Gov. Roy Cooper hasn't submitted a budget proposal to the North Carolina Legislature. | Facebook
Gov. Roy Cooper hasn't submitted a budget proposal to the North Carolina Legislature. | Facebook
Republican lawmakers are questioning where is Gov. Roy Cooper's budget proposal now that the new fiscal year has started.
North Carolina's fiscal year started on July 1, but lawmakers have yet to receive a new spending plan that would also address the state's $5 billion shortfall, Senate President Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) posted to his Medium press website on July 1.
"Leadership is easy when the state is flush. But this year, when times got tough, Gov. Cooper was nowhere to be found," Sen. Harry Brown (R-Onslow), the Senate senior budget writer, said in the Medium post. "Where is his budget request? His failure to submit one is an abdication of responsibility during a crisis."
Berger said on Medium that Cooper reportedly told lawmakers that he would not propose a new budget until Congress acted, yet that body hasn't been very productive. Berger also added that the state has already started its fiscal year and should not wait for Congress.
Budget writers have been saying North Carolina was well prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, but the state will still experience budget holes.
“We will continue the policies that made North Carolina one of the best-prepared states in the country to deal with this recession," Sen. Brent Jackson (R-Sampson) said in the Medium post. "Instead of spending recklessly with no thought about tomorrow, we’ll spend what we need to now but also save for next year. It would have been nice, though, to review a proposal from Gov. Cooper.”
Alerts Sign-up