CARIE - Center for advocacy for the rights and interests of the elderly

Pennsylvania Tabor Budget Information - Posted November 17, 2005

There are bills that are moving on a fast track in both the Pennsylvania House and Senate that could force huge budget cuts for Medicaid, human services, education and other programs. (House Bill 2082 was introduced on October 19, passed the House on November 1 and was just re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday. Other related bills, Senate Bills 4 and 884.) These bills, referred to as the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" or "TABOR," have been introduced to respond in part to the backlash created over the recent pay hike bill (now repealed).

TABOR legislation requires Pennsylvania's constitution to be amended to mandate permanent state spending limits based on a formula: "the rate of inflation plus population growth or the growth of personal income, whichever is lower." It also requires any surplus funds in the General Fund at the end of the year that are not required by law to be deposited into the "Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund" be refunded pro rata to taxpayers. The bills' supporters claim that the proposed legislation will help control state spending and reduce taxes. However, an analysis by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center estimated that if TABOR were in place, state spending this fiscal year would have been $5.5 billion or 23.8% less than what passed. The irony is that the same day the PA House passed its TABOR bill, Colorado's voters passed a measure to stop a similar law out of concern it would create a fiscal crisis.

For more background information on TABOR, please go to:

Please click on Take Action for information on how to prevent the TABOR cuts.

Federal Budget Update - Posted November 17, 2005

Here's an update on the status of the federal budget. While the budget reconciliation bill is being negotiated, House Republicans are having success in freezing annual spending bills. Even though the October 1 budget deadline has passed, there is movement on a number of the 11 spending bills required for the budget and it looks like an omnibus budget bill will not be needed. All of the domestic spending bills are expected to pass by Thanksgiving. The Labor/HHS/Education spending bill (HR 3010) cut about $1 billion of lawmakers' special earmarks, or hometown projects, to avoid more cuts to LIHEAP and other programs.

On November 3, the Senate passed its budget reconciliation bill (S. 1932). The bill makes approximately $35 billion in spending cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid over the next five years. The Senate bill does not target cuts to beneficiaries and does not cut Food Stamps.

The proposed House reconciliation bill (HR 4241) is still significantly worse. The bill is expected to cut funding for various entitlement programs by approximately $50 billion over the next five years with significant cuts directed at Medicaid. This total is still well over the $34.9 billion in cuts required by the FY 2006 Budget Resolution (H Con Res 95). The bill still makes cuts to the Food Stamp program. To view an analysis of the most recent changes to the bill, go to: http://www.cbpp.org/11-17-05bud.pdf

Advocacy Request

All Democrats are expected to vote against the bill. If your Representative is a Republican, please make a call today as soon as possible to request that he or she vote against the House budget reconciliation bill and any cuts to Medicaid and Food Stamps. (Please make this call even if you called last week.) The House may vote later today or this evening. House members are also being advised that a Saturday session may be possible this week. The House Republican leadership is expecting a close vote so phone calls to Republican members of the House are working. Families USA has set-up a toll free number to call Congress at 1-800-828-0498. The American Friends Service Committee has also established a toll free number to call Congress at 1-800-426-8073.

Often these "free" lines get busy. You can also call the local office, send a fax, or send an email message. Click here for a list of Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation. If you click on your Representative's name, you will get to a webpage with all of their contact information, including local numbers. If you need to learn the name of your Representative, there is a link at the top of the page to help you get this information.

Advocates were successful last week in stopping this bill. Let's hope that we can have the same success this week in preventing these major cuts. Please contact Kathy Cubit if you have any questions.