Senator Jay Costa: Thank you very much for joining us. I’m—my name is Jay Costa, Senator Jay Costa from Allegheny County. I have the honor, and privilege of serving as a Democratic leader in the Pennsylvania Senate. And through the course of our press conference here, today, we’ll be joined by my colleagues, in and out of our discussion. We wanted to be able to provide a few remarks about our take on this exciting budget. This [unintelligible 0:00:22.8] and comprehensive budget proposal that our new Governor, Tom Wolf has put forward. As we now know, the Governor’s proposing $29.8 million budget blue print that allows us to set forth what needs to be done, as we go forward in Pennsylvania.
Senator Jay Costa: Let’s be clear. This plan is a very bold, but also responsible and necessary budget. It’s substantive, and it’s significant. What does it deliver? It delivers a variety of benefits to the people of Pennsylvania. Starting with significant property tax relief. Critical investments in education, at historical levels, again. It creates substantial job creation dollars, to allow us to reverse the trend that saw us go from seventh in the country in job growth just four years ago, to today, where we’re near the bottom at 50th.
Senator Jay Costa: And let’s be clear. It’s not a passive plan. It is aggressive. But in order for us to move forward—in order for us to move forward responsibly, we must be aggressive, and address the many things that the Governor talked about. The support, and help for our homeowners, this is historic. With a very significant $3.8 billion investment in property tax relief. The investments of basic education are, again, allowing us to reverse the negative trend that we’ve seen with regard to the investments in public education, and the performance that we’ve seen over the course of the past several years.
Senator Jay Costa: We also know that the investments in education are not just in basic ed, but rather go from pre-k, with a doubling of the pre-k dollars, up through higher ed. Which includes reversing those deductions that took place along those lines. Let’s not also forget that the investments in our social safety net programs that have been dramatically cut over the past several years. Medicaid expansion. This Senate Democratic caucus has been talking for two years at this podium, and across this commonwealth, about how we need to do Medicaid expansion. I want to applaud the Governor for taking the bold step to do what is necessary, and do the right thing, with respect to our human services programs. But more specifically, the Medicaid expansion program.
Senator Jay Costa: This Governor inherited a very significant, and deep budget structural deficit that this budget addresses. Over $2.3 billion. But that wasn’t the only deficit that we’ve been dealing with over the course of the past several years. We’ve been dealing with a budget deficit, as I said. But also an education deficit. And a jobs deficit. And both of those trends are going to be reversed, under this new budget that we’re talking about. We failed to invest over the course of the past several years, and we’re paying the price for it. Today, begins a new day. We have a new, and we have a fresh start about how we’re going to move Pennsylvania forward. We’re very pleased to be here. Very encouraged, and excited about the conversation that’s going to take place, with respect to the Governor’s budget—