Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Keeping Up With PA Budget News

While I haven't been writing about the state budget process I've been reading about it. If you want to keep up at home, here are some good resources to follow:

the Capital Ideas blog, http://mcall.typepad.com/capitol_ideas/

On Twitter follow:

http://twitter.com/Capitol_Ideas

the #pabudget tag on twitter: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23PABUDGET

Or you can play along at home:

From our friends at Keystone Progress:

"Can you balance the Pennsylvania state budget?"

That's the question asked by a new online game with a serious purpose. "You Budget PA" (www.youbudgetpa.org )is a game that allows anyone to try to balance the Pennsylvania state budget by making choices about increasing revenue or making cuts in programs.

Pennsylvania is facing a budget deficit of historic proportions. This shortfall could get in the way of protecting our quality of life and building a strong future for all Pennsylvanians--if we let it.

As our state lawmakers wrestle over what to do, Keystone Progress wanted to give Pennsylvania taxpayers the opportunity to weigh the same options: Which programs do I cut? What's more important, education for kids or health care for low-income families? What's the right balance? Governor Rendell's budget proposed some major cuts. The Republican-led Senate passed a draconian budget that slashed many programs. But with a $5.8 budget hole, it's clear that belt-tightening isn't enough. There will also need to be some new sources of revenue to fulfill the constitutional requirement of a balanced budget.

After participants balance the budget, they will have the opportunity to send their solutions to their legislators.

Give it a try. Then send your solution to your lawmakers.

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