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GUEST COLUMN |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep.
Steven J. Santarsiero |
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Responsible budget requires compromise
By state Rep. Steven J. Santarsiero
As we all know by now, Pennsylvania’s state government has not been immune from the effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Declining revenues and losses in a falling market have resulted in a $3.2 billion budget deficit. And while our situation is not as bad as many other states around the country, as expected, the task of balancing the budget has not proved to be an easy one.
That is the case in part because of the magnitude of the problem: $3.2 billion is a lot of money by any standard. But it is also the case because some in Harrisburg – where the State Senate is controlled by Republicans and the House is controlled by Democrats – seem more interested in political gamesmanship than statesmanship. Chief among them have been the leaders of the Senate Republicans. Their initial budget proposal, Senate Bill 850 (SB 850), was about $1.7 billion short of balancing the budget and consisted of cuts that would have been devastating both to the people of Pennsylvania and the state’s economy.
For example, SB 850 would have undermined law enforcement by making severe cuts in the state police budget. According to the state police, those cuts could have resulted in as many as 800 state troopers being laid off and would have seriously compromised the remaining troopers’ ability to monitor child predators under the Megan’s Law, a program that is already understaffed. SB 850 would have cut funding for parks and libraries, likely causing many area libraries and state parks – such as Tyler State Park and the already underfunded Washington Crossing Park and Visitor Center – to close. SB 850 also would have made drastic cuts to economic development programs designed to bring new businesses to Pennsylvania and expand existing enterprises.
And as if all of that were not bad enough, SB 850 would have cut the state portion of funding for basic education (i.e., k-12) to 2005-06 levels and then would have used federal stimulus money to bring overall funding for basic education back to where it was this past year. Such an approach would have jeopardized Pennsylvania’s access to hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education money because that funding is based on the amount of money that states spend on education. It also would have resulted in staggering property tax hikes, because when stimulus money runs out in two years, school districts across the Commonwealth would be forced to fill a huge gap in funding from Harrisburg.
Despite these weaknesses in their plan, and the willingness of the House Democrats to consider further cuts to the budget, for weeks now Senate Republican leaders have refused to negotiate. Instead, their last move was to reject outright the House Democratic budget proposal. The Democratic plan provided funding for needed programs; made significant cuts in the budget; and proposed the creation of a new $1.2 billion higher education fund to ensure the health of our colleges and universities and our children’s access to them. In its place, the Senate Republicans sent back to the House a bill that was nearly as draconian as SB 850. It was defeated by a 3 to 1 margin, with half of the House Republicans (including all but 2 of the Republicans from Bucks County) voting with all of us on the Democratic side.
Apparently oblivious to the bipartisan message of that vote, in the last week the Senate Republican leadership has refused to budge. That has to change.
The time has come for the posturing to stop. We need to find a solution that will cut spending without endangering our investment in people or capital, for to do otherwise is to risk prolonging the recession. The solution also must rely on revenue streams that will not burden our families at a time when they can least afford it. That means no increase in the personal income tax. But it also means that we need to use the $755 million rainy day fund to help close the gap (if it’s not raining now, it’s not clear when it will be). Likewise, the on-going phase-out of the corporate stock and franchise tax – a reasonable policy in better times – needs to be suspended temporarily so that that revenue stream can help us weather this storm.
But the goal of a responsible budget will not be realized if both sides are not willing to give. I therefore urge readers to write to their state senators and demand compromise. In the meantime, I will be signing on to new legislation that would cause state legislators to forfeit their salaries for every day past the June 30th deadline that a budget is not in place. If the welfare of our Commonwealth is not enough to stop the gamesmanship in Harrisburg, perhaps the threat of lost pay will be.