OK, Governor, it’s your turn.
We recently took the Republican-controlled state Legislature to task for continuing to chew on Act 77 and its aftermath in recent elections like a pack of dogs with a particularly juicy bone. Several lawmakers have been in and out of court with challenges to the bill that most of them voted to pass in 2019, with both the state Supreme Court and more recently a Commonwealth Court ruling coming down on the law’s side.
Move forward, we said. Focus on making laws to do things that need to be done.
This isn’t a partisan sentiment. It’s an acknowledgment that Pennsylvania has real pressures and we need the people in power to do a little less politicking and a little more problem-solving. They also need to do a whole lot of cooperating, but we all know that’s unlikely.
So now it’s time to say the same to Gov. Tom Wolf.
The governor visited Sharpsburg on Monday for what appears to be a farewell tour, playing his greatest hits and new favorites — most notably talking up his plan for Pennsylvanians who make less than $80,000 a year to get a one-time payment of $2,000 for inflation relief.
Yes, Pennsylvanians are still struggling with inflation. The cost of gas isn’t falling here as fast as it is in other states thanks to the nation’s second-highest pump tax. The price of groceries is still far higher than it was a year or two ago. Electricity is up. So is rent. So are home purchase prices and cars and just about everything. People understand.
And it’s not like most people are going to turn down $2,000 if offered. But having gotten checks in 2020 and 2021 from the federal government only to have inflation climb, its likely that fewer people are going to see that gift as a solution these days.
But that doesn’t matter because it feels like Wolf is pitching a fantasy more than a proposal.
The Pennsylvania Opportunity Program might see about 250,000 applications and cost about $500 million, the governor says. That’s a lot of money — definitely more than Wolf has in his American Rescue Plan discretionary piggy bank after he forked out $40 million to state-related universities, gave $50 million in retention bonuses to state employees and provided $6.5 million in nursing student loan relief.
While he originally pitched the program with ARP funds in February, on Monday the push was for general funds with Democratic legislators cosponsoring in the House and Senate.
Why does he think GOP lawmakers are going to do that now when they didn’t during the budget negotiations? Wolf and the General Assembly may have the most dysfunctional relationship of any governor and legislature in the country. They pass a law, he vetoes it, they go around him with a referendum, and they both end up in court.
It’s hard not to see Wolf’s pitch as throwing money like confetti leading up to the November election with its crucial gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, not to mention all of those legislative seats up for grabs. That makes it seem all the more likely the Legislature will stonewall it.
So why the road show selling it?
Here’s a thought, Governor. You have just over four months left in office and precious little of that with lawmakers in session. How about actually working with the Legislature on things that will help Pennsylvania instead of a pipe dream project?
If you are going to dream big and improbable, fix how PennDOT is funded. Put your back into reforming property tax. Find a correction to the contentious election problems that will unite people and get them to the polls.
There is still work to do. Real work. Get it done.
