Erie County Times

Pennsylvania State Sen. Dan Laughlin, D-49th, called the budget proposal delivered Feb. 8 by Gov. Tom Wolf, “sheer fantasy,” and said legislators will fight it.

In a news release from his office shortly after Wolf’s speech delivering a $43.7-billion spending plan for 2023-24, Laughlin bashed the governor for spending increases and potentially damaging the Northern Pennsylvania Regional College system.

“While I appreciate Gov. Tom Wolf’s spending plan for the coming fiscal year is only a proposal that will be the subject of discussion and negotiation during the next several months, I can’t believe a governor who sets himself up as a champion of education would eliminate the funding for an important higher education institution in northern Pennsylvania,” Laughlin said in the release.

“Gov. Wolf zeroes out the funding of the (NPRC), an institution that offers a convenient, affordable and needed college opportunity for students throughout our northern Pennsylvania communities,” Laughlin said. 

Laughlin vowed to make sure NPRC continues to get funded, and that the state as a whole “gets a state budget that meets the core responsibilities of government without creating more financial problems for every Pennsylvanian.” 

Other Democrats have agreed.

In a tweet shortly after Wolf’s speech, Pennsylvania State Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th, said lawmakers “won’t let” Wolf’s budget proposal happen, claiming that it puts too much of a debt burden on taxpayers.

Mensch claimed that Wolf’s plan would produce a $13 billion state deficit for 2026-27.

In his speech, Wolf claimed to turn a $2-3 billion structural budget deficit into a $2-3 billion surplus. 

“We are no longer digging out of a hole. We’re ready to build,” Wolf said in his address, adding that “at long last, our fiscal house is in order.”

Wolf also proposed raising the state’s minimum wage to $12, saying that the current rate of $7.25 per hour is “embarrassing.”

“Refusing to address the problem won’t make it go away,” he added.

According to the release from Laughlin’s office, state Senators will hold budget hearings over the coming weeks to produce “a more responsible budget.”