Feb. 08, 2022
HARRISBURG – Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) responded to Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2022-23 budget proposal as a non-starter that spends money Pennsylvania does not have while ignoring the plight of folks whose lives have been destroyed by his own draconian shutdown of local businesses while allowing big-box stores with stock market tickers and big political donations to corner the market.
Diamond issued the following statement:
“I had hoped the governor would use his last budget address to guide us past the backroom budget abacus so frequently employed by Democrats since the years of ‘Fast Eddie’ Rendell, but that was not the case today. Instead, the governor insisted we spend money we don’t have, and federal emergency funds we should be saving, in order to prop up the same tired laundry list of hardcore progressive programs that have proven to lead to devastating deficits.
“More disappointing was that among all this new spending, there was no thought, no proposal, to address this administration’s failed unemployment compensation system. Imagine that, using emergency orders to shut down local businesses and put those employees out of work and then ignore the fact that many of them still haven’t gotten the compensation they are entitled to.
“My district office fields more calls for assistance from those who have not been able to collect unemployment than any other issue. You would think that a governor who knowingly, purposely, shuttered local business, put people out of work, and actively encouraged them not to go back to work would make good on his promise to deliver them UC checks, but you would be wrong.
“No, the governor’s proposed $43.7 billion budget asks Pennsylvanians to open their already empty pockets for a 16% increase in spending over last fiscal year and 2.5 times the current rate of growth. This would leave Pennsylvania and its next governor with a $800 million deficit to reckon with after Wolf leaves office.
“We need a budget that provides what Pennsylvanians are crying out for, good education for their children including school choice, a return to normalcy of their everyday lives without government on their back instead on their side, and tax relief for small and medium sized Pennsylvania-owned businesses to create jobs for the masses of unemployed Wolf created.”
Representative Russ Diamond
102nd Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives