Fontana: Proposed Welfare Cuts Will Hurt Needy

As I noted last week, the House Republicans amended the budget bill (House Bill 1485) last week to replace it with their own version. While less was cut from education than the governor had proposed, the money to do so was taken by cutting money from the Department of Public Welfare—and rather than hurt the freeloaders that their caucus has talked about so frequently, the budget would harm victims of rape and domestic abuse, people with disabilities, children, elderly and the poor. 

In addition to the expected cuts to general operations in the Department, the House Republicans also made significant cuts to specific programs including reductions of $2.3 million to county assistance offices and $1.8 million to county child welfare, $4.3 million to mental health services, $315.6 million to long-term care, $2.7 million for autism intervention and services, $15.9 million for child care services and $22.1 million for child care assistance, $1.1 million for domestic violence services, $638,000 for rape crisis centers, and $2.1 million in homeless assistance.  Services to persons with disabilities are totally eliminated ($135.7 million) in this budget and attendant care is reduced by $103.5 million. Ironically, in their press release, the Republican House members note that this budget “continues needed support for those residents who truly need that safety net.”

In Pittsburgh last week, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the United Way of Allegheny County launched a statewide campaign and website that rallies human service agencies against proposed state budget grants. The Why Campaign and its website, whycutwhatworks.org, will allow local groups to tell the public how their work protects the public and saves money in the long run. The organizations and local nonprofit groups will rally at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Market Square.

This campaign asks and answers the question that Senate Democrats posed when we launched our PA Works campaign in February. Those initiatives relied exclusively on increased use of existing funding sources, used creative approaches to leverage federal and private resources, and promoted cost effective approaches that maintained successful programs already in place.

Quite simply, we said that we must identify what works and find the necessary resources to sustain those programs. Our non-profit sector does a great job of holding the line on their costs while providing imperative services to low-income families, people with disabilities, children and others in need in our community.