Lancaster County House Republican Delegation Vote to Override Wolf Veto of Critical Human Services
HARRISBURG – To restore funding for vital human services throughout Pennsylvania, the Lancaster County House Republican Delegation this afternoon voted in favor to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget veto. They voted to fund vital human services, education, agriculture and health line items of the budget that have remained unfunded since the governor vetoed the state budget in full on June 30.
State Reps. Bryan Cutler (R-Peach Bottom), Mindy Fee (R-Manheim), Keith J. Greiner (R-Upper Leacock), Dave Hickernell (R-West Donegal), Steve Mentzer (R-Lititz), Brett Miller (R-East Hempfield) and Dave Zimmerman (R-East Earl) issued the following statement following the floor vote on the line item veto override:
“Today, we voted to restore funding for vital human services that were eliminated by Gov. Tom Wolf’s complete veto of the state budget on June 30. Since that veto, House and Senate negotiators have been meeting with him in attempts to end the impasse, which has now affected vital human services.
“Perhaps the new governor was unaware of the affects of a complete veto, but service providers for intellectually disabled children, the elderly, rape victims, agriculture and more have curtailed or stopped their services due to lack of funding.
“Recognizing these dire circumstances, House Republicans moved to restore these services by overriding the veto of 20 specific line items containing these services, most of which were funded at the level the governor requested, or higher. The votes needed to restore these services are 136. House Republicans provided 115 of those votes but Democrats voted as a block to deny funding for these services, which allowed the governor’s complete veto to remain in place.
“The disingenuous excuse used by Democrats is that this process was unconstitutional. Let’s be very clear – when they say overriding Wolf’s veto on funding intellectual disabilities and rape crisis centers is unconstitutional, they are saying they will go to court and sue to stop funding for rape victims and children in need. Only in Harrisburg can funding vital human services be called a ‘political stunt’ when it doesn’t suit the other party’s agenda of $4.7 billion in tax hikes on the elderly and the middle class – a tax hike every single Democrat voted against when given the chance to vote for Wolf’s proposed budget on June 1. The news reports when Wolf was elected are now proven correct; he is a different kind of governor.”
Lancaster County House Republican Delegation
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Alison Evans
717.260.6206
[email protected]