Just three hours before the House of Representatives voted to extend FMAP funding and provide additional federal funds for education, a bi-partisan group of state legislators from the Greater Philadelphia suburbs stood together on the steps of the Delaware County Courthouse in Media with representatives of labor unions and social service providers to urge Congress to extend funding of the FMAP program through the end of June 2011. They were joined by a crowed of more than fifty people.
Republican and Democratic State Senators including Edwin Erickson, Stewart Greenleaf, and Daylin Leach, and state Representative Tom Murt, come together or issued statements with Penn Action, CLEAR, the SEPA Budget Coalition, Education Voters PA, the Mental Health Assocation of SEPA, and the Delaware County Literacy Coatlition. to say that the House of Representatives should follow the Senate in passing an extension of FMAP.
The theme of the event was that FMAP should not be a subject of partisan and ideological dispute. Rather, when the economy is still suffering from a severe recession and tax revenues have been dramatically reduced, an extension of the additional federal funding for Medical Assistance is critical to avoiding a budget catastrophe in Pennsylvania and other states; to preserving a wide range of health care and other services; and to avoiding the loss of possibly 20,000 jobs in the public and private sector.
Marc Stier, the Executive Director of Penn Action began the event by noting that “In this partisan and ideologically divisive time, an event like this is, unfortunately, unusual. But here in Pennsylvania we have Democratic and Republican state who are aware of the critical role that government plays in the lives of their constituents. So they can put aside ideological and partisan divison to call for the FMAP funding we need from Washington.”
Senator Erickson, (R-Delaware County), who was instrumental in bringing the event together, said that ““This was something [Congress] planned on doing and all the sudden they
started to renege on that. That’s left us with a huge hole in our state budget. I’m happy to come together in a bi-partisan fashion to call for the FMAP funding to avoid serious cuts in important services.” Senator Greenleaf (R-Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks County) said, “Faced with a $1.176 billion budget shortfall, we balanced the current state budget on the Federal Government’s indication that it would allocate an additional $850 million in FMAP funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We incorporated these monies into the budget in anticipation of receiving them. It is imperative that these funds be received or else many critical state programs and services will need to be cut.”
In a prepared statement, Senator Daylin Leach (D, Montgomery and Delaware Counties) said, “I am pleased that the US Senate has recently passed FMAP and that it looks like the House will soon follow suit, I remain troubled that this will still create a 250 million dollar gap in our state budget. The climate in Harrisburg causes me particular concern. I know that there will be some who want to make up the difference entirely by cutting desperately needed educational and human services programs. But this is no time to short-change our children or tatter our social safety net any more. We need to stand together, regardless of party, to protect the educational system that will determine whether Pennsylvania’s future is bright or bleak. And we need to ensure that government continues to meet its obligation to provide basic human services.”
Also in a prepared statement, State Represenative Tom Murt (R-Montgomery County), If we do not receive these funds, many state programs will have to be cut and thousands of Pennsylvanians will be forced to do without the services on which they depend.
John Meyerson, political director of the United Food and Commercial Workers, local 1776 and Chair of the Southern PA Area Labor Federation, spoke on behalf of CLEAR an organization composed of the AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFSCME, PSEA, AFT, PA Firefighter and PSCUF. Meyerson expressed gratitude to the Democrats and Republicns who joined in the event but warned that the legislation under considering in Congress might leave the Pennsylvania budget. “This is not time to be talking about further cuts in critical government services,” Meyerson said. “Instead we need to be thinking about raising revenues to meet our critical needs. We are one of only three states that does nt tax gas extractionfrom the Marcellus Shale. We are the only state that does not tax cigars and smokeless tobacco. The 1 cent sales tax break for vendors is an anachronism that is no longer needed. And it’s time to close the Delaware loophole that allows corporations to escape from taxation on the business they do in Pennsylvania.”
Debbie Plotnick, the Advocacy Director, then spoke about the important services that are provided to people in mental health and retardation centers, in schools, and in hospitals and health clinics. She said it that continued FMAP funding is a matter of “fairness” to those who rely on these services. She also pointed out that the “legislation under consideration in Washington would, unfortunately cut back recent increases in SNAP, the food stamp program, at time when it is most needed.”
Finally, Charlotte Hobson, of the Delaware County Literacy Coalition, a member of the SEPA Budget Coalition told a moving personal story about how, “I learned to read as an adult and am now a profesional because of literacy services that might be cut if FMAP funding is not restored.