PA. House Repubs Block Dem Efforts to Increase School Funding & Slow Down Business Tax Cuts [View all]

[JPZenger]

Last edited Wed Jun 12, 2013, 08:38 PM - Edit history (1)

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=484033

Budget update. The Repubs have a large majority in the PA. House because of gerrymandering. They were able to beat back efforts by Democratic legislators to increase spending for public schools and to slow the rate of the $300 million of new business tax cuts in this year's budget.

The Repubs also beat back Dem efforts to have PA. participate in an expansion of the number of persons served by medical assistance. The expansion would be funded by the federal government under the Affordable Care Act. Many hospitals have been seeking that PA. accept the billions of dollars of federal money that is being offered to PA, but Corbett and the Repub controlled legislators keep rejecting the money. Many other Republican controlled states have accepted that funding.

99% of the House Republican budget is the same as was proposed by Corbett.




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Excerpt from article:

"Rep. Dan Frankel sought unsuccessfully to suspend House rules and allow consideration of his amendment that would ensure Pennsylvania's participation in a federally funded Medicaid expansion.

The Allegheny County Democrat said the expansion would provide health care to about 500,000 uninsured Pennsylvanians, save more than $50 million in state welfare spending, reduce uncompensated hospital care and create badly needed jobs.

"We believe that now is the time to accept and position these federal dollars so that, in six months, low-income uninsured Pennsylvanians will have access to the same quality of life-sustaining and sometimes life-saving health care that those of us in this very chamber enjoy," he said."

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http://yinzercation.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/more-or-less/

Excerpt:

"- Fight for $270 million in funding to be restored. If they can cut almost $1 billion in one year, then restoring a third of that shouldn’t be impossible. In addition, they should help identify resources for Special Education – which has been flat funded for 5 years – and they should fix the charter pension double dip.

- Adopt provisions to improve the funding allocation formula to make it fairer and to get to adequate funding levels for all students.

- Ask them NOT give away hundreds of millions this year by eliminating the state corporate assets tax (the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax). Tell them to delay this phase out so we can so we can invest in children instead of providing another corporate tax break."