Roy Cooper, Ruth Samuelson and Richard Burr

House GOP members are meeting behind closed doors at 3 p.m. to discuss accepting the Senate-prepared plan to end the unwise government shutdown and increase the debt ceiling before potential harm results. Here are a couple of closer to home events you might have missed as our faux adult national lawmakers played cat and mouse with each other and flirted with hobbling our financial security.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is firmly setting his sights on the governor's mansion with a column in the liberal Huffington Post on Tuesday. The item called, "North Carolina: Threatening Fifty Years of Progress in Ten Months" praises Democratic political leadership of the past, particularly that of former governors Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, and lambastes current Republican leadership, though Cooper doesn't mention first-term Republican Gov. Pat McCrory by name.

Cooper writes: "Today, the emphasis on economic growth, public education and innovative change that has distinguished North Carolina for fifty years has reached a sudden end. For the first time since Reconstruction, North Carolina has a General Assembly and governorship controlled by the extreme factions of the Republican Party, and their legislative super majority means their power is unchecked. In ten short months, they have set out to deliberately and systematically undo fifty years of progress. It's as if the Tea Party created its own playground of extremist fantasies.

Tax giveaways for the top 1 percent instead of real tax breaks for working North Carolina families. An end to childcare tax credits. Election law changes that make it harder for North Carolinians to register and vote. Overcrowded classrooms for public school teachers and layoffs for teacher assistants to fund private school voucher programs. University and community college funding slashed, leading to an exodus of talented faculty. A gutting of unemployment benefits when our economy is barely getting back on its feet. And a refusal to accept federal Medicaid dollars that would expand healthcare for working people, as well as for seniors in nursing homes and assisted living. This is not the North Carolina that any of us recognize. "
Sounds like his 2016 campaign platform for N.C. governor.

Lots of chatter is going on about why Charlotte's State Rep. Ruth Samuelson is looking to end her political career - at least for now. Samuelson, a key GOP lawmaker who had been a top contender for N.C. House Speaker, announced Tuesday she wouldn't be seeking reelection in 2014. She noted that "there have been several private sector opportunities develop for me since the session adjourned that tap into some lifelong passions of mine. Coupled with a growing family and exciting opportunities with my church community, now is the time to set the stage for a great second half of my life."

Samuelson will leave accomplishing many of her goals - sponsoring much of the controversial conservative agenda including the stringent voter ID bill, limiting access to abortion services, and creating a regional and still-being litigated Charlotte airport commission.

Samuelson seemed often stunned at the criticism she got from many of her home-town constituents on many of her stands. At a recent forum at Central Piedmont Community College, she and other lawmakers got booed more than cheered. Those kind of reactions might have had nothing to do with her seemingly sudden decision, but they possibly made it easier.

Back to Congress and the debt ceiling for a moment. I blogged last week about North Carolina U.S. Sen. Richard Burr who was quoted in the New York Times saying that failing to raise the debt limit wouldn't be so bad because the money saved by shutting down the government and furloughing federal workers can be applied to paying those obligations. Politico reports he also downplayed the consequences of the debt default with this astonishing statement: "I am not as concerned as the president is on the debt ceiling, because the only people buying our bonds right now is the Federal Reserve. So it’s like scaring ourselves.” Politico rightly notes that the "statement ignores that nearly $6 trillion - almost half of outstanding debt held by the public - is owned by foreign governments, including $2.4 trillion by China and Japan alone. Both of those nations [last week] warned the United States against doing anything that would put these massive investments at risk."

- Fannie Flono