Press Release
♦The Daily House Call
STATE:
NC tax changes take effect Wednesday. http://www.wral.com/nc-tax-changes-take-effect-wednesday/13257593/
An overhaul of North Carolina’s tax code that lawmakers passed in July takes effect with the new year, bringing a raft of changes to people’s paychecks and, starting next year, their annual income tax returns. The existing graduated income tax system will be replaced with a flat tax. Instead of paying 6 percent on the first $13,000 in earnings, 7 percent on everything over that up to $60,000 and 7.75 percent on anything above that, all income will be taxed at 5.8 percent.
By Laura Leslie, WRAL
State awarded $11.6 million for children’s Medicaid enrollment. http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/30/3495184/state-awarded-116-million-for.html North Carolina has won $11.6 million from the federal government because the state makes it easy for children to enroll in Medicaid and has had more children join. North Carolina was one of 23 states receiving bonus money in fiscal year 2013, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Monday.
By Lynn Bonner, News and Observer
NC’s five big political questions for 2014. http://www.wral.com/nc-s-five-big-political-questions-for-2014/13245427/ As 2014 begins, political thinkers are making their list of political stories and government policies to watch in the new year. Truth be told, the items many people think will be critical in the coming months will be eclipsed by completely unexpected items by the time votes are counted from November’s mid-term elections. With that said, the potential impact of the Moral Monday movement is among five big themes that appear to loom large on the North Carolina political horizon at New Year’s turn.
By Mark Binker and Cullen Browder, WRAL
Analysis of voter trends shows unaffiliated voters continue to increase. http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/30/3495054/analysis-of-voter-trends-shows.html The race, political party and growth patterns among North Carolina voters vary widely by county, according to a new analysis of voter trends by the watchdog group Democracy North Carolina. Since 2008, for example, Mecklenburg County has seen a net increase of 14,700 Democrats and 26,100 black voters, but a loss of 13,900 Republicans and 11,800 white voters after taking into account deaths, moves and party registration changes. In neighboring Gaston County, however, Democrats have lost 2,400 members over the past five years, while Republicans added 800 and unaffiliated voters increased by 6,100, according to the analysis.
By Patrick Gannon, News and Observer
NATION:
The year Washington fled reality. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303345104579282881750665074 The past year may go down not only as the least productive ever in Washington but as one of the worst for the republic. In both the executive branch and Congress, Americans witnessed an unwinding of the country’s founding principles and of their government’s most basic responsibilities. The rule of law gave way to the rule of rulers. And the rule of reality—in which politicians are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts, as Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan liked to say—gave way to some politicians’ belief that they were entitled to both their own opinions and their own facts. It’s no wonder the institutions of government barely function.
By Tom Coburn, Wall Street Journal
Five things Obama must do to avoid lame-duck status. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/194158-five-things-obama-must-do-to-avoid-lame-duck-status President Obama endured a terrible 2013, raising GOP hopes of a Senate takeover in next year’s midterm elections that would turn him into an early lame duck. The GOP needs to win six seats in the upper chamber to take a 51-49 edge, something clearly obtainable with Democrats defending difficult seats in South Dakota, Montana, West Virginia, Arkansas, Alaska, Louisiana and North Carolina. With the Senate and House in GOP hands, Obama would have little if any hope of moving his legislative agenda, and would be left to play defense against a GOP Congress in his final two years in office.
By Amie Parnes, The Hill
Management experts knock Obama. http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/obamacare-obama-management-experts-101620.html The critiques from these experts also raise a broader issue: Historically, the presidency is a political office, or, at its best, what Franklin D. Roosevelt called “a position of moral leadership.” Just two modern presidents came to the office identified primarily with large-scale organizational achievements: Dwight D. Eisenhower in World War II and Herbert Hoover for leading European famine relief after World War I. Hoover’s failure, in particular, damaged the notion that effective managers necessarily make effective presidents.
By Elizabeth Titus and John Harris, Politico
Retiring: Top official who oversaw Obamacare website. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/30/retiring-top-official-who-oversaw-obamacare-website/ The person tasked with overseeing the development of HealthCare.gov http://healthcare.gov/ is retiring, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday. The departure of Michelle Snyder, the chief operating officer at CMS who’s been in public service for 41 years, comes a few months after the bungled launch of the federal health care insurance website. CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner noted in an email that Snyder was set to leave CMS at the end of 2012 but stayed on at Tavenner’s request to help with “the challenges facing CMS in 2013.”
By CNN Political Unit
Tori Bragg (Office of Representative Ruth Samuelson)
2226 Legislative Building
(919) 715-3009
