Final agreement includes Montco lawmaker’s welfare reform proposal 

Rep. Tom Quigley (R-Montgomery) released the following statement regarding the 2011-12 budget, which has now been signed into law: 

“House and Senate Republicans and Governor Tom Corbett promised an on-time budget and we delivered, despite the late start to the process which is inherent to a governor’s first year in office.  By working together and compromising, we were able to adopt a budget that spends more than $1 billion less than the current fiscal year.  This is a lean, no-tax-increase budget, but the previous administration left us with the task of right-sizing state government.  We have proven to be up to the challenge.  

“The Legislature prioritized basic education funding in this budget, and we were able to make restorations to the cuts proposed by the governor.  The loss of billions of dollars in federal stimulus assistance has forced us to make difficult decisions, but those choices were not made at the expense of K-12 education, which will receive a historic level of state dollars in the Basic Education Subsidy this year.  We readjusted many line items in the budget to achieve this restoration to the education subsidy, and much of the fine-tuning took place in the welfare budget. 

“We have seen the welfare rolls in Pennsylvania swell over the past few years, as lax eligibility standards were put into place and individuals were allowed to defraud the system.  This year, we are taking action to return integrity and accountability to welfare programs.  Many of the House Republican welfare reform proposals, including my House Bill 1261 benefit shopping measure which passed the House in April, were included in the Welfare Code of the budget package.  These reforms will allow the Commonwealth to reduce welfare program expenditures and reallocate these savings to support basic education.  This restructuring accounts for more than $400 million in savings.” 

More information about the budget and Quigley’s legislative priorities is available at RepQuigley.com. 

State Representative Tom Quigley
146th District, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Contact:  Nicole Wamsley
nwamsley@pahousegop.com
717.783.8063