Rep. Tom Quigley: Controlling PA Spending Starts with Welfare Reform

Controlling State Spending Starts with Welfare Reform

By Rep. Tom Quigley (R-Montgomery)

In light of the recent passage of the budget for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I wanted to focus on an area of the budget that may not have received much attention; welfare reform. Nearly 40 percent of Pennsylvania's annual state budget is used to support public welfare programs, making public welfare the single largest expenditure in the Commonwealth, above even public education. In the 2011-12 fiscal year, welfare programs will receive more than $10.5 billion out of our $27.15 billion total budget.

Even when faced with a worldwide economic downturn and multi-billion dollar budget deficits, the public welfare allocation in Pennsylvania continued to balloon, while nearly every other sector of state spending was being slashed. Our Medical Assistance benefits are growing at a rate of nearly 12 percent every year, increasing by a total of 97 percent in the past decade. At the same time, our general revenue collections are only increasing by 3 percent per year. Clearly if we are going to control state spending and balance our budgets into the future, we must take a hard look at managing welfare spending and reforming welfare programs.

House Republicans have made welfare reform the foundation for our agenda to return sensibility to state spending. This spring, we introduced a package of eight measures designed to return fairness, accountability, integrity and responsibility to Pennsylvania’s welfare system. Of those eight bills, six gained approval in the House and four were signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett as part of the final budget agreement.

The four welfare reform measures that have now been signed into law include:

• Instituting drug testing for welfare applicants who have been convicted of a drug felony in the past five years.
• Creating an Income Eligibility Verification System to detect fraud by authenticating recipient information.
• Basing benefit amounts on the permanent legal residence of applicants to discourage benefit shopping.
• Requiring greater oversight into the Special Allowances program, as outlined by Auditor General Jack Wagner.

Because of the inclusion of these reforms in the budget package, hundreds of millions of dollars were applied to restoring many of the Governor’s proposed cuts to public and higher education.

Welfare reform is not about denying assistance to people who are truly in need, but it is about ensuring that every taxpayer dollar is being used appropriately. The four proposals signed into law were designed to preserve welfare assistance for senior citizens, people with disabilities, children and those who need a temporary safety net until they are able to get back on their own feet.

If we had not taken action to implement these reforms, our welfare system would eventually become unsustainable and our state budget unsound. Not only must we contend with our current liabilities, but we must also look down the road to when the federal health care law takes effect and even more people are added to our welfare assistance rolls through Medicaid programs. The federal government will only fully fund these additional beneficiaries for three years and after that some of the costs will be turned over to the states. While we will not have much control over the addition of these new beneficiaries, we can and should better manage other public welfare programs.

I am pleased about the great strides we have made to improve the way in which Pennsylvania administers welfare programs, and I am hopeful we will be able to achieve even greater success in the future. The viability of all state programs depends on our ability to control welfare costs and appropriately oversee how our state tax dollars are being spent.

State Rep. Tom Quigley is a Republican who has represented Pennsylvania's 146th House District in the state Legislature since 2004.