|
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati
(R-25)
 
"Good effective government does not include
taxing, borrowing and spending. They have to be controlled, and they have to be
used in the best way for our economy."
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9)
"We can't borrow and spend our way into
prosperity. An extraordinary amount of new debt is proposed, and I'm not sure
that that level of debt is the right level to do what we need to do to stimulate
our economy -- it might have the opposite effect."
Senator Lisa Baker (R-20)
"I'm very concerned about the new levels
of spending, increased taxation and borrowing. So we have to
look very closely at the ramifications of those proposals
because I'm not convinced that's the best approach."
Senator Jake Corman (R-34)
"I think the rush to try to subsidize health care is the
wrong way to go. What I'd like to focus on is the affordability of health care."
Senator Jane Earll (R-49)
"We really need to determine what our top
priorities are, exercise some fiscal discipline, use tax
policies to stimulate the economy, and then we have to be
mindful that in the current economic times that we're going
to negotiate this budget within there are a lot of external
factors that we need to take into consideration when we try
to figure out how much we should be spending this year."
Senator John Eichelberger (R-30)
"Very disappointing but pretty much what
I expected. A lot of increased spending a lot of increased
debt. No new reforms at all. No cuts. No alternative
programs. No privatization effort."
Senator Mike Folmer (R-48)
"I appreciate that he wants to put money
back in the people's hands with a tax rebate check…my
question is why take it in the first place? Let's have
broad-based tax cuts across the board for everybody, not just
for a certain class of people."
Senator Roger Madigan (R-23)
"That's a concern to me, the bonding.
Certainly we don't want to get into the mortgage situation,
'How can we pay it off?' I think we have to be very careful
that we are able to pay off whatever bonding that we do."
Senator John Rafferty (R-44)
"Even though he says it's a light budget
and he's curtailing spending, I think we can do even more. I
have strong reservations about the borrowing he's
anticipating. I know that he said he thinks Pennsylvania
still ranks low among states with bond issues out and debt
payment; however a governor of New Jersey probably said the
same thing 10 years ago."
Senator Bob Regola (R-39)
"Unlike the federal economic stimulus
proposal, which has a much broader impact, the governor
wants to direct state tax money to a limited segment of the
population and encourage them to spend it as soon as
possible. I question whether that is a responsible use of
the tax money that we are taking out of the pockets of
working families, especially when so many Pennsylvania
families are struggling just to make ends meet."
Senator James Rhoades (R-29)
"The concerns I have [with the education
budget] is it's changing now from the categorical operations
we've had to more of a costing-out study type of thing. That
costing-out is going to cost you close to $5 million. The
governor says he feels the state should be responsible for
half of that. Well then I have to ask, 'Where's the other
half going to go to?' That begins to conflict with our
effort to reduce school property taxes."
Senator Bob Robbins (R-50)
"There is a significant amount of
spending and borrowing in the governor's proposal and we
must determine how much of this is necessary and how much is
just wishful thinking. I know many of my friends and
neighbors in northwestern Pennsylvania are struggling just
to keep up with the day-to-day cost of living."
Senator Tommy Tomlinson (R-6)
"I like the educational initiative. I
like the rewarding teacher training. I like rewarding new
curriculums. I like rewarding test results. But the devil's
always in the details. We have to see how it works out in my
districts in Bucks County."
Senator Pat Vance (R-31)
"I was not happy about the bond
indebtedness. What he's proposing just this year would be a
$1.9 billion increase in our bond indebtedness. And the
first four years he was governor our bond indebtedness
increased 32 percent."
Senator Mary Jo White (R-21)
"I think the
thing I find truly astounding is that with the storm clouds
gathering on the national economic front and everyone
bracing for a downturn in the economy, the thought of
raiding our Rainy Day Fund to make cash payments to
people…The governor was calling them 'rebates,' but a rebate
is when you pay something and get some of it back. These are
for people who are not paying the Personal Income Tax who
are going to receive a $400 payment out of the Rainy Day
Fund."
Back to Top
|
