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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Phyllis Mundy |
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Mundy: Budget bill means good and bad news for Pa.
HARRISBURG, June 30 – State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed a state budget bill (H.B. 2279) for the 2010-11 fiscal year:
"The good news is that the budget is on time and contains no tax increase. State workers and nonprofits will be paid on time and there is no need for school taxes to increase. The bad news is that this budget contains painful cuts that could have been mitigated by enhanced revenue, such as a tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco, a tax on natural gas drilling, and closure of the Delaware loophole.
"Many state workers and private contractors will lose their jobs. Many services for the disabled, children, senior citizens, library patrons and others will be eliminated. Families will be harder pressed to pay for college.
"The most serious defect in this budget for me is the 9 percent cut to the state Department of Environmental Protection at a time we need all hands on deck to deal with our environmental challenges. Since the votes were not there for that revenue increase, we were forced into making these painful cuts.
"This is not the budget I would have preferred, that reflects the wants and needs of my district. This is a budget with cuts that the Senate majority insisted upon. I voted for this budget to prevent last year’s stalemate and even more carnage."
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