Governor Needs to Stop Campaigning and Start Governing
Despite winning election last November, Gov. Tom Wolf has never left the campaign trail. He remains focused on scoring political points instead of governing.
Wolf made that clear by recently circulating campaign-style attack ads across the state. Residents of the 163rd District likely received political postcards from the governor accusing me of standing in the way of his budget proposal.
Wolf is absolutely correct that I stand in the way of his budget proposal. I will not support a budget like the one the governor proposes that increases taxes by more than $5 billion in the first year and more than $12 billion after the second year. Pennsylvania’s hard-working families and taxpayers simply cannot afford the governor’s excessive taxes.
The governor failed to mention in his political mailer that every single member of the House, Republican and Democrat alike, stands in the way of his budget proposal. The governor’s tax plan came up for an up-or-down vote on the House floor in June, and it did not receive a single vote from a member of either party. The governor’s plan failed by a unanimous 0-193 vote.
Because there is hardly any support for the governor’s excessive taxes, the House and Senate instead passed an on-time, balanced and solid budget that included significant investments in public education without raising existing taxes or creating new ones.
Unfortunately, Wolf vetoed that budget in spite of the fact that an overwhelming majority – nearly 70 percent – of the funding items it contained were exactly what the governor proposed in his budget back in March. Wolf could have line-item vetoed only the items with which he disagreed. Doing so would have ensured that state-supported programs and services continued to receive state funding while the legislative branch and the governor worked together to come to a final budget agreement. Instead, he vetoed everything, effectively eliminating all state funding.
Here are the facts regarding the balanced budget that passed both chambers of the General Assembly, which I supported and the governor vetoed. That budget:
• Increased education funding to Upper Darby School District by more than $1 million and gave six-figure increases to both Haverford Township School District and William Penn School District.
• Included $100 million in NEW basic education funding, $30 million in NEW pre-K funding and $20 million in NEW special education funding. Overall, the proposal increased PreK-12 education funding by nearly $400 million.
• Fully funded human services, including $5 million for Crozer-Chester Medical System, which includes Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill. That’s a $2 million increase over last year and would have resulted in an additional $2 million match from the federal government. Fair Acres Geriatric Center would also have received $2 million under the plan.
• Fully funded the state’s pension obligation with a $1.7 billion payment.
• Filled a $1.2 billion structural deficit without raising taxes.
As for the severance tax, I introduced legislation that would enact a fair severance tax on drillers. Unlike the governor’s proposal, 100 percent of the revenues generated through my proposed severance tax would go to fund our public schools. The governor claims that Republicans are holding school children hostage to drillers, but in reality his severance tax revenues would go to fund government operations – not schools.
The House already passed a property tax reform proposal. That plan calls for a dollar-for-dollar tax shift away from property taxes. Unlike the governor’s plan, which would raise $8 billion in taxes but only send $3.6 billion to property tax relief, every single dollar raised under the House plan would be sent back to homeowners to drive down property taxes. Here is the relief that homeowners in the 163rd District would see under the House plan:
• William Penn: 53 percent reduction.
• Haverford: 37 percent reduction.
• Upper Darby: 47 percent reduction.
The governor needs to stop campaigning and start governing. He is putting politics in front of the people’s interests. I remain committed to passing a budget that works for all Pennsylvanians. I hope that the governor will join me in this effort. Our state’s most vulnerable citizens are counting on him to do so.
Representative James R. Santora
163rd Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Jonathan Anzur
717.260.6610
janzur@pahousegop.com
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