In his budget address, Governor Wolf laid out a
plan to move Pennsylvania forward by investing in education and jobs to drive
the state’s economy in the coming years.
Despite the partisan rhetoric in the
post-budget address spin room, I hope the Republicans will accept the “fresh
start” Pennsylvanians called for this past November and finally produce a
budget that fixes our structural deficit instead of adopting yet another
gimmicky budget to maintain the status quo.
The evidence is undeniably clear; what was done
in the past four years has not worked. PA went from 7th in job
creation to 50th; education test scores went from consistently
rising to consistently falling; the state’s bond rating was downgraded multiple
times; PA’s resources were exploited; and after several years of failed
attempts, many PA workers simply stopped looking for a job.
All citizens of PA need to ask their
legislators….
- Will you vote for property tax relief for me or will you continue to protect the bottom line of special interests?
- Will you vote for funding for schools that get results for the children in my community or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for quality Pre-K for kids so they are ready to start school or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for community colleges and job training that train workers for family-sustaining jobs or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for solving pension issues or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for increasing the minimum wage so that no one who is willing to work full time has to live in poverty or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for a truly balanced budget or the cost of structural deficits of the special interests?
- Will you vote for fair corporate tax rates for all businesses or special rates for some special interests?
- Will you vote for taxing Marcellus Shale like every other state with natural resources or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for paying appropriately for charter schools or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for freezing college tuition costs or will you continue to protect the special interests?
- Will you vote for expanding health care for access to all working families or will you continue to protect the special interests?
Governor Wolf’s bold budget proposal will put
Pennsylvania back on the right fiscal path and benefits the citizens, not the
special interests, of Pennsylvania.
