The Republican-controlled Senate has proposed devastating and ill-advised budget cuts. Under the guise of “fiscal responsibility,” they put some of our most urgent priorities at risk: job creation, education, aiding seniors and protecting our safety net. If Pennsylvania is going to overcome the challenges it faces, it's imperative that the Republican agenda undergoes a serious makeover.

At a pivotal point in Pennsylvania's history, Senate Republicans have forgotten about the middle class people who are the backbone of this great commonwealth. Their proposals will undoubtedly result in unnecessary and unprecedented hardship for the hard working people of Pennsylvania. It's irresponsible to cut funding for education, health care and especially job growth when we face the highest unemployment since the Great Depression.

These Republican policies will fail. At this crucial moment, Pennsylvania cannot afford to fail.

The most hypocritical element to the Republican agenda is its call for “shared sacrifice.” Pennsylvanians have not been fooled:  Republican spending plans do not share pain evenly. They balance the budget on the backs of children, on the backs of seniors and on the backs of the middle class. Meanwhile, the thought of eliminating tax breaks for corporations is off the table. It is unconscionable to ask the working people of Pennsylvania to sacrifice while the largest companies in the state get a pass. We can't have a Senate that puts corporate profits and special interests ahead of the people it was elected to serve.

The Republican-controlled government in Harrisburg refuses to sufficiently allocate the state's growing revenue surplus that could be used to alleviate cuts to vital programs. The governor’s office is not one of those vital programs, but that has not stopped Corbett from giving his staff a pay raise while teachers accept pay freezes across the state. 

In response to the Republican proposal, Senate Democrats have offered some common sense alternatives. They identified millions in potential savings—which can be combined with the growing surplus—to maintain funding for education, early childhood development and healthcare, and to get Pennsylvania back to work.

The Democrats of the Pennsylvania Senate have put together a plan of proven ideas to save the commonwealth money without leaving its middle and working class families out in the cold. If their Republican colleagues have their way, the result could be catastrophic.