North Carolina GOP voted to override governor's budget veto while Democrats say they were at 9/11 memorial, but GOP claims that's false
Republicans dominating a nearly half-empty North Carolina House chamber used an unexpected vote Wednesday to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of the state's two-year budget, prompting accusations of trickery and deception from Cooper and other Democrats.
Republican leaders had spent months trying to persuade enough Democrats to meet the threshold for an override, and finally seized a moment when most opposing Democrats weren't at their seats. The few Democrats who were on the House floor moments before the 55-9 vote erupted in protest, accusing Republican Speaker Tim Moore of tricking the chamber about the day's plans.
Cooper accused Republicans of pulling "their most deceptive stunt yet" at a time when many North Carolinians were focused on honoring those killed in the 9/11 attacks, though it wasn't immediately clear how many lawmakers may have been attending memorials.
The override isn't complete — the Senate still must hold a vote on the issue, but Republicans there need only one Democrat to join them to secure victory. Senate absences also could make that easier.
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"This is a tragedy. This is a travesty of the process and you know it," Rep. Deb Butler, a New Hanover County Democrat, yelled at Moore just before the vote began. "Mr. Speaker, how dare you, Mr. Speaker!"
Moore told her that he "did not advise that there would be no votes this morning." Moore's office provided audio from Tuesday's floor session from House Rules Committee Chairman David Lewis saying recorded votes would occur Wednesday, specifically identifying two different spending measures.
Still, in a fiery early-afternoon news conference, Cooper maintained that Democrats were misled.
"You look at the number of people who were in that chamber and how many of them were Republicans and how many of them were Democrats. There's no confusion about what happened here. This was a lie, and we know why they were not there because they were told that there were not going to be votes," Cooper said. "And the Republican caucus was laying in wait, ready for this."
North Carolina GOP later responded to the claims by releasing audio they said proves most democrats were in private meetings, and not at 9/11 memorial events.
The GOP claims the audio is of North Carolina House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson, saying, “My staff sent out a notice to my caucus telling them that were having some planning meetings this morning; we were having a meeting at 8 o’clock to prepare for House Finance at 9, we were having a House Democrat redistricting meeting at 9 to prepare for redistricting at 10.”
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The House budget override vote has been on the daily floor calendar since early July, and from time to time the Republican leadership had announced that there would be no recorded votes on certain days. There was nothing in the chamber rules to prevent such action Wednesday.
Cooper vetoed the budget on June 28, saying the two-year spending plan lacks Medicaid expansion for hundreds of thousands of low-income adults, contains paltry raises for teachers and unnecessarily gives corporations additional tax reductions. The veto and lack of an override had led to an 11-week budget impasse. Republicans have said Cooper won't negotiate unless Medicaid expansion is approved, too. Cooper said he just wants the topic to be on the table.
Contributing: Savannah Behrmann
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: North Carolina GOP lawmakers voted to override governor's budget veto
