HARRISBURG, Pa. (EYT) – Rep. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson/Indiana) is issued the following statement regarding the governor’s partial veto of the responsible 2015-16 state budget that was sent to him by the Legislature on Dec. 24.
“The phrase ‘You can’t write this stuff’ comes to mind, not only in the bizarre way the budget process has played throughout this year, but especially when I try to contemplate the rationale behind the governor’s line-item veto of the third balanced budget that was presented to him.
“Rather than holding our schools and human service agencies hostage to use as political leverage for increased taxes, the governor should have released this funding back in June, when he became the first Pennsylvania governor since 1958 to completely veto an entire state budget.
“Perhaps even more bizarre for a governor who campaigned on restoring ‘draconian’ cuts to public education, Tom Wolf became the first Pennsylvania governor in recent decades to actually slash a record funding increase for PreK-12 education. The governor cut approximately $3.09 billion from the $5.63 billion the Legislature authorized and released only $2.53 Billion to cover the first half of this year’s operating expenses for our public schools.
“Again, this historic education funding increase and billions more were eliminated by the governor’s blue-line veto pen to be used as leverage for his massive income and sales tax increases–which would exceed the level of increased taxation in all of the remaining 49 states combined.
“Fortunately, there are a significant number of legislators who recognize that taking care of the neediest of our citizens and protecting those who pay the freight are not mutually exclusive. While announcing his partial budget veto, the governor resorted to inflammatory and deceptive rhetoric such as ‘garbage budget,’ and ‘an exercise in stupidity,’ in an attempt to goad the Legislature into a partisan free-for-all when we’re focusing on completing a responsible 2015-16 state budget that fully funds our public schools and other core government services without irresponsibly increasing taxes. Now that at least some of the hostages have been released, the governor needs to work with us in order to deliver responsible fiscal solutions.”
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