An Act to Reemploy NC’s Workforce.” Edwards, along with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, held a press conference before the vote explaining why they believed one-time “getback-to-work” bonuses were the best way to address the issue. “I don’t like the precedent of government paying able-bodied people to find a job, but this issue requires a solution,” Edwards said. “Employers can’t hire people because government is paying them not to work, and we’ve got to fix it.” Budd also spoke at the press conference, saying, “The current enhanced unemployment system has essentially created a stay-athome bonus. We should reverse the incentive and create a temporary back-to-work bonus instead.” The bill would offer $1,500 bonuses to those returning to work within 30 days of the act becoming law and $800 for those returning to work between 30 and 60 days of the act becoming law. The Senate passed the bill later that day, and like with SB 116, HB 128 received enough bipartisan support to override any Cooper veto. All Republicans present, along with eight Democrats, voted for HB 128; 10 Democrats voted against the bill. Pat Ryan, a spokesperson for Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden), told NSJ that Senate Republicans believed their proposal had a better chance of being signed into law than the House version that simply scraps the benefits altogether. “The practical reality is that legislation to end the $300 supplement will not become law because of Gov. Cooper’s opposition, so we can either continue with the status quo or try to convert the stay-at-home funding into a back-to-work bonus,” Ryan said. North State Journal reached out to the governor’s office asking if he would consider signing either of these bills but did not hear back by time of publication.
EXCLUSIVE
45th President Donald J. Trump talks to North State Journal before NC speech By Matt Mercer North State Journal GREENVILLE — Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, spoke exclusively to North State Journal prior to his June 5 speech at the North Carolina Republican Party Convention dinner. Trump previewed many of the topics he would address later in his speech to the crowd, including the Biden administration’s agenda and his 2022 U.S. Senate endorsement. President Trump talked about the differing economic plans, touting his 2017 tax-reform bill’s success.
“We cut taxes at the highest rate in history, including Ronald Reagan. We had the biggest tax cut, biggest regulation cuts by far; and it just inspired people to go out and do what they were doing,” Trump said. In 2019, the national unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Trump also criticized monthly jobs numbers in April and May, which both fell below economists’ expectations. “You look at the numbers yesterday. They were really not good See TRUMP, page A2
Questions surround Cooper's linking of state of emergency, federal funds Neither CARES Act nor American Rescue Plan appear to require a state of emergency; no clarification from administration By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — At the first in-person COVID-19 media briefing in over 400 days, on June 2, Gov. Roy Cooper said North Carolina’s state-of-emergency order needed to continue and would not say when it will be lifted. The governor also made the claim that being able to “draw down” federal funding was contingent on keeping North Carolina under a state of emergency. But that appears not to be true. “The state of emergency needs to continue,” said Cooper during the briefing. “We need to continue to draw down federal funds. We need to continue to do things to make sure people get vaccinated and we still have mask mandates in places that are recommended by the CDC.” North Carolina’s state of emergency for COVID-19 is contained in Executive Order 116, which Cooper issued on March 10, 2020. Unlike the 70 other COVID-19 orders issued by Cooper, the state-of-emergency order has no expiration date. Order 116 states that, “The State of Emergency maintains state’s ability to receive federal funding to meet challenges presented by COVID-19;” however, this does not appear to be correct. An examination of the CARES Act and President Biden’s Amer-
ican Rescue Plan (ARP) does not reveal any requirement for a state See COOPER, page A2