Governor Perdue Vetos Our Fact-Based Budget
On Sunday afternoon, Governor Perdue vetoed the fact-based budget that passed both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. Governor Perdue decided to focus on her own re-election campaign instead of the people of North Carolina.
Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklanburg) said the following regarding Governor Perdue’s budget veto:
“We’re disappointed in the Governor’s veto today. Gov. Perdue has had access to this budget for almost two weeks, and she should have made this decision days ago to help provide certainty to counties and school boards across the state. She has shown no leadership on this issue and no willingness to work with the legislature, choosing instead to veto a budget that protects education and creates jobs. We look forward to overriding the Governor’s last-minute veto very soon.”
Our fact-based budget creates more jobs and protects public education, while her own proposal does not. The Governor’s political grandstanding and taxpayer funded PR tour is geared to energizing her liberal base given her dismal polling numbers. Unfortunately, Governor Perdue is playing political games instead exhibiting the leadership North Carolina deserves.
Here are the facts about the budget the governor chose to veto:
Our $19.3 billion plan is more than $1 billion less than last year’s bloated budget. We are right-sizing state government, making it smaller and more productive.
Education is the cornerstone of a strong economy, and our plan focuses spending in the classroom, not on non-essential and redundant administrative positions. North Carolina cannot continue throwing money at a broken system that produces graduation rates that rank 43rd in the nation.
Our proposal of $4,800 per student is only $200 less than the governor’s plan of $5,000 per student. Gov. Perdue claims we are “dismantling” education; the numbers prove otherwise.
At the end of the day, the Governor vetoed our fact-based budget for one simple reason. We honored our pledge to let her $1,000,000,000 tax increase expire and she is fighting tooth and nail to break her promise with the citizens of North Carolina. North Carolina deserves better than the political gamesmanship demonstrated by Governor Perdue, that is why five members of her own party supported the budget. Regardless, Republicans and moderate Democrats agree that our fact-based budget will move North Carolina forward and end the tax-and-spend status quo endorsed by Governor Perdue and her liberal allies.