Manufacturers Salute Senate’s Fiscally Responsible Budget

PMA praises PA Senate leaders for courageous pro-growth, pro-taxpayer stand

(Harrisburg) May 6, 2009 –The $27.3 billion balanced budget approved 30 to 20 by the Senate of Pennsylvania was met with praise from the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association. While the current General Fund budget is $3 billion in the red, Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed a budget for 2009-2010 that is least $1.4 billion in the hole – even under his blue-sky economic assumptions.

"On behalf of the employers who generate the largest portion of Pennsylvania’s economy, we applaud the sober, responsible, and principled action of the state Senate," said PMA Executive Director David N. Taylor. "By approving a sustainable, balanced budget for 2009-2010 and thereafter, the Senate has demonstrated leadership of the highest order. Rather than raising taxes, mortgaging the future with higher debt, or allowing an even greater budgetary crisis in the future, thirty senators today chose to face economic reality, for which Pennsylvania’s taxpayers are profoundly grateful.

"At a time when households and employers are cutting back, it makes sense for state government to also exercise thrift," Taylor said, "even when some of the reductions come from programs that are intended to help business. Closing the budget gap with higher taxes on the productive sector would further damage Pennsylvania’s underperforming economy. These pro-growth senators deserve great credit for working to thwart a budget outcome like the one in 1991, which crippled Pennsylvania’s competitiveness for a generation.

"In particular, PMA thanks Lt. Governor Joe Scarnati, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, and Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman for their indispensible leadership in this budget process. Joe Scarnati’s early commitment to a no-tax-increase budget set the Majority caucus on a principled path from the outset. Sen. Pileggi has unified the caucus behind the common-sense approach of accepting short-term spending cuts rather than sacrificing long-term growth by raising taxes. And in his first budget as Appropriations Chairman, Sen. Corman’s painstaking committee work and compelling floor debate prove that he belongs in the top ranks of leadership."

Founded in 1909, the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association is a statewide trade organization representing the interests of the manufacturing sector in the state’s public policy process. Learn more at www.pamanufacturers.org