Today also on cspan3. The senate will gavel and at noon eastern, about 15 minutes from now. Live coverage on cspan2. Right now the pennsylvania democrat Governor Tom Wolf recently gave his annual budget address focusing in on the states budget gap. Investment in education, Senior Services and infrastructure. This took place last week in harrisburg. [applause] thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Lieutenant governor stack, speaker turzai, president scarnati, leader corman, leader costa, leader reed, leader dermody, members of the general assembly, invited guests, friends and family. Mom. [laughter] [applause] and most importantly, my fellow pennsylvanians. I have always believed in the potential of our great commonwealth. Pennsylvania is where i grew up. Its where frances and i raised two wonderful daughters. Its where i signed the backs of paychecks as a forklift operator, and where i signed the fronts of paychecks after i bought the family business. Pennsylvania should be a place where anyone who wants a good job can find one, a place where businesses large and small can grow and thrive, a place where every family can pass on greater opportunities to the next generation. When i first ran for governor, i met so many pennsylvanians who believed in our potential, too. Even if they, themselves, were hurting, struggling to get back on their feet in the wake of the great recession, they loved our commonwealth, and they believed that a Brighter Future was possible here. But they felt like harrisburg wasnt doing its part to help build that Brighter Future. And they were right. Thats why i promised to be a different kind of governor who would bring a different approach, because i knew that we couldnt keep doing things the same old way here in harrisburg and expect different results. Over the last two years, weve begun to make progress. And even better, weve been able to make progress together. We came together to pass a historic liquor reform bill. I didnt do that. We did that. We came together to bring relief to suffering children by passing medical marijuana, something people in this building have been fighting for since long before i got here. I didnt do that. We did it. Today, pennsylvanias schools are beginning to recover from years of chronic underfunding. Weve taken a new, more aggressive, more effective approach to fighting back against the heroin and Opioid Epidemic ravaging our communities. And im proud to say, there are 82,000 more pennsylvanians working than there were two years ago. [applause] i didnt do that. We did that. But theres still work to be done to help pennsylvanians build a Brighter Future. And yes, theres still work to be done when it comes to making harrisburg work better for the people it serves. And theres no better example than the issue at hand today our state budget. Our commonwealth has been operating with a structural deficit for a long time. That means harrisburg has been living beyond its means. Households cant do that, and neither can we. Harrisburgs past failure to address that deficit led to devastating cuts in education, made our Senior Citizens more vulnerable, and prevented our economy from reaching its full potential. To pennsylvanians, it seemed like the budget always brought out the worst in harrisburg. Politicians always found a way to avoid making the tough decisions. Special interests always found a way to avoid giving up their special privileges. And taxpayers always woundup holding the bag, forced to choose between paying higher taxes or settling for worse services. Harrisburgs inability to solve these problems responsibly put our Education System, our economy, and our families at risk. Pennsylvanians deserve better, and we must continue to deliver for them. As governor, ive pushed for a different approach, one that puts schools and seniors first, because i believe that, if were going to help pennsylvania fulfill its potential, we cant go back to forcing our children and our parents to pay the price for harrisburgs failures. Nor can we go back to the practices that created this problem in the first place. Nor, for that matter, can we go back to saddling pennsylvania families working hard to get by with the bill for a mess they didnt make. So im offering a Budget Proposal that represents a responsible solution to our deficit challenge, and a different approach from the way things have been done in harrisburg for almost a generation. Lets start here. In my proposed budget there are no broadbased tax increases. [applause] at the same time my budget protects the investments weve made in education, in Senior Services, in fighting the scourge of opioids, and in growing pennsylvanias economy. And it sets our commonwealth on a sustainable fiscal course that will grow our paltry Rainy Day Fund from 245,000 today to almost 500 million by 2022. How . By reforming our State Government, and by making harrisburg work smarter. One of my first acts as governor two years ago was to identify 150 million we could save by making our State Government more efficient, everything from negotiating for lower prices from vendors to putting Voter Registration online to streamlining the process for outgoing mail. This budget goes even further. In fact, it contains the largest cuts to, and consolidations of, government bureaucracy in our history. [applause] some of these reforms are simply long overdue common sense measures, like centralizing shared Services LikeHuman Resources and information technology, selling property the state owns but doesnt use, or consolidating Pension Funds to save millions that used to flow into the pockets of too many wall street financial managers. Some of these reforms reflect new thinking on how we can cut costs without reducing the level of service we provide to pennsylvanians, like merging departments under one roof, or offering a new Early Retirement Program to modernize our state workforce. And yes, some of these reforms involve gritting our teeth and tightening our belts, like eliminating funding for bureaucratic positions that are currently vacant. But streamlining our State Government doesnt mean reducing the services it provides. In fact, it can improve services. For example, my proposal streamlines the various programs designed to help Small Businesses get off the ground by creating a single point of contact to help Small Business owners cut through red tape and start creating jobs. By identifying specific programs that could be working more efficiently, and others that are no longer working at all, this budget proposes reforms that, altogether, will save taxpayers more than 2 billion. Thats right, 2 billion. [applause] thats money we can use not only to protect the funding weve restored for education, but to provide more options for seniors so they can stay in their homes while receiving the care they need, make new jobcreating investments in manufacturing and workforce development, and help communities ravaged by heroin and opioid abuse. This proposal also closes corporate loopholes that have helped Big Companies avoid paying their share. [applause] thank you. Look, i have nothing against successful businesses. I used to run one. But pennsylvania families are already paying too much to help fund our government. And when big corporations get special treatment, pennsylvania families and Small Businesses wind up shouldering more of a burden than they should. Thats why ive fought to close these loopholes from the beginning. Today, and in the days and weeks to come, well have a chance to sit down and discuss this budget in depth. But i believe that any debate about budgets is, at its core, really a debate about priorities. And the budget ive proposed reflects my belief that there should be no greater priority for our government than educating our children. [applause] after all, if you ask pennsylvanians about their top priority, the odds are that, if theyre parents or grandparents, theyll start by telling you about their kids, or their grandkids. Im honored beyond words to serve as pennsylvanias governor, but the most important job i have ever had is being sarah and katies father. [applause] and i know the same is true for everyone in this chamber who has had the incredible fortune to be a parent. There isnt a single one of you not one republican, not one democrat, who wouldnt do anything for your kids. Frances and i sent our girls to Public Schools in york county. There we watched them grow and learn and discover who they were, thanks in no small part to some incredible teachers. We watched them earn the opportunity to go off to college. We watched them build careers of their own, sarah as an architect, and katie as a geologist. So when, five years ago, our State Government cut a billion dollars from public education, we like so many parents all across pennsylvania, were horrified. Teachers were being laid off by the hundreds, schools were pushed to the brink of closing, and the same Education System that had given my kids so much opportunity was being set up by harrisburg to fail. As i traveled the state, i found that i wasnt alone in that fear. I met brilliant students who were being held back because their schools didnt have enough textbooks heck, some schools i visited couldnt even afford enough toilet paper. I met parents who worried that the School Buildings they sent their kids off to every day werent safe. I met teachers who were being asked to do more and more with less and less and then being told they were overpaid. Over the past two years, weve taken a different approach. Instead of allowing schools to become the First Casualty of our budget deficit, weve made them our first priority. [applause] weve undone nearly twothirds of those shortsighted cuts to our Public School system. In fact, weve made the largest investment in education in the history of the commonwealth. Struggling schools in place peart and teachers dont have to worry about whether the school doors will open at somers and. And when i travel the state now, i visit more and more School Districts where, instead of scrambling to make ends meet, theyre expanding the programs available to students, and expanding the opportunities these students will have once they graduate. For example, in the Dover Area School district, theyve created more career and Technical Education programs ranging from agriculture to accounting to geospatial technology. More than 200 students are now enrolled in these programs, many of them earning College Credits while still in high School Thanks to partnerships with postsecondary institutions. And theyve done it without raising local taxes one dime. And in the Jersey Shore Area School district, theyve used new funding to further develop their learning pathways curriculum, which helps prepare High School Students for careers in business, human services, and industrial technology. Next up will be an expanded Health Science program. Meanwhile, in mifflintown, the Juniata CountySchool District was just named to the College Boards ap district honor roll for expanding access to advanced placement courses and tests while maintaining student achievement. Its one of 44 districts across the commonwealth to earn that distinction. Our renewed commitment to pennsylvania schools has included 465 million in restored funding for k12 education, 14. 6 million for early intervention, and 81. 4 million for higher education. Weve restored 60 million in funding for Early Childhood education, and now nearly 200 School Districts across the commonwealth are planning to make new investments in prek or kindergarten, giving thousands of our youngest pennsylvanians a boost as they embark on a lifetime of learning. [applause] we havent solved every problem in our Education System. But im proud to say that the investment weve worked together to make in pennsylvanias future is already beginning to pay off. In this budget, im proposing 125 million for k through 12 classrooms, 75 million to expand highquality Early Childhood education, and 8. [applause] thank you. And 8. 9 million additional money for our state system of higher education. [applause] thank you. Just as pennsylvanians make their children a top priority, so, too, are aging parents, aunts and uncles a top priority for all of us. When i was running for this office, i listened to seniors all across our commonwealth. They told me that they very much appreciated how often politicians came to see them, but that theyd prefer real action on improving Senior Services. Thats why one of the first initiatives i announced as governor was to improve homebased and communitybased care services, so that more seniors could have more options for getting the care they needed without having to move out of their homes. [applause] thank you. And its why when Health Insurers threatened to kick 180,000 seniors off their health plans, we stepped in and took those Insurance Companies to court to make sure that their coverage stayed in place. Just this past year we distributdistributed more than n in lottery proceeds to 43 senior came to be our commonwealth. And we made it easier for struggling seniors to get assistance purchasing nutritious food. Theres more to be done. Next january another new program called Community Healthchoices will come online to help more seniors receive the care they need within their community instead of at facilities. But innovations like these are only possible if we continue to move past the budget battles this address and other state of the state speeches are available in the cspan video library. Go to our website cspan. Org. The