Feb. 08, 2022
HARRISBURG – Following Gov. Tom Wolf proposing a massive $6.2 billion increase in state spending, Rep. Torren Ecker (R-Adams/Cumberland) issued the following statement:
“Once again we heard from the governor about how much he likes to spend other people’s money when he proposed to increase spending by nearly 17% in the coming year’s budget. This is surely an unsustainable increase that will leave a wake of tax increases, footed by hard-working taxpayers, long after Wolf leaves office in less than a year.
“The governor based his spending plan on inaccurate revenue projections that are $5 billion higher than expectations by the Independent Fiscal Office. This is not the first time the governor has blatantly ignored the nonpartisan budget watchdog. Just a couple weeks ago, the governor and House Democrats led a successful effort to suppress a report by the office on education spending which found there is no correlation between increased spending to improved test scores. Yet today the governor proposed a nearly 17% increase in spending without having the benefit of reviewing or discussing the report.
(To watch a clip of House Democrats move to quash the report,
click here.
“We have wonderful, hard-working staff at the state level who supply us in the General Assembly, as well as the governor, with mountains of reliable budget information. But instead of using this information, Wolf decided to create unrealistic budget expectations to back his want to spend even more money.
“As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I look forward to starting budget hearings next week to look at the real financial numbers to create a budget that truly reflects our fiscal state and respects taxpayers.”
To download and disseminate a video of Rep. Ecker’s reaction to the governor’s spending plan,
click this link. Then click on the three dots in the bottom right corner and select download.