Source:
- June 29, 2006
- Contact: Kathryn English, 717.233.3335
“Just say, NO!”[]
Harrisburg, PA – In the hours leading up to votes in the General Assembly on an approximate $26 billion budget, the message from the Pennsylvania Club for Growth and taxpayers across Pennsylvania is “Just say, NO!”
“Who’s in charge in Harrisburg?” asked PA Club for Growth Executive Director Kathryn English. “Last time I checked, Republicans held wide majorities in both the House and Senate. Why are they behaving like tax-and-spend Democrats?”
Most troubling to the PA Club for Growth and its members is the lip-service being given by Republican leadership to exercise fiscal restraint. Just last month many legislators' campaign literature touted their "yes" vote for the “Taxpayer Fairness Act”, or HB 2082 which would limit a spending increase to only 3.47%, yet the proposed budget is more than double this rate.
To add insult to injury for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania, rumors continue to run through the halls of the Capitol about Gov. Rendell’s “creative budgeting” of rolling over roughly $300 million in welfare costs into the 07-08 budget making the spending seem less than it really is before his upcoming bid for re-election. The General Assembly is also considering using $363 million of the current year surplus, yet under the Taxpayers Fairness Act 65% of this surplus would be returned to the taxpayer.
“The Republican leadership has the power to bring Gov. Rendell’s profligate spending under control,” said English. “The question is whether or not they have the will and courage. Votes on the budget will be a real measure of the commitment of all who voted YES on HB2082 to rein in state spending.”
While we had hoped hope the GOP’s ‘Playbook for Progress’—introduced earlier this session—represented the kind of leadership Pennsylvania needs today, we are apparently back to the same spending ways of 2005 and 2006,” English added.
The Pennsylvania Club for Growth, which supports strong fiscal conservatives who run for the state legislature, will continue to work with lawmakers to move forward a pro-growth agenda that includes tax cuts and other smaller government issues.