Sep. 24, 2015
HARRISBURG – Rep. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver/Washington) today voted with his Republican colleagues to restore funding for schools and vital human services that were denied by Gov. Tom Wolf’s June 30 veto of the entire state budget. Christiana issued the following statement in response to his vote:
“It’s unconscionable to me that our citizens, our students and our state are still without funding. Because of the governor’s swift and careless pen strokes, the House today attempted to deliver emergency funding to critical agencies and schools. Sadly, the governor has already said he will use his pen again to deny these organizations funding because he knows that within weeks they will be forced to close and he’s hoping to use that increased fiscal pressure as leverage to impose his reckless $8 billion tax hike.
“The governor’s veto of the state budget on June 30 has left human service providers and schools across the Commonwealth at risk. Locally, organizations like the Women’s Center of Beaver County are being squeezed just to continue providing essential services to our communities. I voted in favor of sending them a financial lifeline to make them whole while legislative leaders and the governor continue to negotiate a compromise on the state budget.
“During debate in the House today, multiple Democrats decried that these emergency funding bills are directly against what they stand for. If ensuring services are provided to victims of domestic violence, veterans, families and students is against what they stand for, then one has to question whom they are serving – special interests or the voters who sent them here? They opined about the lack of budget and the corresponding lack of funding for our service providers, yet voted not once, but twice to deny emergency funds to these very same providers. The governor and his Democrat allies continue to demand $8 billion in tax hikes, but they want agreement to tax the middle class and the elderly behind closed doors instead of debating it in the light of day.”
Representative Jim Christiana
15th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abbey Haslam
ahaslam@pahousegop.com
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