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Congressman G. K. Butterfield will be holding a political fund raiser along the coast – well, actually, way off the coast, in Bermuda.

Butterfield, the Wilson Democrat, plans a fund raiser for Friday through Sunday at the Fairmount Southampton in Bermuda. Cost is $2,500.

Back at the USA, Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican from Winston-Salem, held a fund raiser Monday at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club at Gainesville Virginia for his Next Century Fund political committee. The cost for the outing ranged from $1,000 to $2,500.

Hat tip: The Sunlight Foundation.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will be in Goldsboro Tuesday to tour the Gateway Transfer Center, Goldsboro Union Station, and the Streetscape Project.

Butterfield will be in Wilson Monday, Goldsboro Tuesday, Washington on Wednesday, Roanoke Rapids and Tillery on Thursday and Rocky Mount on Friday.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan ranks in the ideological middle, according to the latest rankings from the National Journal. The Democrat, who faces re-election in 2014, ranks the 48th most liberal of the 100 senators, or 52 most conservative, depending on how you look at it.

Her Republican counterpart U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is the 23rd most conservative member in the chamber, the nonpartisan national political magazine found. National Journal ranked the lawmakers on 116 votes that showed differences in ideological viewpoint in the 112th Congress.

Among Democrats in the House, Congressman David Price is the most liberal at No. 32, followed by Mel Watt (45), former U.S. Rep. Brad Miller (83), G.K. Butterfield (121). On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick was the 32nd most conservative, followed by Reps. Renee Ellmers (43), Virginia Foxx (55), Patrick McHenry (62), Howard Coble (153) and Walter Jones (242).

Congressman G.K. Butterfield of Wilson has been appointed to a seat on the influential House Energy and Committee Subcommittee on Health, where he says he wants to protect the Affordable Care Act.

The subcommittee will give him jurisdiction over such issues as Medicare, Medicaid, private health insurance, public health, hospital construction, health information technology, privacy, cyber security, medical malpractice and drug abuse.

“My chief responsibility as a new member of the Health Subcommittee is to protect and defend the Affordable Care Act against Republicans' flagrant efforts to dismantle it,” Butterfield said in a statement.

“I played a leading role in the development of this landmark law that has given millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans access to affordable healthcare,” he said.

A replacement for state Rep. Angela Bryant was chosen Tuesday morning, according to the Rocky Mount Telegram. Bobbie Richardson, who is director exceptional children services for Vance County schools, was picked by a committee of Nash and Franklin county Democrats.

A state teachers union representative will visit members of North Carolina's congressional delegation as part of an effort to avoid cuts to education spending and to advocate for an end to tax breaks given to the wealthy as negotiations over how to address the so-called fiscal cliff are lingering.

Mark Jewell, vice president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, will meet on Wednesday with Sen. Kay Hagan and Reps. G.K. Butterfield and Larry Kissell – all Democrats – to deliver a simple message: "The state budget for education has grown tighter, and the federal government has had to pick up," he said. "There's nothing left to cut outside of the classroom."

Jewell said he supports the Democratic push for tax breaks given to the wealthy to expire, saying that it's "time for everyone to pay their fair share to help public education."

The National Education Association, of which NCAE is a member, estimates the effects to North Carolina would be harsh:

• $33.5 million in cuts, affecting nearly 45,000 low-income students;
   
• $26.8 million in cuts, affecting nearly 14,000 students with special needs;
   
• $14.1 million in cuts, denying nearly 1,700 the proven benefits of Head Start.

Jewell said those cuts specifically would be realized through federal funding provided to schools in low-income communities, programs for children with disabilities, and the Head Start Program.

What do Durham, Greenville and Rocky Mount have in common? (Other than they're all in North Carolina.)

They're all included the newly drawn 1st Congressional District and they are all on U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield's reelection announcement tour. 

Butterfield, an incumbent Democrat, will hold a campaign announcement and rally at the Durham Arts Council on Feb. 10. 

After years of being fully contained in the 4th Congressional District, Durham is divided among four districts, 1, 4, 6, and 13. 

That new face in Fayetteville belongs to U.S. Rep. David Price. U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield is paying more visits to Durham, the home of his alma mater. And it's not to visit the statue of NCCU founder James E. Shepard.

U.S. Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill will be in Cumberland County tomorrow at an MLK event, a meeting with senior Democrats, and a neighborhood meet-and-greet.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson is an announced attendee at an event tomorrow sponsored by the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham. Later this month, a Durham school administrator will be Butterfield's guest at the State of the Union address.

Totally routine for congressmen to be out and about in their districts, except that Butterfield doesn't represent Durham and Price doesn't represent Fayetteville. Not yet, anyway.

New redistricting plans reconfigure congressional districts to put part of Durham, which is now all in the 4th District and represented by Price, into the 1st District where Butterfield is the incumbent.

Price's district is reshaped to run south into Fayetteville.

Democrats and advocacy groups are fighting the new district plans in court with the aim of having the maps redrawn.

But Butterfield and Price wouldn't be politicians if they didn't weren't planning for all contingencies.

Congressman G.K. Butterfield has named a new chief of staff to replace Tonya Williams, who has gone to work as Vice President Joe Biden's legislative affairs director.

Troy Clair, a Brooklyn native and Duke University graduate, is Butterfield's new chief of staff. Clair had worked as regional field organizer for John Kerry for president; program coordinator for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and Director of Training for Twenty-First Century Democrats. Most recently he served as an Obama administration appointee in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he advised the assistant secretary for financial stability. Prior to joining treasury, Clair was an aide to House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer.

Congressman G.K. Butterfield of Wilson has introduced a bill to provide speedier federal disaster relief to farmers who are often forced to wait several months for a assistance after Hurricane Irene.

The measure is co-sponsored by the six other North Carolina Democratic congressmen and was requested by Gov. Bev Perdue. But so far, none of the five Republicans have signed on.

“Farmers often operate on shoestring budgets with tight margins and limited cash flow,” Butterfield said in a statement. “If farmers are unable to go to market due to crop losses, and it takes several months to receive a Supplemental Revenue Assistance payment or insurance, then they cannot pay employees, purchase new equipment or prepare for the new growing season.”

The bill was introduced in response to Hurricane Irene and the April 16 tornadoes. The disasters cost upwards of $350 million in crop losses for North Carolina and another $14 million in losses for agricultural facilities and equipment.

“I hope every member of the North Carolina congressional delegation will join Congressman Butterfield and the cosponsors of the legislation in helping our farmers,” Perdue said in a statement.