Last week, the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force announced they would suspend the Tuition Assistance program for servicemembers – a program that 300,000 of our brave men and women in uniform depend upon to advance their educations. While I recognize that sequestration is forcing the Department of Defense to make tough budget decisions, denying educational opportunities to our servicemembers is the wrong way to find savings. We cannot put the burden of addressing our long-term fiscal challenges on the …
Category: Press Release
Governor Pat McCrory’s Newsletter
Governor McCrory Signs Bills Promoting Technology in Public Schools On March 15, Governor Pat McCrory acted on his commitment to transform North Carolina’s education system by signing two bills to help expand digital learning initiatives and promote technology in the classroom. “This legislation will help fundamentally transform the way our children learn in our schools through technology,” said Governor McCrory at Cuthbertson High School in Waxhaw. “I thank the bill sponsors as we continue to work together to empower our …
Attorney General Roy Cooper: This “Operation” Saves Lives
Attorney General Roy Cooper is encouraging all North Carolinians to scour their medicine cabinets and take their unneeded medications to an Operation Medicine Drop location. More than 250 of these prescription drug take-back events are scheduled across the state this week. Disposing of old medications this way keeps them out of the hands of young people who might be tempted to abuse them, and it also helps to keep our rivers and groundwater cleaner. Last year, more than 15 million …
White House: Previewing President Obama’s Trip to Israel
In the first foreign trip of his second term in office, President Obama will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. The trip is an important opportunity to meet with the new Israeli government and speak to the Israeli people, as well as meet with the Palestinian leadership and the King of Jordan. We asked Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, to preview the upcoming trip and some of the issues the President would be discussing in …
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers: The SKILLS Act
This week, the House passed the H.R. 803 the “Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act to cut red tape and help more Americans get back to work. I discussed the SKILLS Act on several local radio shows this week and spoke in favor of the bill on the floor of the House. Below you will find a link to my speech and to additional information about the bill. In Energy & Commerce subcommittee hearings this week, we …
Senator Richard Burr Newsletter
While some in Washington seek to encroach on the Second Amendment rights of law-biding Americans, I will continue to fight to ensure these rights are honored and protected. Yesterday, I introduced legislation that would end the arbitrary process through which the government strips veterans and other Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries of their Second Amendment rights. This legislation would protect the rights of veterans and their families by ensuring that only a proper judicial authority is able to determine who …
White House Weekly Address: Time to Create the Energy Security Trust
President Obama discusses the need to harness American energy in order to reduce our dependence on oil and make the United States a magnet for new jobs. He highlights his all-of-the-above approach to American energy — including a proposal to establish an Energy Security Trust, which invests in research that will help shift our cars and trucks off of oil. This week, the President met with the Sultan of Brunei, his Export Council, Intel Science Fair finalists, and Israel Channel …
Butterfield Applauds Duke and East Carolina Universities on Receipt of National Science Foundation Grants
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) today applauded Duke University and East Carolina University (ECU) on its receipt of two distinct grants from the National Science Foundation in the amount of $302,103 and $358,656, respectively. Duke University will use the grant award to develop an automated coding system to produce near real-time political indicators on the characteristics and behaviors of world governments for the purpose of constructing information on interstate disputes among nations. This system will significantly reduce …
Butterfield Seeks to Stop Sequestration at Airports in Kinston and New Bern
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) today sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta urging him to do what he can to continue the FAA Contract Tower (FCT) Program at Kinston Regional Jetport at Stallings Field (ISO) and at Coastal Carolina Regional (EWN) Airport. Both the Kingston Regional Jetport and the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport have been notified by the FAA that they are among roughly 200 FCTs being considered for closure due to …
Governor Pat McCrory’s Newsletter
Governor McCrory Makes Largest Job Announcement in State’s Recent History Governor Pat McCrory’s recent announcement that MetLife, Inc. plans to create over 2,600 jobs in Charlotte and Cary is the largest jobs announcement in recent North Carolina history. The company also expects to invest $125.5 million into its new Mecklenburg and Wake County campuses. “We’re proud that a strong corporate partner like MetLife has decided to invest in North Carolina,” said Governor McCrory. “These jobs will complement our financial services sector in Charlotte …
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers: Weekly Report
It was my honor to spend Monday morning with local farmers, members of the Fuquay-Varina and Wake Forest-Rolesville FFA, and others at the annual Wake County Farm Bureau breakfast before returning to Washington for a busy week. In spite of the anticipated snow storm, my offices in Washington and the Second District were open for business all week, including offering tours of the U.S. Capitol. In this newsletter, you will find information about some of my activity in Washington this …
White House Weekly Address: End the Sequester to Keep Growing the Economy
In his weekly address, President Obama said that businesses have created jobs every month for three years straight — nearly 6.4 million altogether, and have added 246,000 new jobs in February. We must keep this momentum going, and that’s why the President recently met with Republican leaders to discuss how we can replace the harmful, arbitrary budget cuts, called the “sequester,” with balanced deficit reduction. This week, the President urged Congress to resolve harmful budget cuts and reduce the deficit …
Attorney General Roy Cooper: Top Consumer Complaints
Learn about top consumer complaints to avoid trouble Last year, 23,205 consumers filed complaints with Attorney General Roy Cooper’s Consumer Protection Division. Here is 2012’s list of top ten consumer complaints: Do Not Call Lending Telemarketing Fraud Health Care Home Repair Motor Vehicles Credit and Collections Television Services Internet/Computers Telecommunications Learn more about the top ten consumer complaints online at www.ncdoj.gov, and get our list of top ten consumer tips. To file a complaint with our Consumer Protection Division, …
Senator Richard Burr Newsletter
Because of Congressional inaction this week – and every week for the past two years, for that matter – sequestration, the automatic spending cuts put in place by the President, will go into effect today, March 1. While I was hopeful we could reach an agreement that would make more prioritized spending cuts, the truth is Washington has a spending problem. We need to begin to cut the size and scope of the federal government. I would prefer more targeted …
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers: Protecting Your Tax Dollars and Acting Responsibly
A constituent called my office this week to say his personal family budget has already been affected this year by higher gas prices and higher taxes leaving him with a smaller paycheck. He wanted to know why it is okay for him to have to cut his budget, when at the same time the president and Democrats say we cannot survive spending cuts to the federal government’s budget. He is absolutely right. Washington has a spending problem and as responsible …
White House Weekly Address: Congress Must Compromise to Stop the Impact of the Sequester
In his weekly address, President Obama tells the American people that a series of harmful budget cuts—called the sequester—have taken effect because Congress failed to act. Because Republicans in Congress refused to compromise to close tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans, hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose their jobs or see their paycheck reduced, and middle class families will be hurt. Congress must join the President now to replace these cuts with a balanced approach that reduces our deficit …
White House: Honoring Rosa Parks
National Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol was once the meeting place of the House of Representatives. Now it’s home to a collection of statues and monuments — two from each state — representing some of the defining figures in our nation’s history. Today those sculptures were joined by that of a civil rights icon. One hundred years after she was born and 58 years after she refused to give up her seat on an Alabama city bus, Rosa Parks …
Butterfield Takes to House Floor to Speak on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), a former civil rights attorney and judge, took to the House Floor to discuss the importance of preserving Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which is now being considered in Shelby County v Holder by the Supreme Court. The full video and transcript follows. Mr. BUTTERFIELD. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and particularly thank the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for her leadership in convening this special hour …
White House: What Is the Sequester?
In less than a week, harmful automatic cuts — known as the sequester — take effect, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs, and cutting vital services for children, seniors, people with mental illness and our men and women in uniform. To prevent a costly, self-inflicted wound to our economy and middle class families, President Obama put forward a plan to avoid these cuts and reduce the deficit by cutting spending and closing tax loopholes. Now it’s up to Congress to …