From the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (http://www.krc-pbpc.org):
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is rapidly moving towards enacting a budget for the fiscal year which starts on July 1. The current PA state budget is running a surplus of close to $3 billion, thanks to the quick recovery created by the American Rescue Plan (ARP). And the ARP will give the state $7.3 billion. This gives Pennsylvania more than $10 billion to be invested in helping those whose lives have been most disrupted by the pandemic and in taking major steps towards creating a more just and inclusive economy.
Yet Republicans in Harrisburg do not want to invest this money in us, the people of this state. We are hearing this morning that Republicans may leave $6 billion unspent because they fear that the budget deficits created by their corporate tax cuts will return in a few years.
Please use our online tool at https://www.congressweb.com/PBPC/11#/11/ to contact your legislators today. Tell them to use these funds to help Pennsylvanians now!
Despite the recovery, many people are still hurting from the pandemic. Front-line workers need hazard pay, small local businesses need help to get back on their feet, and people need help securing childcare so they can go back to work.
The surplus is big enough to help them and to do far more to correct the mistakes of the last few decades. Pennsylvania has the most unequal K-12 school funding in the country. We rank close to the bottom in funding higher education. Our roads, bridges, and transit systems need repair. Broadband is not affordable for many Pennsylvanians. We do little to create jobs and businesses in low-income and Black and brown communities. And as the pandemic showed us, our level of public health spending, which ranks close to the bottom of all states, leaves us more vulnerable to pandemics than we should be.
We can’t solve all those problems in the next two years. But, after decades of deficits created by corporate tax cuts, we finally have the funds to start to address them. Click here to tell your state representatives and senators to use the $10 billion available to them to invest in us in the next state budget.
There is simply no excuse. The problems are both immediate and long-standing. The funds to fix them are here. Republicans may not want to acknowledge what recent experience has taught us: the government can make a huge difference in relieving suffering and creating opportunity and prosperity for all.
Tell your legislators to get on the right side of history.
Thank you for all you do to make Pennsylvania a true commonwealth.
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