HARRISBURG – Senator Camera Bartolotta (R-46) released the following statement today in reaction to Governor Wolf’s budget address:
“The budget plan that Governor Wolf presented today is completely unsustainable and ignores the realities facing Pennsylvania families and employers. History teaches us, over and over again, that we cannot tax and spend our way to prosperity. Taking more money directly out of the paychecks of workers and small businesses will do nothing to help us recover from the business shutdowns Governor Wolf ordered last year, which were among the most restrictive in the country. His budget plan would only worsen the suffering that his Administration created by closing too many businesses and keeping them closed for too long against the guidance of national health experts.
“It is also disappointing that Governor Wolf continues to push for a job-crushing tax on natural gas that will hike utility bills statewide and chase away new investments in our community. This approach has not worked the first six times Governor Wolf tried it, and it is an even worse idea now when so many Pennsylvanians are out of work and families are struggling to pay bills due to his Administration’s unilateral, arbitrary restrictions on employers.
“As Chair of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee and a member of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board – neither of whom the governor consulted as he crafted his budget plan – I am focused on ways we can boost our Commonwealth’s job training programs and encourage employers to get more Pennsylvanians back to work, not put more people in the unemployment line. Tying his new workforce development efforts to an ill-considered tax increase – one he knows the General Assembly will not pass – creates a false promise and does a disservice to Pennsylvanians at a time when sound leadership is desperately needed.
“If passing a new severance tax were a good idea, the governor would not have to keep attaching that funding to his other pet projects that are more popular with state residents. Sadly, Governor Wolf did not present a realistic path forward today. He merely regurgitated the same empty talking points we have been hearing for more than six years.
“I also wanted to hear more about how the governor plans to address deficiencies in the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. We need to be laser focused on the vaccine rollout, which has been grossly mishandled by the Wolf Administration so far. Getting Pennsylvanians vaccinated is the key to getting students back in the classroom and parents back on the job so we can begin the long process of digging out of the deep economic hole Governor Wolf created with his draconian lockdowns.”
CONTACT: Colleen Greer (717) 787-1463