NC GOP Stokes Ire After Sept. 11 Surprise Budget Vote

RALEIGH, NC — Tensions between North Carolina Democrats and Republicans erupted to a feverish pitch Wednesday after state GOP leadership called a surprise vote in order to override the governor’s veto of a contentious budget bill, despite almost half of the North Carolina House of Representatives being absent from proceedings. The power play unfolded on the morning of Sept. 11, while some members of the General Assembly were absent to attend memorial ceremonies.

The vote was the latest in months of drama among state lawmakers, who remained in a standoff over Medicaid expansion included in the state budget. Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the spending bill June 5, issuing a counteroffer.

Republicans wanted to override the veto, and put their intention to do so on the calendar every day for months. In order to pass an override vote, however, they would need Democrats to sign on, “or wait until a day when enough Democrats were absent to give them the edge they needed,” the News & Observer said.

They found that day Wednesday.

Democrats insist they were told there would be no votes in the 8:30 a.m. session, which House Speaker Republican Tim Moore later vehemently denied, the News & Observer reported.

The move to vote for an override led to shouting, chaos and a threat of arrest on the House chamber floor, according to the News & Observer.

“This is a travesty of the process and you know it,” Rep. Deb Butler, a Democrat from New Hanover, shouted, calling the move to bring up a vote when 56 of 120 House members were absent “trickery, deception, deceit,” aimed at hijacking the process. “If this is how you believe democracy works, shame on you!”

The vote passed 55-9.

“I’ve made it clear. I’ve said it from right here, on the floor, everywhere: If I see an opportunity to override this budget, this veto, I was gonna take that vote,” Moore said at a press conference later in the day.

The move drew a sharp rebuke from Cooper, who called the surprise vote “the last gasp of a dying majority,” and unethical.

“Today, on the 18th anniversary of 9/11, while the state was honoring first responders, Republicans called a deceptive, surprise override of my budget veto,” Cooper said in a press conference.

“Let me be clear, today Republicans waged an assault on our democracy. They cheated the people of North Carolina,” Cooper said.

WATCH: Chaos unfolds in the House Chamber