Dec. 29, 2015
CLARION – Rep. Donna Oberlander (R-Clarion/Armstrong/Forest) today issued the following statement upon the governor’s partial veto of a 2015-16 state budget:
“Today’s action by the governor provides some relief for our struggling schools, counties and human services agencies in that he’s finally acknowledging that a lack of state funds is impacting them. The governor refuses to mention that billions of dollars in new taxes would be required in new spending for a full and balanced budget, on his terms. The budget we delivered to him last week was our fifth attempt to get funding released, either as a full budget or emergency funding, to meet our priorities, including education. All of these have been responsible to our taxpayers.
“While this partial, six-month release of emergency funding is a bit of welcome news, I find myself continuing to be perplexed at some of the choices the governor is making. While he will fully fund arts programs, he pays little regard to the importance of agriculture in our state, by reducing funding for these important programs by one-third. In addition, he’s completely refusing to give emergency funding for health programs, such as regional cancer institutes, trauma centers, poison control centers, and programs to help those suffering from lupus, epilepsy, diabetes, ALS and Tourette’s syndrome. In fact, he’s also cutting out emergency response funding for municipalities, putting our communities at risk should a natural disaster strike. While these programs may not take up a huge chunk of the state budget, they are important to communities like ours.
“My colleagues and I continue to be on a six-hour call, meaning we can be back at the Capitol within just a few hours to finish important legislation that goes along with the budget, including his line-item vetoes. We know the people’s work continues and we will do just that. I’m extremely disappointed that the governor is continuing to play politics at the expense of real people – all in an attempt to fund his appetite for increased spending.”
Representative Donna Oberlander
63rd District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Jennifer Keaton
717.705.2094
jkeaton@pahousegop.com
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