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It’s survival of the richest.
I think of a budget as a statement of priorities. It's supposed to support working families, who are the backbone of Pennsylvania, care for the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable, spur economic growth, and allot for expenses necessary to carry our country smartly and soundly into the future.
What stunned me about the 2025 federal budget was the absence of these priorities which has made the USA a beacon of light to the world.
The budget does a “Reverse Robin Hood,” transferring wealth to the rich by funding tax cuts with cuts to programs for low-income Americans. It is literally stealing from the poor to make the rich richer.
The budget will devastate Medicaid, which will in turn will destroy our already overburdened healthcare system.
The bill also takes food off the table of food insecure Pennsylvanians by reducing SNAP by half.
The budget would do damage to our environment, by rolling back numerous environmental initiatives.
Federal funds and tax credits for environmental stewardship will have a profoundly negative impact on our own largely rural Lancaster County’s two biggest economic drivers, farming and tourism, causing our family farms and local businesses to bear the brunt of the losses.
Even if you get a federal tax cut, you will most likely have to pay the difference in higher state taxes. The Commonwealth will most likely have to raise taxes to prevent SNAP benefit cuts, to maintain Medicaid for those who lose it and to fund human services that have lost federal funding. And, all of us are going to have to pay for higher interest rates due to the trillions that are expected to be added to the federal debt thanks to this budget.
Not all is lost--yet. You DO have a voice. Your elected leaders answer to you so pick up the phone and tell your Senators Fetterman and McCormick that you vote “NO” to this budget.
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