Why a $1B surplus has PA voters seeing red

This one’s really hard to swallow. 

State revenues are nearly a BILLION dollars higher than expected for this year. Next year, the fiscally conservative Senate bean-counters expect the state coffers will be more swollen thanks to even higher revenues.  This should have spelled great news for a budget that finally mirrored the priorities of voters and invested in our future.

Yet, at the request of Republican leaders, Governor Wolf agreed to a budget that does less to help kids get ahead than the one he proposed in February, which was long before reports of the eye-popping surplus began to materialize. 

Yes, this budget reduces what could have been spent to boost the skills of our students and ensure children under five are in high quality early learning programs like Pre-K.  Just $100 million, a tenth of the state’s surplus, could have changed the destinies of thousands of children. 

But what could be behind this pathetic fumble?  After listening to the Senate Republican leaders say that we know that “child care works” and legions of House and Senate members touting the investments included in the budget in pre-K, the only explanation is the triumph of symbolism over substance.  We’ve heard that House Republican leaders demanded that the state budget spend less than $34 billion. To hit that arbitrary marker, the Governor’s proposal was cut, tax breaks for corporations were expanded, and surplus funds were transferred to the Rainy Day Fund.  

This ugly fiscal fiasco was codified by a historic vote for the budget where a strong majority of House Democrats voted against their own Governor who agreed to sign the unnecessarily callous and embarrassingly underachieving budget into law. 

But wait, there’s more! General Assistance, a lifeline to thousands of Pennsylvanians who relied on what was already an underwhelming bit of public generosity, was severed.  Cost was clearly not a factor as the $200 a month payment was projected to cost the state less than $25 million a year.  It would have afforded our poorest families a mote of help to feed their uncle, their sister or their parent who has no income at all. 

What an astonishing act of crass politicking, affecting 10,000 people that will have a ripple effect on struggling families and their communities and undoubtedly make the lives of the poorest children harder. 

And just when you thought they couldn’t fit any more missed opportunities in their docket, legislators show why they should never be underestimated. 

Astonishingly, with this budget, the hopes and dreams of thousands of minimum wage workers were left on the cutting room floor, a majority of whom are women, and many are trying to raise their children on these low wages. Every neighboring state, including the bedrock red state of West Virginia, sets its minimum wage higher than Pennsylvania. Even Walmart was onboard with a minimum wage increase to $12 an hour, or $24,000 for a full-time worker per year.  Yet the House and Senate Republicans refused to permit the state to boost the wage above $7.25 ($14,500 a year for a full-time worker).  As a result, thousands of parents today will have to decide between feeding their child and paying a utility bill to keep their fans on in this sweltering heat. 

Full disclosure: we admit there is some more positive news.  Public education spending was increased by $220 million and so too was spending to give some children access to quality pre-K through a $30 million increase in state funds. Funding increases are funding increases and at least there was an attempt to quench the collective thirst of their constituents. 

We may have no choice but to thank our lawmakers for using some of the taxpayers’ largess for children, but we strongly recommend that you steel yourselves from the heat and not drink the Kool-Aid.