South Carolina: Mulvaney says defense spending up, foreign aid down. Former US Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R), now the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told the Washington Times that President Trump intends to propose a $54 billion increase in defense spending with corresponding cuts in foreign aid and some domestic programs. Mulvaney said, “We are taking [President Trump’s] words and turning them into policies and dollars.” The budget proposals are expected to be a highlight of the President’s state-of-the union address tonight ……. Texas: Justice Department reverses position on voter ID law. The Lone Star Project says the US Department of Justice, now led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will withdraw its claim that the Texas voter ID law was passed intentionally to discriminate against African-American and Latino citizens. The change does not deal with the question of whether the law has a discriminatory effect ……. North Carolina: Farm Bureau lobbies for foreign workers. Noting a dramatic decrease in young Americans looking for agricultural work, a group of Farm Bureau members traveled to Washington to press their congressional delegation to provide for a guest-worker program that will allow undocumented immigrant workers “to remain here to work if they’re good folks,” said Larry Wooten, president of the N.C. Farm Bureau …….