Gov. Wolf calls on state lawmakers to approve plan to use pandemic money for $2,000 stimulus checks
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Governor Tom Wolf on Thursday called on state lawmakers to stop sitting on $2 billion of unspent American Rescue Plan money sent to Pennsylvania.
As political editor Jon Delano explains, Wolf wants some of that money to go directly back into Pennsylvania households in the form of a $2,000 check.
Call it a state version of the stimulus checks that former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden pushed at the height of the pandemic. Governor Wolf says the state should do the same with unspent pandemic relief dollars just sitting in Harrisburg.
"Working families have been stretched. Their pocketbooks have been stretched to the limit. With the recent dramatic price increases they've actually been stretched beyond their limits," Wolf said at a press conference in Stroudsburg on Thursday.
The governor said under his plan, households with incomes of $80,000 or less would get a check from the Pennsylvania Treasury of up to $2,000.
"Let's take the pressure off working Pennsylvanians," Wolf said. "We want to put $2,000 in the pockets of Pennsylvanians right now."
The governor called on Republican lawmakers - who currently control the state House and Senate - to do the right thing, saying he is not touching rainy day funds or the current budget. It's just using unused federal pandemic money.
Wolf says the money must be spent by 2024 or we lose it.
"We have to send it back to Washington if we don't use it, and right now is the time to use it," Wolf said.
"Right now you need the money. The commonwealth does not," said Wolf. "Working families all across Pennsylvania have been put in a really tight spot. The good news is that we can actually help right now."
Under the Pennsylvania Opportunity Plan, all households earning $50,000 or less would get a one-time check of $2,000. Those households with incomes between $50,000 and $80,000 would get a check for $1,500.
The money could be spent on just about anything, says PA Sen. Tina Tartaglione, a Philadelphia Democrat and the author of the bill.
"Childcare and after school, education and workforce training, rental or mortgage assistance, housing repairs, transportation, and filling up the gas tank, broadband and utilities, and medical bill copays," says Tartaglione.
She says this money will also help local businesses.
"That money goes right back into the local economy. The businesses that needed to pick up, that money will go right into the economy and will spur some of the businesses to be able to come back," says Tartaglione.
But Republicans, not Democrats, control the state Legislature. Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, a Hempfield Republican, told KDKA that this is the first she's heard of this idea and wants to study the details. And sources say that some Republicans worry that state revenues - while good now - might not be so great in years to come.
If enacted, checks would come directly from the Pennsylvania Treasury and would not be taxed as income.
Tartaglione says if you feel strongly about this, one way or the other, contact your state representative and senator.
