A report issued this month by the nonpartisan Citizens for Tax Justice awarded North Carolina Democrats in Congress high marks for defending tax fairness and fiscal responsibility. The yearly report card grades members of Congress on their votes on several bills based on whether they voted to make our tax system fairer for hard-working North Carolinians. Unlike North Carolina Democrats, all North Carolinians in the Congress received a pathetic 0% score for an overall "F" and were designated an "Enemy of the Taxpayers."

The report noted that many of the members who claimed to be taxpayers' heroes were often the ones leaving North Carolinians to foot the bill for their fiscally irresponsible policies. Reps. Taylor, Hayes, Foxx, McHenry, Coble, Jones, and Myrick and Sens. Dole and Burr voted time and again to increase budget deficits, for tax breaks for the few, and to set our nation on a course towards fiscal ruin.

Because the Bush Republicans in the Do-Nothing Congress blocked Democratic efforts to fix critical flaws in the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, the average senior will begin hitting the so-called "doughnut hole" in the plan's coverage right now, costing seniors and people with disabilities throughout North Carolina thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. The "doughnut hole" is a result of the fact that the plan was crafted in such a way that Medicare pays 75 percent of the participant's first $2,250 in annual prescription drug costs, but forces them to pay all of their drug costs between $2,250 and $5,100.

According to a new report released this month by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, nearly 88 percent of Part D enrollees, roughly 7 million Americans, will fall into the doughnut hole, with the average senior hitting it this week. According to the report, 92% of North Carolina's 267,745 Medicare beneficiaries will fall into the doughnut hole.

Yesterday, the Do-Nothing Republican Congress tried to solve a problem that doesn't exist. The U.S. House, by almost entirely a party-line vote, passed a bill that would disenfranchise thousands of voters by requiring them to obtain and produce government issued photo ID proving their citizenship before they could vote.

Laws like this one have been ruled unconstitutional by courts in Missouri and Georgia in the last week.

All North Carolina Republicans--Representatives Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry, Walter Jones, and Howard Coble--supported this attempt to disenfranchise voters.

As school children across North Carolina return to the classroom, Bush and the Do-Nothing Republican Congress continue to do nothing to improve education.

Each school year, more frightening results of the Bush Republicans' No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law come to light.

Instead of properly funding their own legislation, Bush Republicans like Representatives Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Virginia Foxx, Sue Myrick, Patrick McHenry, Howard Coble, and Walter Jones have cut education by over $40 billion since 2001, leaving schools to struggle with NCLB compliance, and creating a massive teacher shortage in rural schools.

Because Republicans have failed to provide promised funding for education reforms, 65,751 children in North Carolina have gone without help in reading and math and 39,922 have gone without after-school programs that boost academic achievement and keep kids safe. [CRS, 1/2006] If we want American jobs to stay in America, we have to have more American children succeeding in sciences, math and literacy.

Democrats know that the key to expanding opportunity is to provide every child with a world-class education. We will meet our responsibilities to America's children by ensuring that our schools have the resources they need to help our kids meet high standards.

This summer, as temperatures and gas prices in our state break records, the only people who haven't seemed to notice the importance of environmentalism are North Carolina Republicans in Congress.

In the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters' most recent Environmental Scorecard for the North Carolina delegation in Congress, North Carolina Democrats scored an average of 87.3; Republicans scored 9.8%. That's out of 100.

"The League of Conservation Voters' National Environmental Scorecard reflects a session of the United States Congress steeped in controversial anti-environment legislation. Many of our core environmental and public health laws were under attack, and much of what we worked to protect for decades was at stake."

Among North Carolina Republicans, Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Rep. Robin Hayes scored the worst with 0%. Sen. Richard Burr scored 5%. Reps. Charles Taylor, Sue Myrick, and Howard Coble scored 6%. Reps. Virginia Foxx and Patrick McHenry scored 11%.

UPDATE: Jones and Dole rid themselves of Abramoff money; Taylor defiant and incomprehensible

Raleigh--According to the Washington Post, "The biggest corruption scandal to infect Congress in a generation took down one of the best-connected lobbyists in Washington yesterday. The questions echoing around the capital were what other careers -- and what other familiar ways of doing business -- are endangered. Jack Abramoff represented the most flamboyant and extreme example of a brand of influence trading that flourished after the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives 11 years ago. Now, some GOP strategists fear that the fallout from his case could affect the party's efforts to keep control in the November midterm elections." [1/4/2006]

"In a plea agreement with government prosecutors Tuesday, Abramoff has agreed to tell the FBI about alleged bribes to lawmakers and their aides on issues ranging from Internet gambling to wireless phone service in the House." [AP, 1/4/2006]

The Republican culture of corruption involving indicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff reaches all the way to North Carolina Republicans:

* The North Carolina Republican Party has taken $5,000 from Abramoff.