http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=r95a3p8Os-wCorbett and the Republicans in the PA. House insist we need to save the new $540 million State budget surplus for a future "rainy day" and can't spend any of it to reduce drastic cuts to public colleges, schools and human service programs. "I don't think the heavy stuff is going to come down for some time" says the House Majority Leader to Corbett.
This video link was provided in the following column in the (Allentown) Morning Call by columnist Bill White:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/white/mc-bill-white-rainy-day-fund-20110603,0,7691928.column"One very funny scene
involves a bishop who wants to squeeze nine holes in before it rains. He grabs groundskeeper Bill Murray to be his caddy. Lightning is crashing around them, and it begins pouring. Other golfers are rushing from the course... He asks Murray what he thinks. "I'd keep playing," he says. "I don't think the heavy stuff is gonna come down for quite a while."
...Corbett and most state House Republicans should toss that quote out every time they consider putting a projected budget surplus of nearly $540 million into the state's Rainy Day Fund instead of using it to restore some of the draconian cuts in the budgets proposed by Corbett and legislative Republicans.
These are budgets that include drastic reductions in public school funding, higher education and programs that help keep our elderly and working poor afloat, imposed at a time when the fragile economy already is squeezing our schools and overloading our social safety net.
Forget the Rainy Day Fund. The heavy stuff is coming down right now, and if you don't believe me, you haven't attended a school board meeting this spring. You haven't read about the massive teacher layoffs, slashed programs and big school tax hikes. You haven't worked at an agency trying to meet the growing needs of our most vulnerable residents. We're not just wet. We're drowning."