Republican Lawmakers Complete Many Spending Recommendations

Republican lawmakers have completed many spending recommendations that are part of crafting next year's budget.

Republicans seek to spend about a billion dollars less than Governor Bev Perdue recommended in her proposed budget. Many subcommittees released their spending plans yesterday, including Health and Human Services. Democratic lawmakers like Representative Verla Insko of Chapel Hill are not happy with the proposed cuts. 

Verla Insko: "This is not a compassionate budget. It is essentially an anti-child budget, an anti-woman budget, an anti-poor budget, an anti-disabled budget."

Insko says proposed cuts to Health and Human Services amount to about 400 million in state dollars. The state would lose federal matching money that brings the total loss to more than a billion dollars. The subcommittee also wants to prohibit state or federal funds from getting to Planned Parenthood.