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Rendell Urges Generously Funded Child Care
By Bradley Vasoli, THE BULLETIN
Gov. Ed Rendell today urged state legislators to heftily fund child-care programs and chastised those who authored a state Senate bill that would have provided for them less generously.
Mr. Rendell said cuts that that bill (SB 850) would have made to such programs would leave 8,000 children without these services, adding to a waiting list of about 16,000. The governor added that the state would forgo $60 million in money from the federal stimulus act.
“Without access to quality and affordable child care, these families will be left in a terrible bind,” the governor said in a statement. “Will they settle for less reliable care that puts their children’s future at risk; or lose their jobs, collecting unemployment and potentially cycling onto the welfare rolls? It pains me to think of the difficult decisions families must face without this funding.”
General Assembly members are currently crafting new budget proposals to fund most of the programs in state government. The impasse over a final budget agreement has persisted for 48 days. The governor has signed SB 850 but line-item vetoed most of its’ spending because he considers it inadequate.
Nathan Benefield, director of policy research at the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation, said Mr. Rendell probably would have been wise not to veto the child-care item in SB 850 if he cares about providing services to children.
“Why did he veto that line item out of SB 850?” Mr. Benefield said. “They’re getting nothing now.”
He also said legislators shouldn’t concern themselves excessively over the loss of stimulus money since the state might not continue to get that inflow of dollars for child care.
“They either have to cut back that spending in a couple years or find new ways to fund it,” Mr. Benefield said. “If you increase spending now, how do you maintain that in a couple of years? That’s something that [Rendell has] failed to answer.”
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
Mr. Rendell said cuts that that bill (SB 850) would have made to such programs would leave 8,000 children without these services, adding to a waiting list of about 16,000. The governor added that the state would forgo $60 million in money from the federal stimulus act.
“Without access to quality and affordable child care, these families will be left in a terrible bind,” the governor said in a statement. “Will they settle for less reliable care that puts their children’s future at risk; or lose their jobs, collecting unemployment and potentially cycling onto the welfare rolls? It pains me to think of the difficult decisions families must face without this funding.”
General Assembly members are currently crafting new budget proposals to fund most of the programs in state government. The impasse over a final budget agreement has persisted for 48 days. The governor has signed SB 850 but line-item vetoed most of its’ spending because he considers it inadequate.
Nathan Benefield, director of policy research at the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation, said Mr. Rendell probably would have been wise not to veto the child-care item in SB 850 if he cares about providing services to children.
“Why did he veto that line item out of SB 850?” Mr. Benefield said. “They’re getting nothing now.”
He also said legislators shouldn’t concern themselves excessively over the loss of stimulus money since the state might not continue to get that inflow of dollars for child care.
“They either have to cut back that spending in a couple years or find new ways to fund it,” Mr. Benefield said. “If you increase spending now, how do you maintain that in a couple of years? That’s something that [Rendell has] failed to answer.”
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
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