NC Democrats say religious groups with state funding lack accountability

Private groups, including many aligned with conservative Christian churches and activists, have received hundreds of millions of dollars in state government funding in recent years. But they aren’t being transparent about their operations, Democratic state senators said during a press conference Wednesday.
It’s an accusation strongly denied by some of the groups in the lawmakers’ crosshairs. The Senate’s top Democratic leader, Raleigh Sen. Dan Blue, as well as Greensboro Democratic Sen. Gladys Robinson, raised their concerns about transparency Wednesday at a news conference.
"The crisis pregnancy centers and private schools are receiving a staggering amount of public dollars, with little oversight and little accountability," Blue said.
Robinson and her fellow Greensboro Democrat, Sen. Michael Garrett, have in recent weeks been pushing private schools and antiabortion pregnancy centers for more information on what they’ve been doing with their government aid - but have been met by silence from the groups.
On Wednesday, Blue expressed dismay that Republicans at the state legislature seems uninterested in asking the same questions. Last year GOP lawmakers created an oversight committee with vast new powers to investigate groups that receive taxpayer funding. Blue said that while the committee has so far pursued multiple requests for investigations by Republican lawmakers, Democratic inquiries such as these have been shut down with no explanation.
Subscribe to WRAL:
/ wral5
News Tips:
Online - www.wral.com/report-it/
Email - [e-mail]
Follow WRAL:
Facebook: / wraltv
X: / wral
IG: / wral
About WRAL-TV:
WRAL is your Raleigh, North Carolina news source. Check out our videos for the latest news in Raleigh, local sports, Raleigh weather, and more at WRAL.com
#localnews #northcarolina #politics