If you’re not scared, you should be. The news coming out of Raleigh these days doesn’t bode well for Charlotte or the state’s working poor. If the recent action happening in a Republican-led Raleigh is any indication of direction the state is going we’re in trouble. Here’s what happened in the last week:
• Governor McCrory criticized higher education programs that don’t lead directly to jobs.
• Governor McCrory issued a memo threatening Charlotte’s light rail funding if the city builds a streetcar. The street car would eventually service East and West Charlotte, less affluent Charlotte regions. Whether you agree or disagree with the streetcar, the former mayor of Charlotte and now Governor has no business issuing decrees about the matter. It’s a local, not a state issue.
Be sure to read: JCSU Town Hall Meeting to Discuss Community Issues in East and West Sides which will also focus on the streetcar.
• Republicans have filed bills to reject the expansion of Medicaid and setting up an insurance exchange. These are two aspects of the federal Affordable Care Act. These programs would help individuals earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level – $15,415 for an individual or $26,344 for a family of three in 2012 – would qualify for Medicaid. Under the Republicans bills our state’s most vulnerable would still be at risk of not being able to afford medical insurance.