Reps. Paul Luebke and Ty Harrell support $483 million coming into the state's economy.

That figure was the centerpiece of a news conference the Democrats held Tuesday to express their support for the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as the card check bill.

Luebke and Harrell said in what is sure to be a polarizing claim that if 5 percent more of the state's workers were in unions, they would earn $483 million more in wages, assuming that union workers make eight percent. Those workers would then have more money to spend in the economy.

"We are always happy to have more people working and working at higher wages," said Luebke, of Durham.

The estimates on new wages come from a study by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The center is a liberal think tank that supports the card check bill.

U.S. Rep. David Price, the man in Congress who sends money to the Department of Homeland Security, does not think we’re safer than we were Sept. 10, 2001, at least in a broad, world view.

In a speech this morning at a Washington think tank, Price repeatedly slammed the Bush administration’s foreign policies, saying President Bush squandered global good will after 9/11, punted on the Middle Eastern peace process and effectively issued a self-fulfilling prophecy with his “axis of evil” description of North Korea, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said he does think the United States is better prepared to deal with specific threats in the wake of 9/11, Barb Barrett reports.

But, he said, “Winning ‘hearts and minds’ is no exercise in sentimentality; it is absolutely central to protecting our nation…”

Price has long advocated what he calls a “diplomatic surge,” saying the United States should focus its attention on diplomacy in the Middle East to attract and maintain allies rather than continuing the war in Iraq.

Price spoke to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive think tank in Washington, in what his staff called a major address on homeland security.

Price also listed his priorities as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, where he is responsible for shepherding a $40 billion spending bill.

More after the jump.

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