President Obama urges Congress to stop the sequester — the harmful automatic cuts that threaten thousands of jobs and affect our national security from taking effect on March 1. This week, the President visited his old neighborhood in Chicago, conferred one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, met with the President of Italy, and continued to urge Republicans to close tax loopholes for the wealthy to prevent dangerous across-the-board budget cuts that are slated to take effect on March 1st …
Category: Press Release
Butterfield to Encourage North Carolinians to Use Free Tax Prep Assistance Program
WASHINGTON, DC – On Friday, February 22, Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) will be joined by North Carolina Department of Revenue officials and community and industry leaders to urge eligible North Carolinians to use the Free File program to prepare and file their taxes for free. Butterfield will speak at a public briefing on the Free File program, which provides eligible taxpayers free use of name-brand tax software products through a partnership between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and tax …
White House: These Automatic Budget Cuts Will Hurt the Economy
Just 10 days from now, Congress might allow a series of severe and automatic budget cuts to take place that will hurt our economic growth, add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls, and threaten military readiness. But, as President Obama said this morning, these cuts don’t have to happen — Congress has the power to stop them. In 2011, President Obama explained today, Congress passed a law saying that if they couldn’t agree on a plan to …
Attorney General Roy Cooper: Postcard promises gift, delivers a scam
Several North Carolina consumers have reported getting postcards in the mail in the past month that say they’ve been “selected to receive $100.00 in gift rebates good at Wal-Mart, Target, and more.” Consumers are told to call a toll-free number to learn how to claim their reward. If you call the number, you’ll be asked to provide your credit card number, supposedly to cover shipping or processing fees of $6.95 or less. But once you’ve shared your credit card number, there’s little …
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers: State of Denial
Four years ago, President Obama addressed the state of our union. In 2009, our country was facing an economic crisis with trillions of dollars in debt, rising unemployment, and an uncertain future. Four years later, little has changed. We have a $16 trillion national debt, having added $5.8 trillion of it in the past four years. Yet some Democrats in Congress are still denying we have a spending problem. Below you will find my response to the president’s State of …
Senator Richard Burr Updates
On Tuesday, the President delivered his State of the Union Address to the American people. The address sounded a lot like rhetoric we have heard from him in years past, but as we have learned, actions speak louder than words. Words alone will not turn our economy around and put America back on the right track. I hope the President will work with Congress to reform our entitlement programs so they are viable for future generations of Americans and fix …
White House Weekly Address: Following the President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class
In this week’s address, President Obama calls for quick action on the proposals he made during the State of the Union to grow our economy and create jobs, including making America a magnet for manufacturing, strengthening our education system through high-quality preschool for every child, and raising the minimum wage This week, the President delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term, and then brought his proposals to factories in North Carolina and a school in …
Congressional Democrats Urge McCrory to Veto Bill That Would Disrupt Unemployment Benefits for Thousands of North Carolinians
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, North Carolina Representatives G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), David Price (NC-04), and Mel Watt (NC-12) sent a letter to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory strongly urging that he veto House Bill 4, a bill that would block funding of federal emergency unemployment benefits to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians. In their letter, the congressmen wrote, “As members of North Carolina’s Congressional Delegation, we do not routinely express our views on legislation presented to the Governor. However, …
Attorney General Roy Cooper: Credit Card Users Could See New Charges
Merchants pay credit card companies like VISA and MasterCard a processing fee each time a customer uses a credit card. Historically, credit card companies and large banks that issue cards prohibited merchants from passing that cost directly on to customers in the form of an extra fee. But retailers took the card companies to court and under a settlement agreement, credit card companies can no longer prevent retailers from hitting customers with a surcharge for using a credit card. The …
White House State of The Union Speech 2013
This week, in the State of the Union, President Obama outlined his plan for a thriving middle class and a strong America. He described a strategy that will make the United States a magnet for jobs and manufacturing, equip every American with the skills they need to do those jobs, and ensure that hard work leads to a decent living — through investments in manufacturing, clean energy, infrastructure, and education. If you prefer the text version, you can read it …
Butterfield’s Statement on the Release of John McNeil and the NAACP
WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) issued the following statement regarding the release of Wilson, N.C. native John McNeil from a Georgia prison today: “As a former judge and Wilson native, I have closely followed the John McNeil case. While many are disappointed McNeil’s conviction was not overturned based on self-defense, today he can at least return home, rejoin his family, and attempt to pick up the pieces of his broken life. Although bittersweet, McNeil’s release from prison …
Butterfield Re-Introduces Bill to Equalize Veterans’ Education Benefits
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) today announced the introduction of H.R. 595, the Veterans’ Education Equity Act of 2013, to reward equal educational benefits to veterans whether they choose to attend a private or public institution of higher learning. The bill would change an inequity in existing law which allots more education funds to veterans enrolled in private colleges than those in public institutions. Currently, the Post 9-11 Veterans’ Educational Improvements Assistance Act capped the education benefit …
White House State of the Union 2013 Speech. Tonight 9pm
The White House has been hard at work on the 2013 State of the Union address and when President Obama addresses the nation, we’ll broadcast an online-only enhanced version of the address with graphics, data, and useful stats that will help you go deeper — and see the information that informed the President’s policy decisions. You can watch the speech on whitehouse.gov or with the white house app on iphone, ipad and android devices. To be part of the discussion …
Butterfield Congratulates New NCCU Chancellor Dr. Debra Saunders-White
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) today released the following statement regarding the selection of Dr. Debra Saunders-White as the new chancellor of North Carolina Central University (NCCU): “I congratulate Dr. Debra Saunders-White on being selected as the new chancellor of North Carolina Central University. Her experience leading programs that recruit, prepare and support disadvantaged and first-generation students make her an excellent choice to lead my beloved alma mater. Saunders-White’s has demonstrated a strong commitment to higher education …
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers: We Nee A PLAN
Over the past four years we have added 5.8 trillion dollars to our national debt. This week in the House, we passed the Require-A-PLAN Act with bipartisan support that requires President Obama to present a plan to balance the budget and reduce our national debt. Below, you will find an infographic which includes a chart showing just how dramatically our debt has risen and some key statistics regarding how this has played out in the executive and legislative branches. Everyday …
Senator Richard Burr Updates
This week, I introduced the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), a bill to improve America’s preparedness and response capabilities for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. Whether these threats occur naturally, like pandemic flu, or are the result of an intentional attack, we must be prepared to quickly and effectively respond to all threats, including having necessary, life-saving medical countermeasures. The threats facing our nation are serious and very real, and we must address them accordingly. The …
White House Weekly Address: Averting the Sequester and Finding a Balanced Approach to Deficit Reduction
President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts — called a sequester — from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs. The President urges Congress to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction that makes investments in areas that help us grow and cuts what we don’t need. This week, the President honored our nation’s top scientists and innovators, nominated a new …
Reps. Butterfield, Price and Watt to General Assembly: Rejecting Medicaid Expansion Would Hurt N.C. Economy, Devastate Working Families
Washington, D.C. – North Carolina Representatives David Price (NC-04), G.K. Butterfield (NC-01), and Mel Watt (NC-12) urged the North Carolina House of Representatives to reject Senate Bill 4, which would keep as many as 500,000 North Carolinians from gaining access to affordable, quality health care through the federally-funded expansion of Medicaid included in the Affordable Care Act. Blocking Medicaid expansion would increase costs for the State, increase premiums for those with insurance, and block the creation of thousands of new …
Butterfield Co-Sponsors the Voter Empowerment Act
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) has joined 164 of his congressional colleagues, collectively representing about 114 million constituents, as an original co-sponsor of H.R. 12, the Voter Empowerment Act. Introduced by Congressman John Lewis (GA-05), the Voter Empowerment Act would ensure the protection of voting rights for every eligible American through modernizing the voter registration system, reducing long wait times to vote, and prohibiting deceptive practices that may discourage people from voting – issues that arose during …
President Obama Makes a Statement on the Sequester
In a statement from the briefing room yesterday, President Obama explained that while our economy is headed in the right direction, looming automatic budget cuts will cost jobs and slow down our recovery. But, those deep, indiscriminate cuts to job-creating investments and defense spending, also known as the sequester, don’t have to happen, the President said. He’s already worked with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to cut the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a balanced mix of spending …