The impasse holding up North Carolina’s $30-billion state budget is over expanded gambling in the state.
It is also much bigger — and much smaller — than a proposal to allow additional casinos in select counties and statewide video lottery terminals.
The stalemate is the messy culmination of what has outwardly seemed like a successful legislative session for Republicans. And it has turned the spotlight on two powerful Republican lawmakers charged with navigating their respective chambers to pass a budget jammed with GOP policy victories and hundreds of millions in spending projects championed by lawmakers from across the state.
For Phil Berger, the buttoned-down patriarch of a burgeoning political dynasty and the top Senate leader, the fight is about principles and commitments and honoring one’s word.
