Josephs: Republicans fail to face reality on spending proposal

HARRISBURG, July 10 – As House Democratic leaders announced Thursday that they intend to bring S.B. 850 -- the Senate Republicans' spending plan -- to the House floor in an effort to jumpstart the state budget process, state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., is renewing her criticism of the measure.

"The Senate Republican proposal makes numerous draconian cuts and eliminates a fair number of services and programs that would have a disastrous impact on the lives of ordinary Pennsylvanians," she said. "These are cuts that would deprive people of their access to health care, the unemployment compensation they deserve when their jobs are eliminated and of a quality education, and that doesn't include the extra $1.6 billion in cuts that are still needed to balance the plan.

"House Republicans have been saying for weeks that they wanted this bill, yet today they changed course. They finally weighed in at the last moment and offered their own fix because they agree that the cuts in Senate Bill 850 are too extreme.

"But there are more options available than just slicing indiscriminately. We must be judicious in our cutting, while also considering other possible revenue sources such as the Rainy Day fund, taxing one or more items including the natural gas drilled from the Marcellus Shale, tobacco products or even an increase in the Personal Income Tax. All possibilities must be considered to make sure our priorities -- our children and their education, job creation and health care -- continue to be invested in.

"The governor has presented a fiscal plan for 2009-10 in which he tried to minimize the hardship Pennsylvania is facing by making cuts while ensuring state services will be there for people when they need them.

"However, Republicans continue to play politics with people's lives. An economic recession is not the time to be making cuts in social programs and services because that's precisely when those programs and services are needed the most. Republicans have failed to consider this and this is an amateur mistake.

"For example, one cannot cut jobs without considering an increase to unemployment compensation, because those out-of-work Pennsylvanians will need the safety net that UC benefits provide. The state must allow room for the growth of such services as unemployment compensation and basic health care, because the need for those programs will only grow as the economy struggles."

Josephs said that the Democrats' plan is to bring up the bill in an effort to negotiate with the Republicans who have refused to do so. She said Democrats want to effect a responsible compromise that is fiscally conservative while making wise investments.