North Carolina’s request to put tolls on the interstate amounts to double-taxation, with people being taxed twice for something they have already paid for once. It’s unfair and it’s wrong, something that has not escaped the notice of freshman Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, who represents the Tarheel State’s Second Congressional District.

Ellmers has introduced legislation—H.R. 4174—to block her state from placing tolls on I-95. Her bill, the “No Tolls in North Carolina Act of 2012,” has the support of various groups like the American Bus Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the American Frozen Food Institute, the American Motorcyclist Association, and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America.

Part of the reason the states are in a fix as far as highway money is concerned is that Congress has been diverting money from the highway trust fund into what are known as “general revenues,” meaning they can and are being spent on everything. According to studies undertaken by the John Locke Foundation, a think tank based in Ellmers’s state, “Since 1990, a total of nearly $4 billion in proceeds from North Carolina gas and car taxes have been spent on transit or General Fund programs,” Ellmers said in a letter to her congressional colleagues.

“It is clear that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) did not demonstrate that these improvements could be implemented without a toll as required by law,” Ellmers said after she introduced her bill. “While our highways need to be updated to meet growing needs and usage, North Carolina taxpayers should not have to bear further burdens after paying one of the highest gas taxes in the country.”

Read the entire article here.

North Carolina’s request to put tolls on the interstate amounts to double-taxation, with people being taxed twice for something they have already paid for once. It’s unfair and it’s wrong, something that has not escaped the notice of freshman Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, who represents the Tarheel State’s Second Congressional District.

Ellmers has introduced legislation—H.R. 4174—to block her state from placing tolls on I-95. Her bill, the “No Tolls in North Carolina Act of 2012,” has the support of various groups like the American Bus Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the American Frozen Food Institute, the American Motorcyclist Association, and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America.

Part of the reason the states are in a fix as far as highway money is concerned is that Congress has been diverting money from the highway trust fund into what are known as “general revenues,” meaning they can and are being spent on everything. According to studies undertaken by the John Locke Foundation, a think tank based in Ellmers’s state, “Since 1990, a total of nearly $4 billion in proceeds from North Carolina gas and car taxes have been spent on transit or General Fund programs,” Ellmers said in a letter to her congressional colleagues.

“It is clear that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) did not demonstrate that these improvements could be implemented without a toll as required by law,” Ellmers said after she introduced her bill. “While our highways need to be updated to meet growing needs and usage, North Carolina taxpayers should not have to bear further burdens after paying one of the highest gas taxes in the country.”

Read the entire article here.

Today I was honored to receive the support of so many Republican voters across the Second District.  It is an honor to do the work of the people and the results tonight show that we, as conservatives, are in lockstep ready to turn around the failed policies of Barack Obama.      

That’s why I voted to give small businesses a 20% tax cut to help them get the government off their backs and start hiring again. And why we’ve passed more than 25 bills through the House with the goal of growing the economy and creating a better environment for our job creators.

And it’s why I continue to fight everyday against President Obama for your jobs and businesses.

We won’t see an economic recovery and get our friends and neighbors back to work until we defeat Barack Obama’s liberal agenda, reign in spending, create a simple and fair tax rate, and slash burdensome red tape. We cannot expect America’s small businesses to start hiring again until we create a friendly and stable environment in which they can prosper.

I’m fighting Barack Obama everyday.

Tomorrow is Election Day and I’m counting on your support. Will you vote for me and send me back to Washington so I can continue to fight everyday for small businesses and families throughout North Carolina and around the country?

As House Republicans made the case for their small business tax cut this week, a group of female lawmakers took center stage to sell the plan.

Facing a long-standing gender gap both on and off Capitol Hill, the male-dominated House GOP has made a concerted effort to include its female members – particularly those in the freshman class – in public events and press conferences.

Yet with the role of women now a key topic in the presidential campaign, female lawmakers like Reps. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) were deployed not simply to echo the leadership’s talking points but to highlight the benefits of the tax cut for women and the many businesses they own.

 The timing is not a coincidence, Ellmers said. With Democrats accusing Republicans of a “war on women,” she said it was “very important” for the party to speak directly to the impact its policies would have on women.

“I’m a woman. I’m a conservative Republican. We need to connect with the women of America,” she said in an interview.

“When we see this brought up as an issue, we know we need to come to the forefront and outline these issues,” Ellmers said. “We’re ready to fight for everyone in America, but when we see women under attack, then it’s up to us to come forward and start speaking out with an even stronger, louder voice.”

Read the entire article on The Hill.

In North Carolina, golf is more than just a pastime – it’s an economic job engine. Home to over 550 facilities, golf’s total economic impact exceeds $5 billion a year while supporting 68,000 jobs and $1.7 billion in income. Yet it seems that for some policymakers and opinion leaders, golf remains a mere stigma of the privileged and barrier to the middle class.

When you look beyond the dated stereotypes of the game, you will find a vibrant industry where millions of Americans spend their weekends honing in a skill and love of a game that can benefit them throughout their life. The United States is home to approximately 26 million golfers – and of those, the vast majority come from the middle class, according to figures from the National Golf Foundation. Today, nearly 11,000 of the country’s 16,000 courses are open to the public, and as PGA Performance Trak estimates, this accounts for more than 76 percent of the rounds of golf that are played each year.

As we celebrate National Golf Day today, it’s important to illustrate the families, jobs, and industries that have come to rely on this great pastime. Golf is a $76 billion industry – even larger than the motion picture and recording industries – and supports nearly 2 million American jobs. The game fuels business activity in sectors as varied as manufacturing, real estate, travel and publishing as more and more men and women of all ages discover the rewards of mastering their performance.

Read the entire article here.