Jul. 07, 2015
On June 30, I was privileged to cast my first budget vote to fund the core functions of Pennsylvania state government. If I had to write the budget myself, perhaps it would have been somewhat different, but then again it’s probably a good thing that no one individual has that power entirely unto oneself.
Gov. Tom Wolf has proclaimed many times that we need a “government that works” and the budget we passed in the House and Senate provided him with the opportunity to have one.
The legislature met or exceeded the governor’s request for funding on 274 of the nearly 400 line items in his proposed spending plan. In other words, we granted him two-thirds of what he originally asked for. That is being responsibly engaged in the negotiation process.
We additionally restored funding to important programs dealing with epilepsy, ALS and lupus that the governor cut entirely from his budget proposal. We increased basic education funding by $100 million, special education funding by $20 million, Pre-K Counts by $25 million and Head Start programs by $5 million.
All told, we increased education funding for pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade to a record $10.6 billion. Let me reinforce that: A RECORD $10.6 Billion for Education! The state’s funding for education has never been this high. Best of all, we achieved all of this without raising your taxes.
What I truly feel proud of is the manner in which the Legislature has scrutinized the budgets of each department and agency, found waste and eliminated it. One example is the more than $70 million in savings that were realized by targeting and eliminating positions that had not been filled in years. Departments were using this money for items that were not in their official budget requests, and we weeded out this method of getting around the official spending review process.
Unfortunately, the governor appears to have meant what he said when he said “All or nothing” regarding his budget proposal. We presented his unprecedented tax increase plan, item by item, word for word, for a vote in the House, and every member, Democrat and Republican alike, rejected it. Again, a bipartisan, unanimous rejection of the largest tax increase in Pennsylvania history!
We then went to work on delivering a balanced, on-time, no-tax increase state budget that gave the governor more than 66 percent of what he asked for while still respecting the taxpayers of this Commonwealth. Shockingly, he immediately vetoed every single line item, including those for which we met his request. Make no mistake, the governor’s self-imposed state government shutdown is nothing more than a hold-out attempt to impose his more than $12.7 billion in massive tax hikes over the two next years, that again were unanimously voted down by every member of the state House.
After giving the governor time to consider the concessions we’ve made and the negative impact the tax increase proposals he is so adamant about will have on every citizen in Pennsylvania, the Legislature will soon return to Harrisburg. We intend to again present him with a responsible budget that takes care of our most needful citizens while also respecting the needs of the people who are paying the freight. It is my hope that he will sign our next budget bill and turn his attention to running the government.
I want to thank the people of Jefferson and Indiana counties who have called, emailed or stopped me on the streets to express their appreciation and encouragement to continue the fight to protect all of the Commonwealth’s hard-working taxpayers.
Your encouragement and the fact that I have the opportunity to serve in a Legislature that is steadily gaining vigorous new members who are willing to stand against entrenched special interests and assaults on the taxpayers is making my time as your Representative very enjoyable. I am truly humbled by the trust and support you have given.
Representative Cris Dush
66th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Ty McCauslin
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