Site Highlights More than 50 Fact Checks Debunking McCain's Campaign Lies

Gov. Mike Easley today signed House Bill 2436, “An act to modify the current Operations and Capital Appropriations Act of 2007, to authorize indebtedness for capital projects, and to make various tax law and fee changes.”

The following is a statement from the Governor’s Office:

"The governor has signed the budget and thanks legislators for their hard work. He looks forward to the General Assembly finishing work on important remaining issues including legislation on drought, home foreclosure and mental health."

RALEIGH – Today on the campaign trail, John McCain promised to help law enforcement officials combat crime, help retrain displaced workers, and end the long lines at the Veterans Administration facilities.

But as is so often the case with John McCain, his rhetoric just doesn’t match his record. Just last night when he had the opportunity to vote on those very issues in the Senate, John McCain once again put his campaign ahead of North Carolina’s families for his own political gain.

Yesterday, after voting to extend Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, John McCain headed out to a $1,000 a plate fundraiser in Philadelphia. McCain ducked out long enough to miss important votes on amendments that fund many of the priorities he talks about on the campaign stump.

Republican State Auditor Les Merritt’s partisan bandwagon has hit the road – literally.

Mr. Merritt’s flawed review of the state transportation department ignores the reality of increased construction costs and population growth.

Meanwhile Mr. Merritt’s fee to state agencies has ballooned from $55 to $85 an hour while the budget approved by his department continues to grow.

“We know why it costs more to build roads,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek. “Why does it cost more for Les Merritt to run his office?”

According to the Federal Highway Administration, states across the country are experiencing “unprecedented construction cost increases”.

With rising energy prices and an economy careening toward recession, it simply costs more to build a road than it used to.

Construction material prices rose much faster in 2005 and 2006 than consumer and producer price indices. The availability of key construction materials such as Portland cement, copper, gypsum and PVC pipe became an issue in many parts of the country.

President Bush, please take Dick Cheney with you when you leave the White House.

Cloaked in secrecy, Vice President Dick Cheney met today in a closed meeting with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

“While we might not know what they talked about, the evidence is clear that the Bush-Cheney economic policies have failed North Carolina,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek.

“A recession is looming and it costs more to put fill our gas tanks, heat our homes, and pay for health care when illness strikes,” Meek said.

In 2001, gas was $1.37 per gallon. Now it costs $3.09 per gallon. Americans could heat their homes for as low as $1.40 per gallon. Now it costs $3.39.

Health care insurance premium costs for families have doubled from $6,230 in 2001 to $12,106 per household today.

“North Carolinians work hard to secure a better future for their children and grandchildren,” Meek said. “But the Bush-Cheney Administration has diminished that with irresponsible policies and an unquenchable thirst for debt.”

David Edwards and Greg Wasserstrom

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) went on the offensive over the delay of supplemental funding for the war in Iraq, dismissing recent comments by President Bush saying delays in funding puts troops in harms way as "fear tactics." Appearing on the program Meet The Press, Webb also suggested that the issue at the heart of the current fight over war funding is how long American troops will be deployed in Iraq.

"The problem with the administration's approach to [war funding] is that they constantly use fear tactics," Webb said, citing the President Bush and Congressional Republicans defeat of his amendment to give troops longer breaks between deployments. "If President Bush had said to do it they'd be saluting and doing it."

Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day — or nearly $1 million a minute.

What's that mean to you?

It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

Even if you've escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That's because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.

And like homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages, the government faces the prospect of seeing this debt — now at relatively low interest rates — rolling over to higher rates, multiplying the financial pain.

So long as somebody is willing to keep loaning the U.S. government money, the debt is largely out of sight, out of mind.