Mar. 08, 2023
HARRISBURG – Rep. Jamie Barton (R-Berks/Schuylkill) attended a joint session of the General Assembly Tuesday to hear Gov. Josh Shapiro outline his budget proposal for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
He issued the following statement in response to the $45.8 billion spending plan:
“In this my first budget address, I anticipated that Gov. Shapiro would have highlighted spending or saving innovation by line item or department with specific and concrete plans to help the people of our Commonwealth. Instead, the governor delivered a very eloquent speech with very elaborate concepts, but no teeth.
“The governor spoke of opening Pennsylvania up for business by harnessing our energy natural resources and lowering the Corporate Net Income Tax, but he also spoke of spending an additional $2.5 billion. My concern is, we can either grow government or grow the private sector, but it’s impossible to do both.
“I do agree with the governor that we as a General Assembly can do so much more together, and I will continue to advocate for us to work together. While my priorities remain defending the values that make our area strong, I will fight to limit the increases in government spending and support opening our state up for business and work with my friends across the aisle to accomplish results.
“I hope the governor displays the same level of commitment to Pennsylvanians to honor our hardworking taxpayers’ dollars.”
Barton noted that the governor’s address is just the beginning of the annual budget process. The House Appropriations Committee will conduct a series of hearings starting Monday, March 20, to examine the details of the governor’s plan and how state departments and agencies are spending their funding.
Rep. Jamie Barton
124th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Katie Park
717.260.6486
kpark@pahousegop.com
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