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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Dwight Evans |
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Evans: Budget unfair to Pa.'s working families; does nothing for job creation
HARRISBURG, June 28 – State Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Phila., said the budget passed by the House hurts working families, does nothing to promote job creation and has misplaced priorities.
"Senate Bill 1466 is lean and mean," Evans said. "I put an emphasis on mean. This budget continues to move Pennsylvania in the wrong direction by locking in deep funding cuts for basic and higher education, critical state and local services and public health and safety."
"Contrary to the public relations effort by the budget's proponents, there are no restorations in this budget," Evans said. "Last year, public education, higher education, health care and other services for people with disabilities, and many other vital programs saw huge cuts. This year’s budget does nothing but lock in those cuts. At the same time, it extends and accelerates tax cuts and tax breaks for huge corporations without ensuring that Pennsylvania workers and residents benefit.
"For a second year in a row, the governor and Republican leadership have ignored the critical transportation crisis, which is crippling the economy in many areas,” Evans said. “That’s not economic development. That does not lead to the creation of family-sustaining jobs."
Evans said the engine that drives the economy, education, takes another hit.
"The governor’s education cuts put some 14,000 educators and their families out of work over the past two years and severely compromised the educational opportunities of thousands of students. Without a well-funded, well-structured public education system, we cannot begin to face the challenges of the decades before us; we cannot prepare our future community leaders to make tough but compassionate decisions about how we prioritize our spending and how we take care of those individuals most in need.
"This budget is a failed attempt at governing," Evans said.
The Senate is expected to pass the budget this week.
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