Today, NCDP Chair Bobbie Richardson released the following statement in response to the North Carolina General Assembly Republicans’ budget proposal that puts corporations before families and tax cuts for the wealthy before investments in our communities:  

“This pandemic has highlighted existing inequities, and now we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to repair these faults while investing in the future of our state. North Carolina has billions in additional funds because Republicans have repeatedly refused to invest in our state’s most vital necessities and programs. Refusing to expand economic opportunity for hardworking families, strengthen our schools, and secure access to health care is kicking the can down the road and ensuring economic emergencies of the future. 

“A budget is a reflection of values and Republicans have once again demonstrated where their loyalties lie — and it is not with the constituents that they were elected to serve. Legislative Republicans are once again setting up North Carolina families to fail by prioritizing corporations over hardworking people like you and me. Their proposal fails to invest in our students and educators, which will have statewide economic ramifications for generations to come, and neglects the communities they swore to protect by failing to provide the basic right of access to high quality health care for the most vulnerable among us.

“As we emerge from this pandemic, now is the time to pass a budget that invests in North Carolinians and ensures an economic recovery that works for all.”

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