Philadelphia, Pa- Governor Tom Wolf shared his budget proposal with the General Assembly, his vision for the future of Pennsylvania and the investments he believes State Representatives and Senators should approve of. After his $43.7B spending proposal, both Democrats and Republicans started sharing their views on the proposal.
“I am very pleased with the proposed budget that the Governor presented today because it gives us the ability to truly invest in Pennsylvanians. We are in an excellent position, with an estimated $6 billion budget surplus, to fund programs and initiatives that help Pennsylvania’s live the full and prosperous lives they deserve,” Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa said. On the other side of the aisle, some Republican representatives do not agree with the proposed budget “The $43.7 billion budget would provide an unstable footing for the Commonwealth. The governor claims he will leave his successor a surplus of funds, but in reality, it shows a nearly $800 million deficit.” said State Rep. Greg Rothman (R-Cumberland).
Some claim that the budget address the Governor made today is about his legacy and not about Pennsylvanians. Some of the budget items include $1.5 billion in funding for basic education, almost $4 million to improve the infrastructure in public healthcare facilities and $14 Million to expand SNAP benefits. In his budget address to the assembly he mentioned that he expected some people to start criticizing the budget proposal and surely that is what has happened. In the upcoming weeks and months we will see more about this topic and how the budget is going to end up looking. In terms of funding for small business owners the budget is looking to allocate $225 million to help small businesses, these funds will come in the form of grants.
Another representative shared his perspective by saying “We literally cannot afford to bring Washington, D.C.-style runaway spending policies to Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Pennsylvanians were offered from Gov. Wolf today – more of the same Biden-style Build Back Broke policies that have brought this country record inflation, higher gas prices and significant labor shortages.” House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre/Mifflin). Will the Governor get the spending plan he proposed? We shall see, but for now it seems that he will have to change some of his proposed plans before legislature approving to move forward with the 2022-2023 budget.
Author: Amaury Abreu
