Category: Opinion

Wake County, N.C. County Commissioners passed an ordinance supporting Trap-Neuter-Return of free-roaming, community cats on June 4, 2012. Wake County Animal Control will provide information about T-N-Vaccinate-R to residents who call about strayed or at-large cats. The Spay-Neuter Assistance Program – NC (SNAP- NC) spayed & aborted at least one pregnant, free-roaming, community cat on June 6 when the mobile van came to the Vance County Animal Shelter. Several area volunteers coordinated efforts for a particular mom-in-waiting; payment came from …

There has been a lot of talk about how horrible the Obama administration has been because of the amount of debt that has been added to the National debt.  He has been accused of being terribly irresponsible and endangering the nation’s future. The reality is that Obama and his administration ought to be praised for the fact that they have only added whatever the amount the Republicans want to blame him for. When you consider that since 1929 when the …

Yesterday, from a reader comment, I learned was the anniversary of D-Day.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings.  I also saw a article on the home page of either msn.com or yahoo.com or something similar.  If you read our open lines for yesterday, you’ll notice it didn’t say anything about D-Day, it was about the anniversary of the first drive in theater. The open line introductions are provided by the US Census department in their multimedia section called Profile America.  It’s an easy blurb for …

1.  Public Hearing – FY 2012 – 2013 Proposed Budget The agenda for this June’s Board meeting opens with two public hearings followed with the public comment period.  The second public hearing was specifically intended for the public to speak on the proposed budget.  Not one person of the seven people attending the Board meeting spoke at either public hearing or the public comment period.  Commissioner Wright asked if the public had been made aware of their opportunity to speak …

I hope you and your family enjoyed a beautiful Memorial Day holiday. Over the weekend, I attended events in Spring Lake and Broadway and was proud to share in the remembrance of military heroes. In this newsletter you will find some photos from last weekend as well as from my recent trip to Afghanistan. This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent as the economy created only 69,000 jobs. The figures …

I wanted to say, first, thank you for the jurors and their incredibly hard work and their diligence. They took their job very, very seriously as we saw both during the trial – the attention they paid to the evidence during the trial, the presentations of the lawyers – and the fact they’ve now spent nine – almost nine – full days deliberating, trying to reach a fair and just result under the evidence and the law. All I can …

The House of Representatives approved a budget this week that fails to meet many of the needs of our state, particularly in the area of education. I did not support this plan because it fails to reverse the deep, damaging and unnecessary cuts made to our budget last year. This budget does not replace any of the 3,000 classroom educators fired last year. It does not put any more textbooks into our schools or give a single pencil more to …

The proposed House budget restores some funding for key child programs that were cut last year, though not nearly to the level of the Governor’s proposed budget, which focused heavily on public education investments. There are also, however, some concerning cuts to children’s programs in the House budget, and places where badly needed funds cut last year were not restored. The proposed House budget increases total funding for state government by about 1.6 percent over the budget approved last year. …

In his speech at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., President Obama did more than just mark Memorial Day; he began the 50th commemoration of that conflict and those who served in one of America’s longest wars. Fifty years ago, American forces stepped up operations in Vietnam. During the conflict, more than three million Americans served in the Vietnam war, and more than 58,000 American patriots gave their lives. And when U.S. forces returned home, too many never received …

Memorial Day is a time when all of us come together as a nation to remember the men and women of past present and future who fought for the freedoms we cherish today. Our nation owes a debt of gratitude that is impossible to express and incalculable to fulfill. But as we gather with our friends and family to mark the unofficial beginning of the summer season, we should all pause to reflect on the sacrifices of our forefathers while …

The General Assembly has finished its first full week of this session and we continue to make progress. Budget reports for each section of the House budget were introduced Thursday and they fall short of what I believe are the expectations of the people of our community. The public schools will still need to make additional reductions; no progress has been made toward returning any our fired teachers and educators to their positions or mitigating the deep cuts they have …

It was about the fifth letter from the fifth different agency wanting money to help our Veterans.  It is not that I do not appreciate and respect what our young men and women in the services do.  I think it is an incredible act of loyalty and commitment to go and fight in two military operations which should never have been begun. Our enemy was never a nation and we should have never been the invader of two countries. That …

Help NC advance to the Final Four! Last week, my office advanced to the “Elite Eight” round of the 2012 House GOP New Media Challenge! We have participated in the competition, which promotes the use of new media among members and their constituents, over the past five weeks. Please help North Carolina advance to the Final Four round of the competition by engaging on my Facebook, Twitter and YouTube sites today.   Here are three ways to receive up-to-date information …

Unanimous Rejection of the President’s Budget Proposal Despite our troubled economy and our $15 trillion national debt, President Obama and Senate Democrats refuse to propose a responsible federal budget.  On Wednesday, the Senate voted unanimously against the President’s budget proposal which failed to rein in spending and reduce the national debt, imposed taxes that would have inhibited economic growth, ignored the pending insolvency of Medicare and Social Security, and used budget gimmicks to create the illusion of savings.   Merely …

The short session of the General Assembly started this week with a few major bills already starting to move through committees.  The floor sessions will remain largely uneventful until the committee work is complete and the bills can be referred to the full body. Our appropriations committees are also reviewing the governor’s budget proposal, but the majority party has already indicated that it has no interest in her plans.  As I shared last week, her proposal contains a number of …

It is important to me that Second District constituents are kept informed about what I am doing in Congress, but it is just as important for me to hear your thoughts and concerns.  Please take a moment to answer the following survey questions below.. Access and take the survey at this link:  http://ellmers.congressnewsletter.net//mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100088641.38951.251&gen=1 Questions include: All able-bodied food stamp recipients should be required to work for their benefits. Currently all children born on U.S. soil are automatically granted U.S. citizenship. Would …