Feb. 08, 2022
HARRISBURG – Rep. Jack Rader (R-Monroe) attended a joint session of the General Assembly today to hear Gov. Tom Wolf outline his budget proposal for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
He issued the following statement in response to the governor’s $43.7 billion spending plan:
“The governor tried to take credit for Pennsylvania’s fiscal position today. This includes areas where the state is doing better than when he first took office. In reality, that is a reflection of the steps we in the General Assembly took in the last seven years to rein in his out-of-control spending proposals, which prevented massive tax hikes.
“The governor and Democrats want to spend a lot of money next year, but it just won’t work.
I do not know anyone who can spend 16.6% more from year to year and still survive financially.
If I did that as a small business owner, I would be in trouble. It would not be prudent.
“I do think we need to boost spending in certain areas, and I don’t disagree with some of his proposals. However, we simply cannot have a budget with that sort of spending increase. It will be bad for Pennsylvania. Once you increase spending by that much on your budgetary line items, you never decrease it again. That leads to budget issues in future years when the federal dollars are no longer there.
“I am confident we can develop a more reasonable budget in the coming months that continues to move the Commonwealth forward, while still increasing necessary spending, such as in education, and not spend every dime we have.”
Rader noted that the governor’s address is just the beginning of the annual budget process. The House Appropriations Committee will conduct a series of hearings starting Tuesday, Feb. 15, to examine the details of the governor’s plan and how state departments and agencies are spending their funding. A schedule of the hearings and more information on the 2022-23 budget is available at
pahousegop.com.
To view or download a broadcast-quality of Rader’s budget statement,
visit here.
Representative Jack Rader
176th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Andy Briggs
717-260-6474
abriggs@pahousegop.com
RepRader.com / Facebook.com/RepJackRader