The state House remembered fallen soldiers today.

The House clerk read aloud the names of soldiers from North Carolina who died in Iraq and Afghanistan since May of 2008 in a joint resolution to express its "profound gratitude" for their sacrifices.

Several legislators praised the soldiers, but one had a more personal reason to remember.

Rep. Ronnie Sutton, a Robeson County Democrat, said the fewest words but had the most emotional impact of any of the speakers.

"I direct your attention to page 3, line 27," he said, noting the spot where the name of Lance Cpl. Jeriad P. Jacobs of Clayton was listed. "That's my nephew."

After gathering himself for a moment, he went on: "He's a 19-year-old Marine, the only son of my sister Janet. He was killed while on patrol after less than three months in Iraq. Thank you."

Vice President Joe Biden told members of the Army's 18th Airborne Corps this morning that their work in Iraq has helped give the government there a "fighting chance" to survive.

Biden helped welcome several hundred members of the unit home from Iraq in a ceremony on the 82nd Airborne Division's main parade field at Fort Bragg. The ceremony, more elaborate than most for returning troops, was attended by about 1,700 people.

"Because of all the work you've done, I am absolutely confident that the Iraqis are in a much better position to take responsibility for their own security," Biden told the soldiers. "You did more than I suspect you even know."

Biden, accompanied by his wife, Jill Biden, is making his second visit to North Carolina this month.

Last week, he accompanied U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to Faison and Pikeville in Eastern North Carolina to discuss how the stimulus package would help rural America.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan will be with Vice President Joe Biden today in Fayetteville to welcome home the 18th Airborne Corps home from Iraq.

Hagan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is standing with the Obama administration’s foreign policy in other ways as well, Rob Christensen reports.

"I think the fact that we are drawing down troops in Iraq is good," Hagan said in an interview this week. She also has a personal interest with a nephew who is serving with the Army in Iraq.

She also supports the Obama efforts to put more troops into Afghanistan, particularly efforts to go after Al Qaeda in the rough mountain ranges bordering Pakistan. But she also worries about the long-term committment of military action in the region.

"It's good that Obama has been listening the generals on the ground in putting together a plan to go forward," Hagan said. "I'm obviously concerned about the long-term significance of it.

"But I certainly do support him in this effort," she said.

She would also like to see the NATO nations increase their in the region, so the U.S. does not have to do it alone.

Vice President Joe Biden will return to North Carolina Wednesday to welcome home troops from Iraq.

Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill Biden, will speak at a welcome home ceremony at Fort Bragg for the XVIII Airborne Corps back which is returning from Iraq, Rob Christensen reports.

This is the unit's second deployment to Iraq.

His visit will come week after Biden, along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, visited Faison and Pikeville in Eastern North Carolina to discuss how the stimulus package would help rural America.

Back in February, President Obama traveled to Camp Lejuene to announce administration plans to gradually withdraw combat troops from Iraq. Now Biden is welcoming some of those troops home.

President Obama got the loudest applause for saying he would raise military pay.

Speaking at the Camp Lejeune Marine base today, the president received tentative, but growing applause when he pledged to remove combat brigades from Iraq in 2010 and all U.S. troops by 2011.

When his speech turned away from foreign policy and onto military policy, almost every sentence became an applause line.

The crowd of Marines and select family members clapped when Obama said that they had volunteered "when so many people and institutions have acted irresponsibly."

They applauded when he said he would make military families "a top priority," provide child care and new hospital facilities and implement a "21st Century G.I. Bill."

But they went wild when he said he would raise their pay.

"I figured that'd be an applause line," Obama ad-libbed afterward.

As he was closing, Obama received applause for one other line that touched on both foreign and military policy.

"As long as I am your Commander-in-Chief, I promise you that I will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary, and provide you with the equipment and support you need to get the job done," he said.

President Obama outlined his plan for the end of the Iraq war.

Speaking at the Camp Lejeune Marine base today, Obama told a group of at least 2,600 Marines and their family members that the United States will remove combat brigades over the next 18 months.

"Let me say this as plainly as I can: By Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," he said, drawing a tentative burst of applause from the Marines.

Obama said he was extending the 16-month timeline he proposed as a candidate to 18 months after a review of conditions in Iraq by his national security team.

Though the combat brigades may leave, Obama said that he would leave behind a force of 35,000 to 50,000 troops for a transitional force that would train and advise the Iraqi Security Forces, conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions and protect U.S. civilian efforts in the country.

He said he would remove all U.S. troops by the end of 2011, drawing another round of applause.

"The drawdown of our military should send a clear signal that Iraq's future is now it's own responsibility," he said.

President Obama will arrive in North Carolina this morning.

Air Force One will land at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station near Havelock, N.C., at 11:10 a.m.

Obama is scheduled to speak at the nearby Camp Lejeune Marine base a half-hour later.

He is expected to announce that a substantial number of the roughly 100,000 U.S. combat troops scheduled to leave Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, will instead stay through the end of the year.

That suggests the withdrawal of U.S. troops may be more backloaded than previously expected, with more troops leaving later. 

Dome will be live-blogging from the event. 

Gov. Beverly Perdue is scheduled to meet with President Obama Friday during his trip to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base, according to her office.

This will be her second meeting with the president this week. Earlier, she was in Washington attending a meeting of the National Governors Association. While in D.C., she attended a White House dinner thrown for the governors, Rob Christensen reports.

Sen. Kay Hagan is also planning to be with Obama, who is expected  to outline his plans for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson, was one of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus who met Thursday with Obama in the White House.

Butterfield said asked the president to protect working families from any financial fallout from the greenhouse gas reduction policy.

"When climate change legislation is enacted, poor people could be forced to bear a disproportionate share of the pain," Butterfield said. "We have an obligation to avoid this."

* Gov. Beverly Perdue ordered proposals for deeper cuts to state government, including "The Lost Colony" drama and the High Point Furniture Market.

* Senate Finance co-chair David Hoyle is worried that the federal stimulus money is not enough to fix a potential $3 billion state budget hole.

* President Obama's speech at Camp Lejeune will be on "the way forward" in Iraq, expected to include more details on 19-month withdrawal plan.

* Democratic polling firm in Raleigh stirs up the blood of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh for tracking how women felt about him.

An East Chapel Hill High School graduate will be among two dozen guests sitting with First Lady Michelle Obama at tonight's speech before a joint session of Congress.

Marine Sgt. John E. Rice, who was born in Bethesda, Md., and lived part of his childhood in Chapel Hill, graduated from high school there in 2003, Barb Barrett reports.

He went on to attend the University of Maryland and join the Marines, training at both Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He deployed to Iraq in April 2008 and was injured last July when a landmine exploded while he was on foot patrol.

Rice now resides in Bethesda, where he is being treated for his injuries.