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See Lowe's.com slash terms for details. It's 5.05 and welcome into a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. Got a couple of pretty big political stories that we are starting off the show with this morning.
The first, the President of the United States is set to be in North Carolina later this week. The White House announced that President Donald Trump will be visiting Rocky Mount, North Carolina on Friday. With the subject of the president's visit not yet disclosed, however, it would appear that it is some sort of campaign-style rally as Trump-endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Watley is promoting the trip on social media and encouraging folks to sign up and attend that event if they would like to. With Watley writing on X, I'm excited to welcome President Donald Trump to Rocky Mount this Friday.
Give him the North Carolina welcome he deserves. For those not super familiar with North Carolina geography, Rocky Mount is located in North Carolina's first congressional district, which is currently represented by Democrat Representative Don Davis. The district is expected to be among one of the most closely watched races anywhere in the country in the 2026 election cycle. This is after state lawmakers in the last few months redrew North Carolina's congressional map, shifting some counties and boundaries in both the first and third congressional districts to improve Republican electoral prospects and potentially pick up and unseat Don Davis in the first congressional district. A federal three-judge panel recently upheld the revised congressional map, rejecting legal challenges sought to block its use in the upcoming elections.
And with candidate filing running all the way through Friday that closes at noon on the 19th, the rule of Has pretty much, for all intents and purposes, cleared the way for the new district lines to remain in effect at least through the 2026 election cycle. Political dynamics in the first congressional district have also shifted following Rocky Mountain Mayor Sandy Robinson's recent announcement that he had ended his bid for the Republican primary in that district. Robertson, a Republican, had previously signaled interest in challenging Davis before stepping away from the race in a recent announcement just out last week. Robinson wrote, The newly drawn maps have changed the landscape of this race that it is no longer the district that I signed up to run in. My commitment has always been to serve the people I ask, to serve the great people of Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, and my responsibility is here at home.
I will stay focused on leading our city through its current financial challenges and ensuring we emerge stronger, more stable, and positioned for long-term prosperity. Prosperity. The White House said that the President will appear at the Rocky Mountain Event Center around 9 p.m. on Friday, so a late-night rally for President Donald Trump. We will, of course, be tracking that through late Friday night and through the weekend.
And I'll have the latest on CarolinaJournal.com as quickly as we can after that event. On Friday night, it will be interesting to see if the president does come out and endorse a candidate. There is not one that he has endorsed for the first congressional district. Representative Greg Murphy is an incumbent in the third. He has, I don't know if he has exclusively been endorsed by the president yet, but if not, he very likely will be in the coming weeks and months.
So that is the open seat right now. We'll see what the president has to say Friday. We'll track it over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. In some other news this morning, still focused on Washington, D.C., the Lumbee Fairness Act, which is included in a nearly $900 billion defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, has recently passed the United States House. That happened back on December the 11th, and it would grant the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina full federal recognition if all of the provisions remain when it is reconciled with the United States Senate, which is ongoing right now.
Senators in the U.S. Senate were voting on various pieces of the NDAA throughout the day on yesterday. As we got into late last evening, senators kind of tabled the rest of the discussion, said that they would come back today on Wednesday and deal with the rest of the NDAA so we could potentially see the National Defense Authorization Act approved and on the president's desk pretty much. As early as today, so we'll continue to follow that. U.S.
Representative David Rauser, the Republican out of North Carolina's 7th congressional district, says, quote, this NDAA delivers for our service members, strengthens our national security, and ensures North Carolina priorities are fully represented. From full federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to investing in strategic infrastructure, this legislation makes our nation stronger and more competitive. The Lumbee Fairness Act is included in the NDAA. The Lumbee Tribe was partially recognized by Congress all the way back in 1956.
However, they were denied services and benefits that are typically provided to every other full federally recognized tribe across the United States. That lack of federal recognition has limited the Lumbee Tribe's access to health care, housing, education, and economic development. Development from the federal government that would come with a full federal recognition. The Lumbee Tribe has been seeking that recognition since at least the late 1800s, with North Carolina granting recognition to the tribe back in 1885. U.S.
Representative Richard Hudson, the Republican out of the 9th congressional district, said, quote, for generations, the Lumbee people have fought for fairness and full recognition. We delivered. This long overdue win finally honors the Lumbee tribe heritage and ensures they receive the full federal support and opportunities that they deserve.
Now, this is not the first time, if this is sounding vaguely familiar to you, this is not the first time that we have talked about the Lumbee Tribe and full federal recognition. Earlier this year, back in January, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the Secretary of the Interior to submit a plan to assist the Lumbee Tribe in obtaining funding. Full federal recognition. The call from the president at the time was to make sure and find viable avenues for that full federal recognition, whether it came through executive order, through legislation in the Congress, whether that be the House or the Senate. It was more of, okay, how can we do this, not exactly what the avenue is.
That was back in January, and it looks like it is coming to a head almost one year later. Representative Tim Moore, the Republican out of North Carolina's 14th congressional district, former Speaker of the North Carolina House. Said in a recent press release, for far too long, the Lumbee people have been denied the full recognition and resources they deserve. This bill finally delivers justice to the Lumbee while strengthening our military and ensuring the United States remains the most powerful force for freedom in the world. Again, this is a pretty active situation this morning.
Portions of the NDAA, that is the National Defense Authorization Act, were debated in the United States Senate last night before senators broke for the evening. They are expected, and the calendar indicates that they will be back to wrap up more of that today. It's not immediately clear whether it will take another day or two, but presumably here by the end of the week, maybe even by the time President Trump is in Rocky Mount on Friday, the National Defense Authorization Act will be signed by the president, which will begin the process and get the ball rolling on full federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe, which will be very significant. And we will keep an eye on the NDAA and then, of course, some of its impacts as the weeks and months go on. We'll continue to track that over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and of course, the latest right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
As the holidays approach, it's time to return to the classics. Flaky pie crusts, perfectly browned butter, and cookies with just the right texture. and one ingredient you cannot compromise on is Kerry gold butter. Carrygold butter is crafted with milk from grass fed cows that graze on lush green pastures across family farms in Ireland. The result?
A rich, creamy butter with a high butterfat content that elevates every recipe. Whether you're making signature shortbread or browning butter for a nutty depth in your pecan pie, Terry Gold makes all the difference. The flavor is unmatched, and the texture it brings to baked goods is simply divine.
So, this holiday season, if you're baking for loved ones or just for yourself, Reach for Kerry Gold. It's the butter of choice, and your pies, your cookies, and your cakes will thank you. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
The holiday shopping season is well upon us here in North Carolina. We've got a brand new report this morning from the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association to walk us through that. The president and general counsel of that organization, Andy Allen, joins us this morning on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Andy, thanks for the time. We had talked about a holiday shopping last year.
We're doing it again this year. Give us some of the overall top line numbers that you and your organization found this year.
Well, we again partnered with Appalachian State University and their economics department to put out this report for what North Carolina's holiday season was going to look like. And it's actually looking like the strongest we've had in the last four or five years. And you know, that's coming off of 2020 with COVID. But we're seeing projected about 2.16% over 2024, a big jump in December, especially about 2.63% up from last year. And we're anticipating about $44 billion worth of shopping being done in November and December of 2025, which is again very, very strong, and we're really, really supportive of that and what's happening in the economy.
Strong report, no question about it. We'll get back to some of those details here in just a couple of minutes. But let me ask you about the overall economy, Andy, because that's been a lot of discussion and a lot of concern over the last 10, 11 months. Obviously, a new administration in Washington, D.C., and general economic uncertainty in a variety of different sectors. Retailers as well, many of them front-loaded a lot of costs earlier this year as concerns over tariffs and some of the uncertainty there.
With that general economic sentiment, are you surprised with some of the numbers in the NCRMA report that the shopping season is looking as strong as it is? We are a little bit surprised. I also think you have to throw in, you know, last year in 2024, there was a lot of uncertainty before the election, which often happens, whereas this year the election is over. Also, last year, we had the scenario where we were just coming off in North Carolina, Hurricane Helene, and so much of the effort was going towards helping North Carolina, Western North Carolina recover. And so, there's not as much focus on that this year.
Still needs to be a lot of recovery out there, but more of a looking inward right now and looking forward. The tariff situation is still creating a lot of uncertainty just because there's tariffs going on things and off things, and consumers still don't know quite where that's going to play out. Neither do retailers as they're doing their inventory. And also remember that most of the inventory that shows up on the shelves at Christmas was ordered months and months ago, probably last spring.
So hopefully, as you said, some of that was front loaded and we're able to get the inventory we needed through the supply chain and get it on the store shelves for consumers. With some of the general economic issues that are not even just in the last year or two, Andy, I mean, really going back to COVID-19, the economy essentially screeched to a halt. It was a really rough time for businesses of all sectors. And yes, that recovery has been slow and it is steady.
However, I'll note: talk about from a retail's perspective, the importance of having these strong holiday shopping numbers, especially here in North Carolina.
Well, you know, generally for retailers, the fourth quarter, the black Black Friday, is where you're hopefully going into the black for the year into profit. This year and in the past few years, we've seen an elongated shopping season.
So, where it used to start on Black Friday, you know, now people start their Christmas shopping back in September, October, and spread that out, which, you know, helps smooth out what your sales results are, helps you some with inventory, hopefully helps you not get stuck with inventory at the very end that you've over-ordered. And retailers have also moved more towards a real-time inventory so that they're not overbuying and, like I said, having to put everything on sale at at the the next the next week after Christmas. I would also say this year we what we ran into also is Thanksgiving is much closer to Christmas this year.
So there's a shorter time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which makes increases the pace on that shopping and it gets here before we know it sometimes. Yeah, no question about that. A very shortened holiday shopping season for folks.
So, again, just kind of recapping our report, some very strong numbers off the top for this retail holiday season. And, Andy, I go back to our conversation that we had almost one year ago. We were like, what, two months removed from Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina? You talked a little bit about that. I guess maybe some good news to see that Western North Carolina and maybe some of the dip in numbers in that region didn't bring the entire state down.
That's got to be some encouraging news. Very encouraging and I think a lot of that also was because of the compassion and the charitable giving too from the rest of the state you know to go in and help in those areas but we've seen businesses come back still a very difficult run you know out in the western part of the state as they continue to recover you know we're just starting to get some some stores back online whether that be some grocery stores and other stores just because of the devastation that was out there but you're also seeing the tourism return in the western part of the state which is always beneficial especially this time of year if you think about an area around like the Biltmore Estate and some of that at their Christmas show so strong in that in that space again trying to trying to get through some of the uncertainty we've also seen some dips and you know for instance gas prices whereas some food items have still been up at the grocery store, we've seen some relief in eggs and gas and some other things.
So hopefully, that's leading us down a better economic path and giving some good consumer sentiment going into the very end of the holiday shopping. Andy, walk us through why this report is so important for the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association and the work that you guys do, not just during the holiday shopping season, but around the calendar throughout the year.
Well, I think there's a couple things. One, we used to use a lot of national data and what the holiday season was going to mean. But as you know, we're a very strong growth state, a lot more migration in than migration out. And the number one state to do business.
So it's sort of hard to use numbers from all across the country, whether that's Illinois or Idaho or somewhere else, and figure out what it's going to be in North Carolina. But it also helps retailers understand better what the customer dollars are going to be spent out there in the marketplace, helps them plan their inventory, gives them a better idea of what the economy is around them. And it somewhat differs. I mean, still, microcosm of that is, you know, some of our urban centers are a little stronger maybe than some of our rural, smaller towns in that. But all in all, giving us and drilling down further into North Carolina just gives us a better idea of what it is.
And then for us as an advocacy group, it lets us show, again, the strength of retail and what it means for our economy, not just in this fourth quarter, but for the entire year, that we help drive that economy. with about one out of every four jobs in the state tied some wage retail. Andy, you just mentioned something I have to jump in on. You really talk about the cosm that is North Carolina right now. I've often talked to friends and family and said it's kind of like we're in a golden age here in North Carolina.
There's so much migration into the state, which I know causes some concern and frustration for certain people. But, Andy, I mean, it's really hard to look at the overall status of North Carolina right now and find negative things. If it's CNBC ranking the state number one, best for business multiple years in a row over the last four or five years, we are in a really, really good opportunity right now in the Tar Heels state. We are, you know, it's very important too. We're, you know, we're creating jobs in this state, and they're tied to all kinds of industries.
But that also helps when that kid graduates from a local college to help them keep them here in North Carolina and keep that brain power here rather than them going, you know, out of state somewhere else.
So if you know, if you've got the jobs, you've got the housing, we've got hopefully the retail sector that are all three sort of driving the economy for the state. And you know, our state budget, for instance, state government is so dependent now on sales tax. It's really important that we generate those sales. That's what helps drive the economy, pays for roads, pays for education, pays for teachers, all those things. A lot of it is attributable to the sales tax.
So we want to keep all those sales tax dollars here. We hope people will support their local brick and mortar retailers that are on the ground providing jobs, supporting their communities day in and day out throughout the whole year, not just in this fourth quarter. Andy, tell us about some of the other work that the Retail Merchants Association does. Obviously, a couple of these reports that we talk about and get you on the show about in the year to talk about. What else are you guys doing throughout the year?
So, our job and our mission is to make North Carolina the best place in the country to operate a retail business. We focused a lot, as you mentioned, on COVID, coming out of COVID, of getting people maybe to push away from their laptop and go back into the store and remember what it was like to shop in the store and touch that garment, you know, smell the bread in the grocery store, those sort of things. That helps us drive that. That helps create jobs, property tax, all those things.
So, a big focus is there. We have a shop NC program again to promote shopping retail in North Carolina. Advocacy is our primary mission. We advocate for retailers of all varieties on all kinds of issues at the North Carolina General Assembly and to a lesser extent Congress, focusing on things like the penny going away or increased credit card fees or the ability, you know, for instance, to buy a beer at a social district. Those are things that we've worked on through the years, or to get you know, to go into your local pharmacy and get tested and treated for the flu vaccine.
You know, so we're working on those sorts of things. Of things again to make retail better, but also make it more accessible, more convenient for consumers to shop in our stores. Where can folks find out some more information about the Retail Merchants' Association?
So they can certainly go to our webpage at ncrma.org, nzretailmerchantsassociation.org, or certainly follow us on all the social media channels. We're out there putting information out. And again, also on things that are protecting consumer and the public about making sure that when you see a good online at a marketplace potentially that that item is not a deal too good to be true and it's not counterfeit or some of those, working on organized retail crime as well, just to make sure consumers are getting the right products in their hands that they can trust when they take them home to their families. Andy, thanks for catching up with us again this year. We very much appreciate it.
Andy Ellen from the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. As the holidays approach, it's time to return to the classics. Flaky pie crusts, perfectly browned butter, and and cookies with just the right texture. and one ingredient you cannot compromise on is kerrygold butter. Kerrygold butter is crafted with milk from grass-fed cows that graze on lush green pastures across family farms in Ireland.
The result? A rich, creamy butter with a high butterfat content that elevates every recipe. Whether you're making signature shortbread or browning butter for a nutty depth in your pecan pie, Carry gold makes all the difference. The flavor is unmatched, and the texture it brings to baked goods is simply divine.
So, this holiday season, if you're baking for loved ones or just for yourself, Reach for Kerry Gold. It's the butter of choice, and your pies, your cookies, and your cakes will thank you. It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig.
Good morning to you. Back in May, the United States Justice Department brought a legal challenge against the North Carolina State Board of Elections over voter registrations and a voter registration form that has had some issues over the last couple of years here in North Carolina. That process has played out over the last couple of months, and it seemed like everything was resolved and heading towards a right direction.
However, there seems to be kind of a kink in the hose on that this morning. To walk us through some of those details, Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, the state board seemed to correct the issues. The Justice Department said, looks good to us. What's going on this morning?
Yeah, you set it up well, Nick, in that this was a lawsuit that started in May and seemed to be over in September. Once the suit was filed by the Justice Department, a new state board of elections looked at the issues and said, yes, they've identified issues that are important. It looks as if North Carolina had, for a number of years, had incomplete information in its voter registration list, didn't comply with the Federal Help America Vote Act for a number of voters not having either a driver's license number or last four digits of the Social Security number.
So the state board came up with a plan to correct that and to fill in the missing information. And by September, four months into the litigation, lawyers for the Board of Elections and lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division basically came up with a deal to settle the lawsuit. Not too long after the settlement was filed in U.S. Chief District Judge Richard Meyer's courtroom.
He signed off on it, but then not too long after that. The Democratic National Committee on one hand and the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans on the other hand, which is a group that's working with Democratic operative Mark Elias' law firm, so basically is the stand-in for Mark Elias and his part of the Democratic operation. They filed paperwork asking Myers to reconsider his decision, saying, look, This settlement is not going to protect all the voters. We have tried to intervene in this case in the past. You did not allow us to intervene, but you should allow us to intervene and you should reopen this settlement so that we can be in this case as defendants, working against the settlement that we don't think is going to help voters.
Now, not too long after the DNC and the Elias clients filed their paperwork, the federal government shutdown happened. And so the U.S. Justice Department filed paperwork with Myers Court saying, hey, could you pause this case? at least during the shutdown because Our lawyers aren't even allowed to do any work on it. And Myers responded: he said, Yes, he put everything on hold.
And basically, that was where things stood at the last point that the case was on hold. But now, some weeks after the shutdown has been finished, and the government is back open again, the latest development is that the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed its paperwork saying that no, there's no reason to reopen the settlement. There's no reason for the DNC or the Alliance for Retired Americans to have any involvement in the case. They've already made their arguments.
They're basically just trying to make the same arguments that have already been turned down again. And so the settlement should be allowed to stand.
So the final piece of this potentially is for Myers to say, probably. Yes, the settlement's going to stand. If Myers reopens it, then it would Reopen the case for more consideration. It's also possible that if Myers does not reopen the suit, that these two parties, the Democratic National Committee and the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans, could try to go to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and say, look, the judge should have reopened it. Look at our arguments.
We think we should be defendants in this case to help represent our voters. But at this point, There is the settlement. The settlement remains in effect unless Either Judge Myers reopens the case or a higher court tells him that he should.
So, Mitch, I guess my next logical question with this is: the state board, as you mentioned in your open, has been working on the process of repairing some of this. There's currently a process ongoing at the State Board of Elections level called the Voter Registration Repair Project, in which they're going through the roles, correcting individuals that did not have that information-either a full driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number. The Justice Department has said, All right, looks like you guys are kind of trending in the right direction on this, getting the old stuff cleaned up. The voter registration form now makes it abundantly clear that you have to fill out this information. What's the argument here from the DNC and the Elias groups as to why this settlement is not sufficient?
They're not arguing about the idea of adding this information to the voter rolls. They're not saying that there's anything wrong with that. And of course, the Help America Vote Act requires that. The concern all along from these groups is that both the Justice Department run by the Trump administration and the State Board of Elections, now run by a Republican majority, are going to somehow use this process to disenfranchise voters. That they're going to say, oh, you have Not, you don't have the complete information, so we're going to remove you from the voter rolls.
Now, one other thing that is part of the settlement is that during the next time that a voter heads to the polls, if the information is incomplete, they'll have to cast a provisional ballot and then provide the information for the ballot to count. And critics, including the Democratic Party and its allies, have said that this basically amounts to turning these voters into kind of second-class citizens of some sort because they have to go through a more involved process to cast a ballot. And so, They're really not objecting to the compilation of this information and making sure that it is complete. What they are objecting to is their fears about what will happen to voters who don't have the complete information and whether they could either be removed from the polls, which or from the voting rolls, which no one has said is going to happen, or that they would have to cast a provisional ballot and thus be cast into some sort of inferior status that would violate their constitutional rights. And this is interesting, Mitch.
Even though it was low turnout, we just had municipal elections back in early November in North Carolina. And the state board reported after those elections that, yes, there were in fact some individuals that had to vote provisionally and get that required information to the state board of elections by the time that the county canvas took place. But from all accounts, I hadn't seen any media reports or anything else that have come out that this was some widespread disaster that took place across North Carolina. Again, I'll note low turnout. We'll likely see more in the primary in 2026 and undoubtedly in the November 26 midterm election.
But everything seems to be going pretty smooth from all accounts. Yeah, and remember we're talking about a small subset of North Carolina voters.
Now, by small, I'm still talking about once this process started, there were more than 100,000 voters they were talking about. But that is when you compare it to the millions of people who are registered to vote and the even larger millions of residents of North Carolina. It's a small subset. I think that most of the people who are in this situation of not having the complete information. They just don't have that complete information because they weren't asked for it.
For a number of years, North Carolina had a form that did not make it clear that it was mandatory for this information to be provided. And so not all the information was provided. I think. Most voters who find themselves in the situation of not having provided this information are happy to do it. The one group of voters that Really is being targeted by the initial Help America Vote Act provision is to ensure that the people who are registered to vote are eligible to vote.
Because if you're not here legally, if you don't have a social security number or are not allowed to have a driver's license because you are not here legally, you would not be able to comply with this. And that is really what the idea of making sure the voter rolls are cleaned up is all about: is to ensure that the people who are casting ballots in North Carolina or anywhere for that matter, but we're talking about North Carolina in this case, that the people who are casting ballots are people who are eligible to register to vote and then thus eligible to vote. That's not going to be a huge number of people who are in the tens of thousands now who still don't have the complete information, but it is going to be a not zero number. And so, you want to make sure that people who are eligible to vote have the correct information and that those who aren't eligible to vote don't vote. Everyone should be clear on that and should have that as a goal: that only those people Who are eligible to vote should vote.
Democrats are raising a lot of concerns about this process, partly, I think, at least because they see Republicans running the process and think there must be something underhanded because Republicans are behind it. Shocker that Democrats would raise that kind of argument. And of course, the whole idea about trying to get this information compiled correctly was initially a Republican argument against a Democratic-run state board of elections. Republicans filed a lawsuit in 2024 saying Democrats had caused the problem and weren't collecting the information.
So the two parties are playing the roles that you'd expect them to play. And what we should hope will happen is that as many people as possible will get the complete information by the time we get to the next big election for 2026. We'll obviously continue to track the progress. We get some regular updates from the North Carolina State Board of Elections on that registration repair project. They're providing some of those numbers as they continue to go down as more and more folks provide that information.
We'll also keep an eye on the courts on this matter as well. We appreciate the information this morning. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. As the holidays approach, it's time to return to the classics. Flaky pie crusts, perfectly browned butter, and cookies with just the right texture.
and one ingredient you cannot compromise on is kerrygold butter. Carrygold butter is crafted with milk from grass fed cows that graze on lush green pastures across family farms in Ireland. The result? A rich, creamy butter with a high butterfat content that elevates every recipe. Whether you're making signature shortbread or browning butter for a nutty depth in your pecan pie, Carry gold makes all the difference.
The flavor is unmatched, and the texture it brings to baked goods is simply divine.
So, this holiday season, if you're baking for loved ones or just for yourself, Reach for Kerry Gold. It's the butter of choice, and your pies, your cookies, and your cakes will thank you. Good morning again. It's 5:54. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM.
WBT, we are tracking some pretty significant legislation out of Washington, D.C. this morning. It's something that you might be familiar with. It's called the National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, and it is a yearly defense bill that is passed by Congress.
However, there is a provision in the nearly $900 billion defense bill that includes the Lumbee Fairness Act. That piece of legislation would grant the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina full federal recognition if the provisions remain as it continues its reconciliation process in the United States Senate this week. I'll note that the NDAA with the Lumby Fairness Act did pass the U.S. House back on December the 11th. Representative David Rauser, the Republican out of North Carolina's 7th.
7th Congressional District said, this NDAA delivers for our service members, strengthens our national security, and ensures that North Carolina's priorities are represented. From full federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to investing in strategic infrastructure, this legislation makes our nation stronger and more competitive. The Lumbee Fairness Act included in the NDAA would grant that full federal status and restore full access to federal programs that are granted to other tribes. It is important to note that the Lumbee Tribe was partially recognized by Congress.
However, that happened back in 1956, and due to the partial and not full recognition, they were denied services and benefits that are typically provided to federally recognized tribes. That includes things like health care, housing, education, and economic development dollars that would flow in from Washington, D.C. The Lumbee Tribe has a long history of seeking federal recognition going all the way back to the late 1800s and also having to fight for that in North Carolina where it was granted back in 1885. Representative Richard Hudson, the Republican out of the 9th Congressional District, says, for generations, the Lumbee people have fought for fairness and full recognition. We delivered.
This long overdue win finally honors the Lumbee Tribe's heritage and ensures that they receive federal support and opportunities that they deserve. Back in January of this year, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the Secretary of the Interior to submit a plan to the president in assisting the Lumbee Tribe in obtaining full federal recognition. And here, almost a year later, it appears that we are definitely the closest that we have ever been to that process. U.S. Representative Tim Moore, the Republican out of the 14th Congressional District, also Former Speaker of the North Carolina House said, for far too long, the Lumbee people have been denied the full recognition and resources that they deserve.
This bill finally delivers justice to the Lumbee while strengthening our military and ensuring the United States remains the most powerful force for freedom in the world. What's going on right now? The Senate was debating and going through provisions of the NDAA last night. They took a break overnight and are expected to be back at some point throughout the day on Wednesday to continue debating and passing the NDAA. We'll continue to track this and its progress over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
That's going to do it for a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
