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When lawmakers adjourned for summer recess without acting on Republicans’ top priorities, there was plenty of finger pointing.
Senators felt the House had moved too slowly in the budget negotiations process. They complained the House wasn’t in session very much and questioned Speaker Tim Moore’s grip over his 72-person caucus.
“The speaker is not going to be back next time,” said Republican Sen. Danny Britt of Robeson County, alluding to Moore’s all-but-assured congressional victory this year after serving a record 10 years as speaker. “That may have changed the dynamic to a certain extent.”
Moore’s response to the pushback: “They know absolutely nothing about what they’re talking about.”
As Bryan Anderson reports, budget talks between House and Senate leaders have always been divisive. But this year feels unusually contentious, even as Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers.
The Last Dance of Tim Moore and Phil Berger
Republican legislators have failed to deliver on top policy priorities in Tim Moore’s waning days as House speaker. A diminished relationship between Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger is partly to blame.
Gratuity Not Included
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the main federal statute used to prosecute local, state, and tribal corruption outlawed “bribes” promised or given before an official act, but not “gratuities” paid afterward.
The case centered on a truck company’s $13,000 payment to the mayor of Portage, Indiana, which had awarded the company two contracts worth $1.1 million the year before.
Writing on behalf of the court’s conservative majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued that interpreting the statute to cover gratuities, which federal officials are prohibited from accepting, would make it “a vague and unfair trap for 19 million state and local officials.”
“Within constitutional bounds,” Kavanaugh wrote, “Congress can always change the law if it wishes to do so.”
Jeff Jackon, the Democratic congressman from Charlotte and candidate for state Attorney General, decided to take the cue, drafting legislation to clarify that both types of payments are indeed illegal.
“I truly see this as a non-partisan, non-controversial, pretty-much obvious kinda thing,” he wrote in an August 8 newsletter.
Jackson is now shopping his draft bill, the “No Gratuities for Governing Act of 2024,” to other members.
The current version bans gifts to state and local officials worth $1,000 or more that are given “for or because of” official acts tied to $5,000 or more in business. The maximum prison term for a conviction would be two years, in line with the penalty for federal officials.
–Carli Brosseau
Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.
What We’re Reading
Threat Indicator: The New Yorker looks at the rising threat of domestic terrorism from far-right groups, and how the FBI is investigating them–including right here in Greensboro.
Gone With the Tide: Another beachfront home has collapsed in Rodanthe, the seventh in four years according to the National Park Service. The Guardian has more.
Fund and Games: Mark Robinson told attendees at a private event last month that he would turn down federal education funds, WRAL reports. North Carolina received about $1.67 billion in federal support last school year.
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