RALEIGH, N.C. — Governor Bev Perdue is expected to sign a $19 billion dollar budget Thursday or Friday. A spokesperson for Perdue said she was still reviewing the bill as of lunchtime Thursday, and that there will be no public signing ceremony.The state Republican Party harshly criticized the bill and the whole budget process at a press conference that morning.

“I predict that as the bill was concocted and written behind closed doors, it will be signed behind closed doors,” said Tom Fetzer, NCGOP chairman. “I also predict the pens used to sign it will not be sought by people as keepsakes.”

Republicans accuse Democrats of passing a budget full of wasteful spending, unneccessary taxes, and cuts to education.

“To raise taxes in a recession, to raise taxes when unemployment is at an all-time high, when one in ten North Carolinians are jobless, and to reduce spending on our number one priority– education– is absurd,” Fetzer said.

Fetzer said he opposes spending on things like a $25 million Nags Head Fishing Pier project, $10 million to give out-of-state athletes tuition breaks at UNC universities, and an $84 million allocation for  the Wildlife Resources Commission that includes money for land acquisition.