Governor Tom Wolf cautioned lawmakers about a growing crisis in his budget address Tuesday.
“My fellow Pennsylvanians, our commonwealth is in crisis, a crisis that threatens our future and today I want to be clear with each member of the general assembly and with every Pennsylvanian about the actions that we must take to resolve this crisis and the consequences that we’ll face, all of us if we don’t.”
Wolf anticipates cuts in education, senior services, child care, and assistance for the mentally disabled if Harrisburg does not agree to a balanced budget soon. Wolf’s budget for 2016-17 is $32.7 billion.
Local Republican lawmakers including Brian Ellis, Tedd Nesbit, and Daryl Metcalfe expressed disappointment with the Governor’s address. State Senator Scott Hutchinson would like to see new priorities in the budget strategy.
“The first part of the equation is cost containment. We should move away from saying we’re just going to reach into the taxpayers’ pockets. We should just say, let’s live within our means.”
Although some funds were released to schools and state agencies at the end of December, lawmakers and the governor have not yet agreed to a budget for last year, 2015-16.
Written by Ryan Saeler
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