HARRISBURG - In laying out his $27.1 billion budget plan Tuesday, Gov. Corbett once again stuck to his pledges: He is reining in spending by Pennsylvania's government, and he isn't raising any taxes.
The spending blueprint for the fiscal year that begins July 1 echoed Corbett's first budget proposal by slashing aid to colleges and scaling back programs for the poor, elderly, and disabled - while reducing corporate taxes as a route to job creation and adding some money for public schools.
His spending plan also represents a slight decrease from last year's. And it is noteworthy for what he left out: He did not renew a call for tuition vouchers or privatization of the state liquor system.
"Today I bring before you a budget grounded in difficult realities but framed in the optimism that we are solving our problems," Corbett said in his 35-minute address to the General Assembly. "Once again, revenues do not match mandated, escalating costs. That means we must continue the course bravely charted by this assembly in the year just passed."
The Republican governor's second budget continued his push to pare down spending in the costliest state departments - Education and Public Welfare. But this time, he also proposed overhauling the way billions of tax dollars are spent in those areas.
He called for directing money down to counties and school districts in the form of block grants - single appropriations of funding - rather than broken down by program area. That, he said, would give local officials much greater say in deciding how to spend state money.
Reaction, predictably, followed party lines. Republicans in the legislature praised Corbett's plan as fiscally responsible at a time of economic uncertainty and amid rises in so-called "mandated" costs, such as public employee pensions.
"The budget fits the times we are in," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware). "It's a no-frills budget that reflects a long-term view to create jobs in Pennsylvania."
Democrats assailed the plan as an assault on education, a boon to corporate interests, and a blow to the most vulnerable. "He's spent a year putting his foot on the neck of working people and the poor," said Sen. Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. "It sends a message to where this governor's head is at. He doesn't give a damn about low-income people."
