Cut Government Spending

By Rosemary M. Brown

Whether during my time as an accomplished businesswoman or today in my own home, I do what we do in the real world when times are tough: I make smart decisions that cut spending in a budget. In Harrisburg, I will do the same-and finally bring some sanity to the budget process.

In just the last eight years, Governor Rendell and his political allies have exploded our state's budget by more than 40%-an increased our debt by nearly 30%. I will introduce legislation to limit any budget to worst-case projections of revenues for the following year...that way we stop spending what we don't have.

Focus on Priorities

The first step to saving tax dollars is to stop wasting them. That's why I will focus the state budget on priorities like education, public safety, property tax relief and job creation. If we can't afford more than the basics, we shouldn't put them in the budget.

Plan for the Future

For too long, Governor Rendell and his allies have looked at the budget as a one-year deal. That's not smart. Rosemary will plan for the future by working to make Harrisburg utilize budget forecasting at the 1-,5-and 10-year timeframes-then insist on budgets sticking to conservative estimates included in those forecasts.