Sep. 24, 2015
HARRISBURG – Rep. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson/Indiana) once again voted with his Republican colleagues today to restore funding for public education and vital human services that were denied funding by Gov. Tom Wolf’s June 30 veto of the entire state budget.
“I came into this job hoping to make a positive difference,” said Dush. “Unfortunately, we have a small group of people who are willing to sacrifice the helpless and bankrupt the individuals who care for them in the name of a political agenda. “Again, there is a big difference between watching this play out on television versus sitting here and watching those across the aisle voting to withhold funding for not only our public schools, but also essential human services benefiting victims of domestic abuse, cancer patients, the disabled and our local food pantries, in order to impose the largest tax increase in Pennsylvania history.”
House Republicans remain committed to enacting a responsible state budget that funds the core functions of government without passing the burden onto working families and senior citizens. The $11 billion emergency funding plan advanced to the governor’s desk by the state House today is based on recommended line items included in the original budget the General Assembly presented to the governor on June 30 (House Bill 1192), with no new or increased taxes and appropriations higher than last fiscal year in many cases.
If approved, this short-term budget would fund state operations retroactively to July 1 and carrying through to Oct. 31. The bill would authorize four months (or 33.3 percent) of state aid based on House Bill 1192’s levels (which are higher than the 2014-15 state budget). At the insistence of Dush and several like-minded colleagues, the emergency funding bill would allow $24.3 billion in federal dollars to reach their intended recipients, and PHEAA grants and county child welfare funding to be disbursed at 50 percent.
In August, Dush voted with 114 of his Republican colleagues to override the governor’s veto of 20 specific, non-controversial human services line items that were funded at levels Wolf requested, or higher. The votes needed to override a governor’s veto are 136. House Republicans provided 115 of these votes, but Democrats voted unanimously to deny funding for rape victims, children with intellectual disabilities, breast cancer screenings and community-based health care.
“Make no mistake, if the governor follows through on his promise to veto this emergency funding legislation, he will now be solely responsible for holding Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable citizens and those who care for them hostage in order to force an unprecedented $4.7 billion tax hike on the elderly and middle class,” said Dush. “His tactics cannot be considered good faith negotiating or transparent by any definition.”
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Representative Cris Dush
66th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Ty McCauslin
717.772.9979
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