Phil Berger

Right.

Well, this is something that lawmakers started talking about earlier this year, but they didn't really have support from, uh, the people they would need, including Senate leader Phil Berger.

Some reporters asked him about this idea back in May, and he was skeptical that it would make that much of a difference.

He was like, "Hey," you know, I, I can't remember his exact quote, but it was something to the effect of, like, "I'm ...

Mm-hmm

... uh, when they announced that, "Hey, we're gonna come back and do something to try to bring, uh, relief to farmers and, or other North Carolinians, all drivers, uh, in our state."

Right, and I was working that Saturday when we saw the announcements on X, formerly Twitter, whatever you wanna call it, um, you know, some statements by Phil Berger, Dustin Hall, uh, saying, you know, "This is the time." And of course, y- as soon as that happened, we saw, uh, Democrats out, I'm thinking about Sydney Batch was one of the first, I think, to come out and say, "You know, y'all are a day late and a dollar short.

You're doing this almost one month before the midterms.

that said North Carolina families have been getting screwed over by rising prices for months thanks to failed Republican leadership.

Yet somehow Phil Berger and Destin Hall, that's the Senate majority leader, the president pro tem, I should say, Phil Berger and Destin Hall, the Speaker of the House, that they just now noticed exactly one month before Election Day.

Perhaps they should spend time with hardworking North Carolinians rather than wealthy donors.

We were supposed to be in legislative session last week.

If lame duck Phil Berger actually wanted to help families, we could have done it literally days or even months ago because high gas prices aren't new.

This is the same pattern from the same failed weak leadership that took three years to produce one state budget.

Again, we have a continuation budget, so if you don't pass a new one, the existing budget just carries over.

Our caucus voted to try and help deliver any meaningful relief to North Carolinians, but when they had the opportunity to be able to suspend the rules or expand the rules or expand the sess- the special session with regards to what would actually help North Carolinians, they miserably failed in doing so.

Senate President Phil Berger estimates the gas tax suspension will cost the state about $360 million.

Lawmakers plan to cover that cost using the state's inflation reserve, which currently holds roughly 518 million.

Whether the tax break continues beyond November remains unclear.

This body did not act on any of them.

The Senate President Phil Berger anticipates the suspension of the gas tax will cost $360 million, money that'll be backfilled from the state's inflation reserve, which currently has about $518 million available.

That will allow ongoing transportation projects to proceed.

Now sen-- Now House Speaker, excuse me, Destin Hall says you could expect to see those lowered rates at the pumps in the coming days.

Their Senate pro tem says lawmakers coming back to Raleigh to address high gas and diesel fuel prices.

Republican state Senator Phil Berger said families and farmers are, quote, feeling the impacts of rising fuel costs every day.

The Center Square's Alan Wooten reports each chamber is scheduled to convene Wednesday at noon.

Motor fuel funds the North Carolina Department of Transportation Highway and Multimodal Projects accounts for more than half of the state's transportation resources.

It, it can't be ignored the timing of this.

And one thing we reporters asked the House Speaker and Senate Leader, Phil Berger and Justin Hall, I believe back in May, was whether they'd consider this idea.

So it's been an idea that's been out there for months.

At the time, House Speaker Justin Hall told reporters he was open to the idea, but wasn't committing to doing it.

And I'm going to just give you the most basic, simplest example of it.

The first-term trustee, who was previously the chief of staff for North Carolina Senate leader and Republican Phil Berger, in referenced UNC law professor Gene Nichols' activism through protests in Raleigh and opinion columns that are critical of Republican leadership.

We are fools if we do not think that his exercise of his First Amendment rights does not end up representing to the legislature what they think every single person on this campus believes about them.

It illustrates very well when another university goes and says, why do you want to give Chapel Hill money? There are a bunch of people that hate you.

I

mean, he was visiting Phil Berger at the polls.

Right.

His chief of staff was one of Phil Berger's top lackeys.

I mean, the new head of the... board of elections Sam Hayes he was chief counsel for both Moore and Hall I mean

doesn't get much more partisan lapdog than that