A statewide coalition is launching a series of town halls across North Carolina, known as the “Broken Budget Town Hall Tour”.
The Coalition Against Right-Wing Extremism (C.A.R.E.) has announced a four-city tour in which North Carolinians and members of Congress from all across the state are invited to discuss how the recently passed federal spending bill will impact communities and families.
The tour will kick off on Tuesday, August 19th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at Galilee Ministries in Charlotte, where dozens of community leaders, concerned North Carolinians, and local advocates are invited to share their concerns around Trump’s costly budget bill.
The following stops are scheduled for:
- Broken Budget Town Hall Tour: Greensboro: Monday, August 25th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at Barber Park Event Center in Greensboro.
- Broken Budget Town Hall Tour: Raleigh: Wednesday, August 27th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh.
- Broken Budget Town Hall Tour: Asheville: Thursday, August 28th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Asheville.
The federal spending bill, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” is projected to have a significant negative impact on North Carolina families and communities, particularly regarding healthcare access, food assistance, and energy costs.
The bill, passed with a Republican majority supporting the measure, makes drastic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, which will leave hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians without healthcare or food assistance over the next decade.
According to North Carolina Governor Josh Stein’s office:
- More than half a million people stand to lose their health care because of changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
- Cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, could leave 1.4 million North Carolina residents — 600,000 of whom are children — without food assistance.
- Tens of thousands of the 100,000-plus North Carolinians employed in the clean energy industry could lose their jobs due to the loss of clean energy tax credits.
- Some NC households could see their annual electricity bills increase by 18 percent because of the removal of tax credits for solar and wind energy.
“We’re definitely going backwards,” Kody Kinsley, the state’s former DHHS secretary, told NC Health News. “We’re looking down a sad road.”
