The Daily House Call
♦ Tuesday, June 10, 2014
STATE:
NC House seeks average 5 percent teacher raises
North Carolina public school teachers would get average 5 percent raises without having to give up any job protections in the budget proposal House Republicans have written. The Associated Press obtained a document outlining the $21.1 billion spending plan getting debated in budget subcommittees Tuesday. It should clear the full House by the end of the week. The Senate budget proposal approved last month gave average raises of more than 11 percent but required veteran teachers to give up their tenure. The Senate also cut money for teacher assistants in half. The House proposal demands neither.
By Gary Robertson, Associated Press
Monday wrap: an arrest-free ‘Moral Monday’
For the first time, ‘Moral Monday’ protesters’ demands to meet with legislative leadership were met when Senate President Pro Temp Phil Berger spoke for about an hour with a group of 15 teachers and parents who wanted lawmakers to reverse course on Republican legislative policies.
By WRAL Staff, WRAL
Wait times for Fayetteville veterans longest in NC
Patients seeking care through the Fayetteville VA Medical Center are waiting an average of 83 days for their first appointment with a primary care doctor – nearly six times longer than the department’s goal. A report from the Department of Veterans Affairs says the average wait time for new patients at North Carolina VA hospitals ranged from nearly 29 days in Salisbury to 83 days in Fayetteville – the home of Fort Bragg. VA guidelines say veterans should be seen within 14 days of their desired date for a primary care appointment. The department now says that meeting that target was unattainable given existing resources and growing demand.
By The Associated Press
Educators meet with Senate leader Berger after protest
Fifteen educators and advocates who expected to be arrested outside Senate leader Phil Berger’s office Monday night instead spent an hour talking with him about education and money. The group camped outside Berger’s office after a “Moral Monday” rally that drew hundreds seeking better treatment of public education. They planned to be arrested after police said the building was closed. Instead, the Rockingham Republican appeared at 8 p.m., had staff pull six couches into a circle and listened to their concerns.
By Ann Doss Helms, Charlotte Observer
NATION:
If you like it, you can keep it: Insurance exemptions, premiums and the ACA
On the heels of the disappointing and politically disastrous rollout of the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) health insurance marketplaces in October 2013, the media reported that perhaps as many as 4.7 million Americans would receive cancellation notices from their “nongroup” or individual health insurance plans because they lacked basic coverage standards under the ACA. This action sparked a firestorm of additional public criticism surrounding the potential loss of coverage for millions and threatened the credibility of President Obama who had promised Americans that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it.” In fairly swift reaction, the president issued a directive on Nov. 14, 2013 encouraging state insurance commissioners to delay for one year the enforcement of new ACA rules governing plans beginning Oct. 1, 2013, and approximately half of the states complied.
By Carolyn Long Engelhard, The Hill
Why young people can’t find work
In President Obama’s speeches this year, a steady theme has been creating jobs and economic opportunity for Americans. In his State of the Union address in January he said that “what I believe unites the people of this nation . . . is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all—the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead.” And in his weekly address on Saturday, he repeated his strong appeal to young people: “As long as I hold this office, I’ll keep fighting to give more young people the chance to earn their own piece of the American Dream.” Yet during the more than five years Mr. Obama has been in office, young people have been especially hard-hit by the slow and virtually jobless recovery. Given the destructive effect this has on individual initiative and the prospects of a productive and rewarding working life, the continuing struggle of young Americans to find jobs, start building families and contribute to society is no longer simply a matter of politics or policy. On a deeply human level, it’s profoundly sad.
By Andrew Puzder, Wall Street Journal
House GOP unveils energy spending bill
House Republicans proposed a $34 billion energy and water budget Monday that restores almost $1 billion in White House cuts from the Army Corps of Engineers and instead takes money from renewable energy programs prized by President Barack Obama. While many Democrats would agree that Obama went too far in in his cuts from the Corps, the tradeoff is a graphic illustration of the choices forced this summer by the strict spending caps agreed to last December. The $5.5 billion provided in the draft 62-page bill essentially freezes the Corps at its current 2014 funding levels. But the House GOP’s plan is still almost $960 million more than the president’s request, creating a hole that must be filled elsewhere.
By David Rogers, Politico
Hillary Clinton’s challenge: Her relationship with President Obama
In private meetings and public statements ahead of her book’s publication, Hillary Clinton and her allies have presented a united front with President Barack Obama, highlighting their transition from campaign rivals to Cabinet confidants. Yet in the weeks before her memoir, “Hard Choices,” hits the shelves, news accounts have detailed instances of substantive foreign policy disagreements between the two while she was secretary of state – from the Russian reset to Syria to the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Clinton’s relationship with Obama presents a delicate challenge for the former secretary of state as she rolls out her book this week and potentially a presidential campaign months from now. She does not want to appear disloyal to her former boss but could use some separation given his anemic poll numbers. She’d have to have Obama supporters enthusiastically on board a presidential campaign, while fending off Republican attempts to depict her as representing a third Obama term.
By Maggie Haberman, Politico
