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When the Supreme Court ruled last week on a North Carolina case involving circumstances under which legislative districts can be drawn to protect minority voting rights, members of the Congressional Black Caucus immediately started talking about legislation to overturn the decision.

“On first blush, it was thought this was a disaster,” said Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat who represents parts of Greensboro and High Point in the 12th District. “After a day or so, the second reaction was just 'This is bad.’ And somewhere between those two is probably what it really is.”

In any case, pursuit of any legislation will wait, Watt said, until a Texas case is heard this year.

That case, he said, is a more direct assault on the federal law that allows legislative districts to purposefully be drawn with higher numbers of minority voters.

In the North Carolina case, the court ruled that districts drawn under one section of the Voting Rights Act needed to be made up of more than 50 percent of a minority to garner federal protection. In the Pender County-based district at issue, about 40 percent of the voters in the district were African American.

“What this decision says is it’s all or nothing,” Watt said.

Although the case involved a state legislative district, it could affect how all kinds of voting districts are redrawn after the next census, from city council seats to congressional districts.

The 12th Congressional District that Watt represents snakes its way north from the Queen City and would be directly affected by the Pender County case.

It is 45 percent African American.

Watt said the decision runs counter to how he has read previous Supreme Court rulings on the case.

Before the decision, Watt said rulings indicated that minority voting strength had to be strong enough only to “level the playing field” rather than overwhelm majority voters.

As to why the Voting Rights Act was still needed, Watt said voters have still not reached a point where they are colorblind. For example, North Carolina barely voted in favor of President Barack Obama last fall, Watt said, while giving other statewide Democrats much healthier margins of victory.

And, Watt noted, the effect of the ruling may differ state to state purely because of political reasons. In North Carolina, where Democrats control the House, Senate and governor’s mansion, it’s unlikely lawmakers would dismantle undue minority voting districts, he said.

Introductions

Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican, last week introduced the “Multilingual Services Accounting Act,” H.R. 1414, which would require that federal agencies quantify and report annually on how much they spend to provide government services in languages other than English.

“Our government spends untold sums providing government services in a multitude of languages — with little or no accountability for how this money is spent and with no information on the value of this spending,” Foxx said in a statement. “American taxpayers deserve better. They deserve a full accounting of how their government spends their tax dollars.”

Got it? Flaunt it

The word “earmark” has taken on a negative connotation as of late, becoming the catch-all phrase to describe wasteful spending set aside by members of Congress.

But, as the saying goes, one man’s pork is another’s vital economic development project. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, put out a news release last week trumpeting the earmarks he brought home for the 6th District.

“I would be in favor of continued earmark reform,” Coble said in a statement. “But as long as earmarks remain a part of the legislative funding process, I would be doing a disservice to the citizens of the 6th District by not seeking funding for worthwhile projects.”

Among the items that Coble either sought on his own or co-sponsored with other members:

• $350,000 to enhance the communications system for the Highway Patrol Troop D Headquarters in Greensboro.
• $95,000 to complete the last 1.1 miles of walking, biking and jogging trails of the High Point Greenway Project.
• $1.14 million for the Greensboro Maintenance/Operations/Administration Transit Facility.
• $250,000 for a math program at UNCG.
• $238,000 for a literacy program at UNCG.

Tobacco bill

Last week’s column mentioned that Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, was getting ready to introduce a bill to regulate tobacco but keep the golden leaf from oversight by the Food and Drug Administration.

Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, joined him in the introduction.

“The FDA is overburdened already and lacks the capacity or the expertise to take on a large, complicated new industry,” Hagan said in a news release.

This is one of the first major stands where Burr and Hagan have found agreement, as both of them defend a home-state industry.

The push toward FDA regulation is already rolling. A bill similar to one that passed the full House last year just passed a key house committee.

And President Barack Obama says he supports the measure. As reported by the Media General News Service in Washington, Obama told a group of Southern reporters that he would have his own announcement on the topic coming.

“But I do think that the FDA has an important role to play on an issue that obviously has an enormous impact on the health of the American people,” Obama said.

Votes

The House failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to pass S22, a public lands bill that would have designated 2 million acres of wilderness and expanded a dozen national parks. Many Republicans opposed the measure because it also would have blocked energy development on some public lands. The measure failed for the time being despite a 282-144 vote in favor. Democrats Brad Miller and Mel Watt voted for the bill, and Republicans Howard Coble and Virginia Foxx voted against.

The Senate paved the way for a vote on the omnibus appropriations bill, H.R. 1105, which will keep the lights on at federal agencies until October.

The vote was 62-35, with North Carolina’s two senators splitting over the bill. Burr voted no, and Hagan voted yes.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com