October is not often a time when things get done in Harrisburg. There is generally no budget to pass at this point of the year and legislators tend to work on more agreeable legislation that gets overlooked during those intense negotiations.
However, this year has been somewhat of an oddity. The majority in the House of Representatives has decided to put forth several very partisan, very one-sided pieces of legislation that quite frankly are not only bad for Pennsylvanians, but put the Commonwealth on a dangerous trajectory.
This week, we saw three bills passed through committee which, if enacted, would codify the Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, into state law. These actions include raising the age of eligibility under a parent’s insurance plan to age 29. Actions like this only raise the cost of insurance, and ultimately they create barriers to additional benefits which in turn hurt Pennsylvania patients.
In another bizarre turn of events, discussion heated up regarding raising taxes for “Tourism improvement Districts.” To put this in plain language: Pennsylvania does not have enough tourism, so we must tax the tourists that come here. At a time where we should be working to welcome new visitors to the Keystone State, this would make Pennsylvania the least desirable tourist destination for prospective visitors.
To make matters worse, House Democrats were looking to consider legislation that would raise your energy prices significantly. Here at Americans for Prosperity, we advocate strongly for energy independence. At a time where ratepayers are struggling to make ends meet, House Democrats attempted to move forward with Governor Shapiro’s
Pennsylvania Reliable Energy Sustainability Standard” initiative, which they term an “alternative energy portfolio”.
The concept put forth would require that our power generation, which is already on the brink due to the restrictions on traditional fuel sources, must hit a Tier I PRESS energy threshold of 35% by 2035.
First, this idea creates winners and losers. The true losers of this deal? The hardworking Pennsylvania taxpayers. As a result of this plan, all the costs of your energy will surge. Even if inflation were to come down, forcing the public to accept this deal would push energy bills even higher, making the rest of life even more unaffordable.
Who else loses in this deal? The workers that drive the Keystone State’s natural resources: oil, natural gas, and coal. These industries, which are the pillars of Pennsylvania’s economy, will see even more restrictions on production with the government forcing them to curb emissions to a point at which they may be useless.
Finally, this will hurt the average American ratepayer. Japan and nearly all of Europe are begging for liquefied natural gas. Now is the prime opportunity for Pennsylvania to become not only a leader of energy in the United States but for the world. Yet our misguided politicians are using what little time they have left this session to make sure that it never comes to fruition, while figuring out more ways to take our hard-earned money out of our pockets.
Prosperity is possible for us here in the Commonwealth—but to achieve this prosperity, we must unleash our energy abundance, fight back against heavy-handed taxes, and combat top-down approaches to health care. Harrisburg can take action today to correct these issues and get this economy back on track. Join us in our movement for a better Pennsylvania by heading to americansforprosperity.org.