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Dems rail against Corbett's budget, decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Dems rail against Corbett's budget, decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion
Despite Gov. Corbett's indications that he would not continue cuts to education and social services in this year's budget address, Democrats were none too pleased with the priorities he outlined before a joint sesion of the General Assembly today. Lancaster County Democrat Rep. Mike Sturla called it the worst-received budget address he'd ever seen. In particular, the governor's announcement that he did not see a way to proceed with the Medicaid expansion outlined in the Affordable Care Act drew backlash from Philly lawmakers.
Corbett said he would:
• put "a record amount of state funding into basic education, $5.5 billion dollars, starting with early childhood programs and going all the way through grade 12."
• resolve the pension crisis without cutting retiree benefits and "create a new 401(k)-style retirement benefit for our future employees. … My plan also suggests some adjustment in the way future benefits are calculated for current employees."
• urge a 17 percent reduction in the consumer gas tax while removing the $1.25-a-gallon cap on wholesale gas taxes to fund transportation investments.
• "dedicate $40 million dollars to provide critical services to an additional 3,000 men, women and children with physical and intellectual disabilities. This will allow them to live independently in their homes and communities."
• allocate "$8 million dollars in additional resources to provide health care coverage to more than 9,300 additional children through CHIP."
Sharon Ward of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center explains the core problems with Corbett's budget proposal this way: "The governor’s budget does little to reduce the trend of disinvestment in Pennsylvania schools and communities. It relies heavily on speculative and one-time sources of funding, and proposes expensive new corporate tax breaks that will continue to shift costs to local taxpayers. The budget fails to provide sustainable funding to reduce class sizes in public schools, keep college affordable for middle-class students, and ensure working families can obtain basic health care.” She notes that a 1.7 percent increase in basic education subsidy won't offset previous cuts, while the governor's touted Passport for Learning block grant relies on liquor-store privatization.
Mewanwhile, Matthew Brouillette of the free-market Commonwealth Foundation applauded Corbett's stance on Medicaid but said his proposal did not go far enough. Corbett's plan calls for . "On transportation, the governor's proposal includes many positive reforms to reduce costs and inefficiencies, and utilizes public private partnerships to bring private-sector funding and expertise to transportation. However, lawmakers could go further to ensure that every dollar is well-spent before seeking additional billions of dollars from taxes by redefining prevailing wage mandates and ending the redirection of Turnpike tolls to mass transit agencies. Before any taxes are increased, we should be demonstrating that the billions we already spend on transportation are maximized.
Here's a sampling of the feedback we're getting from Philly lawmakers.
Sen. Mike Stack: “Many of the 40,000 individuals who were kicked off the adultBasic health insurance program are still uninsured. By refusing to face up to the need to expand Medicaid and serve hundreds of thousands more citizens, Governor Corbett is failing Pennsylvania and creating unnecessary hardship. Pennsylvanians are struggling to make ends meet, and the governor has put access to health care at the bottom of his priority list. He will not implement a state-run health exchange and now he won’t move on expanding Medicaid."
Rep. James Roebuck: "The governor's comments on K-12 education funding were again misleading — his cuts went beyond the loss of the federal stimulus funding, and at his pace, it would take 10 years to get back to the funding level our children's schools had in 2010-11. The first Corbett budget cut about $900 million from categories such as kindergarten, early childhood education, tutoring and reimbursement for charter schools. The governor's proposed 1.7 percent increase for basic education would only represent flat funding, due to inflation — and to add insult to injury, wealthier school districts would get larger percentage increases than lower-income districts." Philly would get a 1.47 percent increase, compared to a 2.9 percent increase in funding for Lower Merion School District, (where, by the way, a 2011 scandal involved spying over school-issued laptops. Because schools there can afford to issue laptops).
Sen. LeAnna Washington: "We have an education funding crisis on our hands and it is shameful that the Governor continues to play games with our children’s futures. Leveraging basic education funding in order to pass liquor privatization is a Washington D.C. beltway-style gimmick that has no place in Harrisburg.Strong public schools are the backbone of our community and we must invest in both basic and higher education and show our youth that we believe in them. A measly $200 million allocation to a block grant is nowhere near enough to make up for the horrific cuts made in his 2011-12 budget. We need to do more."
Sen. Anthony Williams: "My question to him is, Why are we not revolutionizing how we generate revenue so that we can maintain all human conditions across the commonwealth? Simply cutting taxes to entities that he favors doesn’t result in economic gain. We need to change our tax policy. He played favorites today in his speech, and he’s done the same thing with his tax policy. He’s allowed certain people to be favored, like those who benefit from the Delaware Loophole."
Sen. Vincent Hughes: "The plan to sell liquor to fund education that the governor outlined is a non-starter and his pension reforms are set on a dubious legal foundation. Neither should be linked to education and the budget should not be balanced on savings from these proposals."
So. It should be an interesting budget season in Harrisburg.
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