Source: WGHP-TV
State Republicans have announced yet another budget delay, rescheduling to Aug. 16 for any veto override votes.
For a state budget passage, Republican House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters that the delay will go into September.
“It looks like their vacations are more important than keeping rural hospitals open and making sure students have teachers and bus drivers,” Jordan Monaghan, Gov. Roy Cooper’s spokesperson, told The News & Observer.
The latest delay announcement comes as more than 600,000 eligible North Carolinians wait for the expansion of Medicaid coverage. An additional 35,000 North Carolinians have fallen into the coverage gap, following the end of a federal COVID-19 program.
Since earlier this year, Cooper and state Democrats have condemned Republicans for tying Medicaid Expansion to the passage of the state budget and further delaying access to critical health care coverage for hundreds of thousands across the state.
School districts have also raised concerns as schools remain without key budget items before the start of the school year on Aug. 28.
In addition, several controversial bills remain on the table, as the legislature has yet to take votes for veto overrides.
Potential votes include a veto override of the discriminatory, “Parents Bill of Rights,” measures targeting gender-affirming care, and a trans youth sports ban bill, among others.
Read more at WGHP
