Oct. 05, 2023
HARRISBURG – As House Democrats continue to push through late night budgetary bills following months of inactivity, Rep. Joe D’Orsie (R-Manchester) issued the following statement:
“In what could easily be confused for a Babylon Bee satire clip, House Democrat Leader, Matt Bradford, claimed his party was delivering ‘responsible governing’ in a late-night quip Wednesday in the House. Unfortunately, his comment wasn’t accompanied by much debate on the Fiscal and Education Code bills being considered because Democrats repeatedly used parliamentary tactics to snuff out debate on the matter. Multiple procedural schemes were used to dodge discourse on extremely important matters like how taxpayers’ money will be spent and how education dollars are allocated.
“In my brief ten months in office, I’ve seen the Democrats countless times wield their humble one seat majority to silence the rest of the room with sleight-of-hand, partisan tricks. Last night was especially brazen given the importance of the bills in question and the fact that we are, as of Thursday, 97 days past due on a budget that works for Pennsylvanians.
“Further, the omnibus Fiscal Code bill rushed through committee and thrust upon the House late last night added $800 million in Democrat wish list items to the budget, funded of course by you: the taxpayer. The legislation also inserted approximately $650 million earmarked to the state’s ‘non-preferred’ universities. Although the state Constitution expressly says that such appropriations require a 2/3 vote in the House, that didn’t stop the plotting Democrats from jamming unconstitutional funding language into this 11th hour, 260-page bill.
“We were promised a ‘new day’ by the one-seat Democrat majority in the House. It’s hard to argue this point as we continue to wrestle with broken promises, dysfunction, gridlock and the absence of a budget. It is, however, easily arguable that this isn’t what ‘responsible governing’ looks like.”
Representative Joe D’Orsie
47th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Greg Gross
717.260.6374
ggross@pahousegop.com
RepJoeD.com