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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Tom
Andrews 717-783-4267 |
Majority Leader Bill
DeWeese |
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House sends ‘no tax increase’ budget to Senate
HARRISBURG, May 23 – The state House of Representatives today took the first step toward passing a state budget by sending a spending proposal to the Senate which includes no tax increases.
“The House Majority Democratic Caucus supports a budget that represents a responsible starting point and reflects our priorities, including education, health care, services to children and the elderly, helping working families, and being good stewards of the environment,” said Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene/Fayette/Washington. “We are united in our commitment to achieve Pennsylvanians’ priorities and live up to our responsibilities, including adopting a budget in a sensible and timely fashion.”
The state’s fiscal year ends June 30 and House Democratic leaders said they foresee no reason the budget cannot be passed by then this year, unlike the last four years when the House was controlled by Republicans.
“This week our Democratic Majority removed the word ‘fake’ from the state budget process; and we sent the Senate a real, comprehensive budget which includes no tax increases to begin the negotiation process,” said Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon. “We have every intention of working closely with the Senate and Governor Rendell to develop a bipartisan budget that works for all Pennsylvanians, and tackles the issues they care about: health-care reform, property tax cuts, transportation, energy independence and education.”
During the next few weeks, individual House members will discuss specific budget priorities for their particular legislative districts in an effort to have them included in the final, negotiated spending plan.
“While the Commonwealth continues to realize reduced funding from the federal Bush administration, we must make responsible spending decisions at the state level so that insufficient funding does not translate into unfunded mandates for county and local governments,” DeWeese said.
“As we open the door to a new way of doing business, we hope our Republican colleagues will follow our lead and put the people of the Commonwealth first,” McCall said.
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