State Budget Battle Lines Drawn
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Directr
Governor Ed Rendell isn't scheduled to give his budget address until next month, but the battle lines have already been drawn.
"If the governor continues to rattle his sabre as he is -- that he wants another personal income tax increase -- it's going to be another long budget year," Lt. Governor/Senator Joe Scarnati told WESB and The HERO on Thursday.
"We continue to be plagued and faced with a shortfall in revenues moving into the budget for 2010-2011," he said.
Rendell says there are fixed-cost growths such as pensions, corrections and public welfare. Scarnati says some elected officials argue that nothing can be done about those costs. He doesn't agree with that.
"If we do not begin to control spending in corrections, public welfare and pensions we can not ever be able to sustain and contain spending in our state budget," he said.
You can't grow a state budget every year at 3 1/2 to 4 percent when revenues are only growing at 1 or 2 percent," Scarnati said. "It just doesn't work."
"We (Senate Republicans) believe we have to begin to control these costs because it's just decimating our tax base here in Pennsylvania," he said.
Scarnati talked about the report by Auditor General Jack Wagner that said the state could save about $300 million by reforming the state Department of Public Welfare.
"The governor and the House Democrats absolutely refused ... to incorporate any of those savings into the state budget," he said.
He added that his Senate Bill 9 has been passed out of the Senate twice, but the House refuses to move that bill.
The bill would require that anyone receiving public benefits prove he/she is a legal US citizen. He says it could save upwards of $300 million a year.
"There are plenty of people ... that certainly could be eligible for public benefits (and) can't get them. There isn't enough money out there for everybody to have it and we have the illegal aliens here in Pennsylvania sucking up these benefits. It's criminal. It is absolutely criminal," he said.
"The next governor, whoever the next governor is, had better know right up front that that is one of Joe Scarnati's main agendas. We have to end the corruption. We have to end the fraud and the abuse in this public welfare system," he said.
While saying he knows that some people legitimately need public assistance, Scarnati added that everybody knows people who are getting public welfare and don't work because they don't want to work.
"We know these people; they live in our communities," he said. "We have to end this welfare train. We can't continue down this road."
Scarnati also talked about Rendell putting $161 million worth of line items into budgetary reserve.
The only problem with what the governor does when he picks these lines items -- he picks the line items that very much affect rural Pennsylvanians the most," he said, giving examples of funding for the powdered metal industry, agriculture and higher education councils.
"We're back into, I guess, hand-to-hand combat with the governor," he said.
"Certainly, we agree that when revenues aren't meeting expenditures there has to be some sort of change to the budget," he said, "but it needs to be across the board. It needs to be fair and equitable. To completely cut out high ed councils, which is a very important part of our fabric for higher education here in rural Pennsylvania, is completely unfair."
"It really doesn't matter to (Rendell) who he zeroes out just so it's not from Philadelphia and not from his real constituency," Scarnati said.
Scarnati said he believes part of Rendell's strategy is to take items out of the budget that Scarnati worked to get put in.
"I think he believes by doing so, he can force us (Senate Republicans) into a position to vote for a major tax increase," Scarnati said.
WESB/WBRR News Directr
Governor Ed Rendell isn't scheduled to give his budget address until next month, but the battle lines have already been drawn.
"If the governor continues to rattle his sabre as he is -- that he wants another personal income tax increase -- it's going to be another long budget year," Lt. Governor/Senator Joe Scarnati told WESB and The HERO on Thursday.
"We continue to be plagued and faced with a shortfall in revenues moving into the budget for 2010-2011," he said.
Rendell says there are fixed-cost growths such as pensions, corrections and public welfare. Scarnati says some elected officials argue that nothing can be done about those costs. He doesn't agree with that.
"If we do not begin to control spending in corrections, public welfare and pensions we can not ever be able to sustain and contain spending in our state budget," he said.
You can't grow a state budget every year at 3 1/2 to 4 percent when revenues are only growing at 1 or 2 percent," Scarnati said. "It just doesn't work."
"We (Senate Republicans) believe we have to begin to control these costs because it's just decimating our tax base here in Pennsylvania," he said.
Scarnati talked about the report by Auditor General Jack Wagner that said the state could save about $300 million by reforming the state Department of Public Welfare.
"The governor and the House Democrats absolutely refused ... to incorporate any of those savings into the state budget," he said.
He added that his Senate Bill 9 has been passed out of the Senate twice, but the House refuses to move that bill.
The bill would require that anyone receiving public benefits prove he/she is a legal US citizen. He says it could save upwards of $300 million a year.
"There are plenty of people ... that certainly could be eligible for public benefits (and) can't get them. There isn't enough money out there for everybody to have it and we have the illegal aliens here in Pennsylvania sucking up these benefits. It's criminal. It is absolutely criminal," he said.
"The next governor, whoever the next governor is, had better know right up front that that is one of Joe Scarnati's main agendas. We have to end the corruption. We have to end the fraud and the abuse in this public welfare system," he said.
While saying he knows that some people legitimately need public assistance, Scarnati added that everybody knows people who are getting public welfare and don't work because they don't want to work.
"We know these people; they live in our communities," he said. "We have to end this welfare train. We can't continue down this road."
Scarnati also talked about Rendell putting $161 million worth of line items into budgetary reserve.
The only problem with what the governor does when he picks these lines items -- he picks the line items that very much affect rural Pennsylvanians the most," he said, giving examples of funding for the powdered metal industry, agriculture and higher education councils.
"We're back into, I guess, hand-to-hand combat with the governor," he said.
"Certainly, we agree that when revenues aren't meeting expenditures there has to be some sort of change to the budget," he said, "but it needs to be across the board. It needs to be fair and equitable. To completely cut out high ed councils, which is a very important part of our fabric for higher education here in rural Pennsylvania, is completely unfair."
"It really doesn't matter to (Rendell) who he zeroes out just so it's not from Philadelphia and not from his real constituency," Scarnati said.
Scarnati said he believes part of Rendell's strategy is to take items out of the budget that Scarnati worked to get put in.
"I think he believes by doing so, he can force us (Senate Republicans) into a position to vote for a major tax increase," Scarnati said.
.jpg)
Comments
The $300 million figure is misleading. That cost reflects federally mandated services such as public education, emergency health care and incarceration.
Now is not the time to waste millions of dollars on this bill rather than address the economy, repair our bridges, or solve our health care crisis.