The Budget

As we are entering our 5th week past the budget deadline of June 30, it is important to note that Gov. Rendell has not completed a budget on time in his 7 years as governor, and this impasse has gone on longer than any budget since 1991. It wasn't until July 16, 2009 that the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives allowed a budget bill to the floor to be debated.

The strategy of Rendell is nothing new. What he attempts to do is create a crisis among state employees and then use this as leverage to validate his spending increases and gain access to more of our hard earned money. These actions by Rendall and his counterparts are a total disregard for the people of Pennsylvania and do a huge disservice for the hard working state workers of our Commonwealth.

There have been three budget proposals considered in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives since July 16, 2009. The first proposal was a Republican amendment to House Bill 1416 that was defeated by the Democratic majority by a vote of 95-103. This amendment provided for a balanced budget and required no new tax increases. The second budget proposal considered was the Democratic budget proposal of HB 1416. This proposal would have to provide for tax increases due to the fact that this piece of legislation would remove over $1 billion of higher education spending from the general fund. To fill this void, this bill would propose to create a new fund for higher education. The Democratic Appropriations Chairman also presented a list of tax increase options to raise revenue for this newly created higher education fund. On July 17, this bill was passed from the House to the Senate by a vote of 104-95. The Senate Republican amendment to HB 1416 was the third proposal considered by the House on July 21, 2009. Again this proposal provided for a balanced budget and required no new tax increases but was rejected by a vote of 149-50.

When will our legislators stand up for what is right in this recession driven economy. All lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, leaders and rank and file members, need to be focused on our state's future and put petty differences aside. We not only need a balanced budget for 2009-2010, but one that puts the state on the right track for our future.