Reporters covering Tuesday’s Republican legislative news conference on the proposed Health Care Protection Act sought reaction from House Speaker Joe Hackney.
The News & Observer reports:
House Speaker Joe Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, dismissed the proposal.
“It was a political event, not a substantive one,” Hackney said of the Republican news conference.
The News & Record reports:
?Well, I assume it?s another political event not a substantive
legislative event,? Hackney said. Were Republicans serious, he said,
they would be working through the committee system rather than holding
news conferences.
Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger responds this morning:
?The people of North Carolina must be protected from a choice between being forced to purchase a government-chosen health care plan and facing criminal penalties.? We are glad to take Speaker Hackney up on his offer to hear the Health Care Protection Act in committee during the interim and continue to hope that we can work with Democrats to ensure that North Carolinians maintain the freedom to choose their own health care.?
