Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.
I had completed my column today (Saturday, February 27) about the Covid Relief Pork Barrel Spending. Then I learned that the Governor had vetoed SB 37, our bill to mandate school reopening if parents choose that option for their children. So I decided you might need some details about this terrible decision.
When the original bill passed, three Democrats crossed party lines and voted with us on the passage of the school reopening bill. One of those Democrats was Senator Paul Lowe, my counterpart representing part of Forsyth County. Kudos to Senator Lowe for putting constituents first and voting for the rights of parents and children.
Today, WRAL said that Senator Lowe had decided he would not vote to override the Governor’s veto. I spoke with Senator Lowe today and he indicated that he had not decided how he was voting on this important issue. I hope you will let him hear from you about how you feel.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about this important issue. I gave you statistics on why it is safe to open our schools. The science is clear, schools should be open. The Governor is not listening to parents, students and many of our teachers. Clearly the only voice he hears is the Teacher’s Union and it is obviously not speaking for our families.
Children must get back in school to avoid some dire results. We have 35,000 students who are lost in the system, emotional problems and food insecurity are serious, and the school safety net is a must for our children in abusive homes. Open schools up for our children who need it.
We are getting ready for another Covid Relief bill, or so it’s called. Much of it has nothing to do with Covid relief. It’s a big spending bill, from the federal government, laden with lots of pure pork. By the way, the only pork I like is North Carolina Barbecue.
President Biden has presented a $1.9 trillion Covid Relief bill. $1 trillion of the bill passed last year has not even been spent. A Wall Street Journal article on February 1, 2021, described the massive spending bill and said, “the generous definition of Covid-related provisions tallies around $825 billion. The rest of the bill – more than $1 trillion – is a combination of bailouts for Democratic constituencies, expansions of progressive programs, pork, and unrelated policy changes.”
Some of the spending included in the bill are as follows:
• $135 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities
• $200 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences
• $100 million for an underground transit system in Silicon Valley
• $1.5 million for the Seaway International Bridge, that’s a pet project in New York for Democrat Chuck Schumer.
• $350 Billion to bail out states- a formula is used so states that destroyed their economies get more funding. Those that developed sound policies and kept economies going get punished.
• $128.5 Billion to fund K-12 education. The CBO finds that most of the money will be distributed over the next 7 years. That’s hardly Covid related.
• $50 billion to Planned Parenthood.
• $86 billion to bail out poorly run pension plans with no reforms mandated to make certain accountability happens, many are co managed by unions.
• $1.5 billion to Amtrak, this monster just keeps sucking up tax dollars.
We could go on for days but you get the message. This Covid Relief package is a bail out for poorly run states, municipalities and agencies. It also includes long standing spending priorities to reward supporters of powerful legislators.
Anytime you see a disaster this big, you know it is government-related. The private sector could never coordinate such a mess. There is no access to unlimited funds except in government. I have been wondering how many new printing presses we have purchased to manufacture all these dollars. The United States is being sold to China, one piece at a time, since all the funds are borrowed. At some point, the note will come due.
We used to hear, “how are you gonna pay for it?” That’s not even asked anymore. It’s simple, Cut another hole in the taxpayers pocket.
Families have suffered since the pandemic began and they need help. While there are stimulus checks included in the package, it should be targeted to those who need it. Not everyone has suffered under Covid. The lower income has suffered disproportionately. Funds should be more targeted to those who need it.
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Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.