Republican Congressmen Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, and Sue Myrick refused to sign a letter to help North Carolina farmers get federal disaster assistance, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. North Carolina farms are suffering from a statewide drought.

A bipartisan coalition of 10 of North Carolina’s 13 congressional members wrote a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, asking for help.

The letter comes as the state’s soybean, peanut, and Irish potato production are down by 31, 21, and 15 percent, respectively, from last year.

"This is not a partisan problem, and both parties’ leaderships need to be aware of the severity of the problem," Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-7th, told the Winston-Salem Journal.

McIntyre spearheaded the effort.

But Republican obstructionists McHenry, Foxx, and Myrick all allowed partisanship to get in the way of helping their constituents.

North Carolina’s Democratic Congressional Delegation fulfilled their promise to lower college costs by sending President Bush the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007.

This legislation will bring real help to North Carolina students by providing an additional $500 in need-based grant aid next year, and an additional $5,400 over the next five years. [Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, September, 2007]

But Republicans Richard Burr in the Senate, and Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, and Sue Myrick in the House voted against the bill.

These Republicans voted “no” to cap federal student loan payments at 15 percent of a borrower’s discretionary income.

Republican obstructionists also voted “no” to forgive the debt of borrowers of North Carolina’s nurses, teachers, and law enforcement officers who serve in their profession for 10 years.

NCDP Chair Jerry Meek today applauded North Carolina’s Democratic Congressional Delegation for keeping their promise to make our communities safer and more secure. This week, Congressional Democrats voted to implement the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations-- something Republicans like Richard Burr, Howard Coble, Virginia Foxx, Sue Myrick and Patrick McHenry, who voted against the bill, refused to do for the last three years.

In July 2004, the 9/11 Commission announced its recommendations for how to avoid a future terrorist attack in the United States. For three years, Republicans put their partisan loyalty ahead of our nation’s security, first by resisting Democratic efforts to appoint the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission in the first place, then by joining President Bush in ignoring the Commission’s recommendations.

But this week, Democrats in Congress voted to send a long-overdue bill that finally implements the 9/11 Commission recommendations to the President’s desk. The bill would tighten screening of air and sea cargo, strengthen transit security, improve oversight of our intelligence and homeland security systems, and allocate $3.3 billion to help communities improve communications among first responders—a major problem during both the September 11 attacks and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Republicans have fought us every step of the way,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek. “But Democrats scored a victory for the American people today by sending the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations to the President’s desk. The time has come for Republicans to stop standing with the President and start standing up for the people of North Carolina.”

From The Charlotte Observer:

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.

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%.

Yesterday, the U.S. House passed a measure 308-122 to ban torture and limit interrogation tactics in U.S. detention facilities and setting uniform guidelines for the treatment of prisoners in the war on terrorism.

The language, proposed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), would prohibit "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in the custody of the U.S. government. It passed the U.S. Senate 90-9.

Unfortunately, 6 House Republicans from North Carolina didn't agree with prohibiting cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry, Sue Myrick, and Howard Cole voted against banning torture. All Democrats from North Carolina voted in favor of the ban.

North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek said, "Our strength as a nation is always influenced by our strength of moral character. Cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment of any of God's children is always wrong. Democrats understand this. But North Carolina's Republican members of Congress don't get it. These Republicans are on the wrong side of morality and the wrong side of history."

In a letter sent today to North Carolina's Republican Members of Congress, North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek requested that they follow the lead of fellow Republican Representatives and return tainted money received from Tom DeLay.

Former Republican Majority Leader DeLay, who has given almost $100,000 in campaign contributions to North Carolina Republicans, has been indicted on felony charges of criminal conspiracy and money laundering.

"North Carolina's Republican Members of Congress should return any contributions from DeLay immediately," said Chairman Meek. "He and his fundraisers have been charged with breaking campaign finance laws, so money he funneled to others is tainted as well. Tom DeLay and his supporters in Congress have created a corrupt, pay-to-play system that puts the ill in illicit. North Carolina needs men and women in Congress who will put North Carolina families first, not becoming part of the Republican culture of corruption in Washington. We need a change of direction in Congress."