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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. John Myers |
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Next week: High noon for the state budget
HARRISBURG, July 24 – State Rep. John Myers, D-Phila., today said next week could bring a big showdown on the state budget to move it toward enactment without the radical cuts in essential programs proposed by right-wing Republicans in the Senate.
This week, dozens of House Republicans joined House Democrats in rejecting the Senate budget proposal that contained deep cuts in funding for basic education, cuts that would have reversed improvements in programs and student outcomes achieved over the past several years. Myers said the Senate Republicans also were prepared to slash funding for libraries, home nursing care for seniors, child-care services, breast and cervical cancer screening, autism services, teen pregnancy education, nursing care for veterans, and the Scotland School for Veterans Children.
Myers said the bipartisan vote of 150-49 in rejecting the Senate plan appears to be the turning point in the weeks-long budget stalemate. He observed that a large block of House Republicans thought the budget plan from their fellow Republicans in the Senate was too extreme and that senators were unreasonably inflexible in refusing to negotiate revenue sources and their proposed funding cuts.
The rejected bill will go back to the Senate
on Monday where the chamber is expected to vote to send the issue to a
House-Senate conference committee, which will work out a compromise plan that the
House and Senate will vote on.
"I am most pleased to see the more reasonable and moderate minds on the other side of the aisle in the House challenge the obstinate right-wingers who cry for spending cuts no matter who gets hurt by them, including the elderly, children and veterans," said Myers. "The extreme right cannot be allowed to use the economic downturn we are experiencing to impose their doctrine of less and less government on the state, a doctrine that means fewer resources to aid the less fortunate.
"This is an extremely tight budget year, perhaps the most challenging in decades. There will be give-and-take on funding levels and revenue sources, but I believe we are on the right track to resolve the issue and still have adequate funding for the programs most essential to the state, from basic education and health care to economic development."
The Senate is expected to take up the house-amended plan on Monday.
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