As budget negotiations continue in conference committee, North Carolina Legislative Republicans are once again neglecting the communities they were elected to serve. An editorial out yesterday outlines some of the ways that Republicans’ policies “have hurt the very people who elected them.”

North Carolina Republicans in rural districts are constantly fighting against the best interests of the people they represent — giving tax cuts to wealthy corporations, refusing to provide life-saving health care, and critically underfunding our public schools. Their failed agenda has led to rural hospitals on the brink of closing, schools and local economies restricted, and rural counties with severe population loss. The calculation is simple: “Ten years ago, rural voters put their faith in Republican promises to lift their communities. Now, feeling the effects of those broken promises, rural residents are increasingly voting with their feet.”

If Republicans really cared about the rural communities they claim to champion they would expand Medicaid, adequately fund public schools, and expand high speed internet to every corner of our state. Governor Cooper and Democrats in the General Assembly have been championing these issues and continue to fight for the policies that would increase economic opportunities and spur job growth in our rural communities.

Read more from a recent News and Observer editorial.

News and Observer: Rural NC counties are shrinking. Republican policies aren’t helping at all.

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