Gov. Tom Wolf has advocated for Republican-led General Assembly to pass legislation that would send $2,000 stimulus checks to Pennsylvanians but after months of pushing for direct payments, his plans reportedly have been stalled.
Stimulus Check Proposal By The Governor
The governor made a $1.7 billion stimulus check proposal back in February. Part of the proposal was direct payments to many Pennsylvanians making $80,000 or less. Though, Republicans are just sitting on the funds part of the American Rescue Plan.
“I’m talking about $2 billion that’s sitting in a checking account out in Harrisburg that if we don’t use it by the end of 2024, we have to send it back to Washington. Do you want to do that? I don’t,” Wolf recently said while also acknowledging the payments would help with rising inflation, CBS Pittsburgh reported back in June.
According to The Morning Call, Republicans have been largely against the proposal, even after the House and the Senate presented House Bill 2531 and Senate Bill 1204 in support of Wolf’s proposal.
Jason Gottesman, a House Republican spokesman, told FOX43 that more direct stimulus check relief would cause more inflation woes.
“This is the same bad policy coming from another Democrat to artificially prop up the economy that’s led to the same inflation problems that we’ve seen across the country,” Gottesman told FOX43, citing the state needs to move in a different direction with its economy.
“We need to make sure that we are spending in strategic areas and making smarter investments in Pennsylvania,” he added. “We need to make sure that we are saving that money to deal with these future economic uncertainties and we’re returning taxpayer investment into the commonwealth.”
Though, Wolf previously said in a statement the state budget should be able to aid Pennsylvanians in. their financial struggles instead of sitting on the $2.2 billion.