US Congress

From the National Women's Law Center's email today:

Did you see the news? Like magic, just before Members of Congress headed home (many on airplanes), they quickly passed a bill to prevent long delays at airports — delays caused by the draconian federal budget cuts known as the "sequester," including furloughs of air traffic controllers. How convenient!

From this experience we learn that Congress actually can act quickly — really, really quickly — if it wants to. So we have a question for you, Congress: What about fixing the rest of the sequester — especially the cuts to essential services for low-income women and their families?

Fired up? Now is the time to tell your Members of Congress to fix the sequester!

It's time to go to the phones. Again.

Obama budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases

Dave Johnson laid it out in an email:

The Obama budget is going to offer “Grand Bargain” cuts in Social Security and Medicare, hoping to get Republicans to offer tax increases. We are heading into a retirement crisis. The 401K experiment didn’t work. Companies have pulled back on pensions. And the squeeze that has been on regular people for decades means that people also do not have the savings they need to get them through old age. And all the money went to the top. The last thing the country needs is cuts in essential services for the elderly.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D, said she intended to introduce a gun control bill on the first day of the next Congress. Paired with a twin version in the House, Feinstein's law would take aim at limiting the sale, transfer and possession of assault weapons, along with the capacity of high-capacity magazines.

"It can be done," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press." The senator, a proponent of gun control, said she expected Obama to offer his public support for the law.

Also on Meet the Press, NYC Mayor Bloomberg discussed the influence of the National Rifle Association in politics. Bloomberg said NRA’s power is ‘vastly overrated.'

“Not since the so-called Year of the Woman in 1992 have we seen such a leap in the number of women stepping forward to contend for Congressional seats,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, which tracked the candidacies. Eighteen women are running for the Senate, breaking 2010’s record of 14, and 163 are up for House seats, the most since 2004, when 141 women made bids.

Democratic women candidates greatly outnumber Republican women running for the US House and Senate. Even if all these newbie candidates were to win, women would still be underrepresented.

In a story from NY Times' Caucus, there is also news about the governors races:

Elisabeth Motsinger has challenged Virginia Foxx to a series of debates prior to the Nov. 6 election. Motsinger has accepted invitations from Wake Forest University, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Appalachian State University, Salem College, and Kids Voting USA at Sparta Elementary School. Up to five additional debates are expected to be confirmed soon. Motsinger and Foxx are opponents for U.S. Congress from the 5th District.

Democratic nominee for US House of Representatives Charles Malone has released the following statement regarding an article that appeared in today's Rocky Mount Telegram.

In an interview with The Rocky Mount Telegram, 13th Congressional District Candidate Republican George Holding described the 2012 election as a choice between whether Americans, “want unlimited opportunities and possibilities or a country with unlimited handouts without regard for cost.”

Democratic candidate Charles Malone believes the election is about equal access to opportunity and questions Holding’s use of the phrase “unlimited handouts.”

Via e-mail from our friends at the North Carolina Conservation Network:

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NC is home to more high hazard coal ash ponds than any other state. The coal industry and its friends in Congress are relentless in their efforts to stop the creation of strong federal protections on coal ash. Tell U.S. Congress to oppose any effort to stop federal regulation of coal ash.

Just to give you an idea of how persistant this problem is, we asked you to sign a petition for this two years ago. And chances are, many of our coal ash ponds are in even worse shape now, especially with some of the storms we've had recently. Let the EPA do the job for which it was created.

Whether he's riding his 2005 Honda motorcycle or driving whatever car is available in the family, John Motsinger, Jr. -- youngest son of Elisabeth Motsinger, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress -- is logging miles for his mom this summer. And the campaign trail does not end for the college senior until after the November election. John Jr. is taking the semester off from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to devote all his time and attention to his mother's campaign.

"Our country is at a crossroads politically," John Jr. says. "If I am not putting everything I have into the political arena right now, I am hurting myself in the long run."

Keever gets big win over Bellamy in 10th primary
Joel Burgess, Asheville Citizen-Times, May 9, 2012

N.C. Rep. Patsy Keever won a decisive victory Tuesday in the Democratic primary in the 10th Congressional District — newly redrawn to include much of Asheville and Buncombe County.

Keever with most votes counted late Tuesday held a wide lead over primary challengers Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy and Tim Murphy of Rutherfordton.

With six of seven counties reporting, Keever led with 58 percent of the vote to Bellamy’s 27 percent. Murphy was trailing with 15 percent of the vote. Bellamy conceded the race late Tuesday night.

Keever will now face veteran Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry, a four-term congressman from Cherryville who was on his way to an easy victory over challenger Ken Fortenberry, of Denver, and Don Peterson, of Cramerton.

We have 10 candidates running for the Republican 9th Congressional District nomination and I was wondering when this was going to start. Sue "family values" Myrick has endorsed our former Sheriff (and former Democrat) Jim Pendergraph and Pittenger has latched onto the fact that Pendergraph is a former Democrat and not conservative enough.

Pittenger has plenty of baggage of his own that I am sure will be fodder for future ads. While a state senator, Pittenger was able to get road projects passed, water towers moved, and land annexed to line his pockets and to help his developer friends.

This comment from the Mayor of Mineral Springs, a small Union County town in the 9th District pretty much sums up the feelings of many in my district: