Day: July 9, 2019

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On Gov. Wolf’s Bond Issue to Assist Counties In Purchasing New Voting Systems

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Press release, Voting

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement on Governor Wolf’s move to issue a bond to help fund new voting systems in counties across the commonwealth: “Protecting our voting system is of the utmost importance. After the governor correctly vetoed SB48, it remained the case that the state needed to find a way to offset the costs to counties of putting into place secure voting systems that provide a critical paper trail for our elections. We applaud Governor Wolf for circumventing partisan gridlock to do whatever is necessary to make sure county governments aren’t hamstrung by costs in their quest for secure elections. We can all agree that we must have systems in place so that citizens can have confidence in election outcomes. Using this method to reimburse costs will allow county governments to make necessary changes to election… Continue reading

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On the CBO Report About a Federal Minimum Wage Increase

  By Minimum Wage, PA Budget and Policy Center

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. HARRISBURG—Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, made the following statement in regards to yesterday’s Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report about raising the federal minimum wage: “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the agency that provides budget and economic analysis to Congress, released a report yesterday on the economic impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour by 2025. The main finding from this report, as we have found similarly in our own research, is that raising the minimum wage to $15/hour would benefit millions of low-wage workers across the country and that these benefits would far outweigh the costs. “The benefits of increasing the minimum wage include: reducing poverty; increasing the wages of 27.3 million low- and low-to-middle income families; and shifting money from corporate profits to low-wage workers, thereby reducing inequality. This policy change would result in a reduction of the number… Continue reading