Why A Full Veto?

The citizens of Pennsylvania had great hopes that Gov. Tom Wolf would be different. He was supposed to be a governor committed to compromise.

An overwhelming majority – nearly 70 percent – of the budget Republicans proposed was exactly what the governor proposed in his budget back in March. The question is then, why would the governor fully veto a budget bill where there was more than two-thirds agreement?

When a budget is fully vetoed, that means that no payments can be made to any of the agreed upon budgeted amounts for vital state-related programs and services. Because of the full veto, funding for things like tuition for orphans, foster homes, blind veterans assistance, education, child care and even cancer screenings will not be paid until the entire budget agreement is reached. Given that a full veto means that all state funding is eliminated until an agreement is reached, no governor in nearly 40 years had chosen to fully veto a budget.

The governor had an alternative to a full veto. He could have issued a line-item veto, also known as a partial veto, which would have eliminated specific aspects of the budget with which he did not agree. If this governor would have chosen to line-item veto, agreed upon programs and services could have been fully funded until a compromise was reached on the other items.

It is disappointing that we now have to hold hostage funding for the many agencies, programs and services where all sides have already agreed to the funding amount. This is truly unnecessary since a line-item veto would have allowed the funding to flow to more than two-thirds of all the budget items.

I understand that compromise is necessary in democracy, but withholding funding from essential government programs and services without a sufficient reason is not fair to the citizens of Pennsylvania.

I remain committed to keeping our state government operating. I hope that the governor will join me in this effort. Our state’s most vulnerable citizens are counting on him to do so.

Representative Steven Mentzer
97th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Jonathan Anzur
717.260.6610
janzur@pahousegop.com
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