Every House member who voted for the budget also helped ease the burden on younger working families. The $47 million more for early learning will expand access to free and subsidized pre-k, Head Start and child care. Not only does this mean more AFFORDABLE child care, but it also means more RELIABLE child care so parents don’t have to miss work and lose pay. It’s a win-win for the overall state economy and hard- working families.
The budget adds over $104 million for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers children and teens from working families. For parents who are just making ends meet, they can rest easy knowing their` children will get care without breaking the bank.
Also, the budget includes $1 billion more for public schools. The lion’s share goes to meet the state court’s mandate that the state close the spending gap that has denied hundreds of thousands of low income students a 21st century education. Without that state investment, in low-income and working class communities across the state, property tax increases would be unavoidable – not something that today’s homeowners can afford in today’s economy.
These are the issues that families are worrying about.
Meanwhile too many U.S. Senators and members of Congress are making excuses for spending billions in our taxes to fight a war that a majority of Americans oppose. Here at home, families are struggling to take care of their kids because of soaring gas prices and inflation caused by reckless tariffs that make it too expensive to put food on the table.
Gratefully, a bipartisan group of PA state lawmakers did what they could to buffer families from the affordability crisis. With a the final 107-94 tally, every Democrat and five Republicans voted for families.
Four of the five Republican “ayes” came from southeastern PA – Joe Hogan (Bucks), Shelby Labs (Bucks), K.C. Tomlinson (Bucks) and Craig Williams (Chester/Delaware). All of these lawmakers have worked closely with Children First on school funding, property tax relief, health care, and child care affordability because they know that these are the issues that hit home.
Given the string of election upsets and contests once thought winnable that are now too close to call, we hope the GOP-led state Senate will follow the House’s lead and, with bipartisan muster, pass the House budget.
In fact, most Americans are both war weary and political battle-weary. Hopefully the Senate leadership gets the message that more fighting will do little to win the hearts and minds of Pennsylvanian and swiftly adopt a state budget that gets to the heart of the matter – affordability. It’s what the people want.
