Sep. 14, 2017
HARRISBURG – Rep. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson/Indiana) issued the following statement after the state House approved a plan Wednesday evening to fund the 2017-18 state budget that is not dependent on tax increases or borrowing.
House Bill 453 now needs Senate approval before it can be sent to Gov. Tom Wolf for his signature into law.
“A major key to finalizing this legislation was the work of rank-and-file House members from the Taxpayers’ Caucus of which I am blessed to have been a part. We spent nearly eight weeks poring through more than 200 hidden or dormant fund accounts to uncover sufficient funding to pay for this year’s budget and close out last year’s deficit without raising taxes.
“A large group of House members were rightly upset when they learned, as we had discovered, that there are hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in off-line accounts that were not being driven out for the purposes for which the money was taken from the people of the Commonwealth.
“It was very fortunate that our group discovered this money. Rather than slowing spending or putting some programs on hold, as he has the constitutional responsibility to do, the governor has overspent to the tune of about $1.5 billion. As usual, he stuck the Legislature and the people of Pennsylvania with the bill.
“When our initial work product was completed, we found sufficient funds to pay the entire budget deficit in 41 of the 218 ‘special funds.’ As we got closer to the 102 votes necessary to secure the transfer of this money, the people who had been squirreling the money away, along with the governor, came out in full force against it. As a result, we had to pare back on a few items, at least for this budget vote.
“One solution to make up for this lost revenue was to sell off a portion of the Tobacco Settlement Fund that the states had won against the tobacco industry. This is much like someone who wins the lottery taking a smaller lump sum up-front, rather than the full payment spread out over 20 years.
“If the Senate votes to concur with the revenue package we sent to them Wednesday evening, the people of the Commonwealth will not be stuck with higher heating, electrical and telephone bills as a result of new gross receipts taxes, severance taxes and sales taxes. The money is there without any of those taxes, so there is no need for them.
“Best of all, our revenue plan will not compromise one agency, one service or one job.
“Governing does not involve increasing taxes on hard-working Pennsylvania families and job creators or borrowing against future generations. I am thankful to have found these people who make up the Taxpayers’ Caucus, proud to serve with them, and happy to see our numbers growing.”
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Representative Cris Dush
66th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Contact: Ty McCauslin
717.772.9979
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