State Budget

Pennsylvania Welfare Spending

  • February 22, 2012

The FY 2011-12 total operating budget of $63.4 billion, which included $27.1 billion in General Fund spending, represented the first year-to-year reduction in state spending in at least 40 years.

Fact Sheet

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Health Care

Ending the Cycle: Reforming Welfare in Pennsylvania

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • February 16, 2012

Government welfare, with its goal to provide a helping hand to those in need, has instead become a vast series of programs that fall far short of the good intentions…

Report

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Welfare

Even Big Government Advocates Understand the Welfare Trap

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • February 6, 2012

Big government lobbyists and CF don’t agree on much with welfare, but funnily enough, even they acknowledge that Pennsylvania’s welfare system keeps people in poverty. It [a food…

Media

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Criminal Justice Reform

Fiscal Outlook for Pennsylvania: Not Too Rosy

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 20, 2012

This week the new Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office held its first annual seminar on the state economy and revenue. After a series of presentations on the state of the…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Do Millionaires Need Food Stamps?

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • January 11, 2012

For the past few years, politicians in Harrisburg and Washington have considered it a “success” to put more families on welfare. The result is an abundance of loopholes that allow…

Media

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Welfare

Protecting Medicaid for the Poor

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • December 19, 2011

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has trimmed Pennsylvania’s Medicaid rolls by 150,000 people since August. Welfare spending advocates and organizations receiving welfare dollars…

Media

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Health Care

How Much Will Obamacare Cost You?

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • December 9, 2011

The federal health care overhaul will be paid for with spending cuts and an estimated $420 billion in new taxes. How much of that $420 billion will come out of your pocket?…

Media

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Welfare

Getting Serious About Welfare Abuse

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • November 25, 2011

The Department of Public Welfare’s effort to curb fraud and abuse continues. This week the Department announced the creation of a new office, the Office of Program Integrity. This…

Media

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Education

The Economic Cost of Education Failure

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • November 1, 2011

If you don’t have a child in a failing school, you may think that SB 1 and the education reforms it contains are of no benefit to you. Think again.

Media

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