Southwest Allegheny News

Rep. Valerie Gaydos (R-Allegheny) issued a statement regarding her affirmative vote on the fiscal year 2024-25 state budget, which allocates $47.6 billion and increases state appropriations by nearly 6% over the previous year.

"While I voted 'yes' on the state budget today, I am concerned it spends too much overall, and a number of programs were overfunded. However, the good outweighs the bad as crucial money will go to educating our children, to creating a new state-staffed lab to detect and respond to animal disease outbreaks in western Pennsylvania, and to making the Commonwealth more attractive to business through tax credits and tax cuts," Gaydos stated.

She highlighted the complexity of budget votes: "The most unfortunate thing about budget votes is we don’t have the luxury of voting ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on specific items. Instead, it is an all or nothing proposition with so many various topics embedded together into one document."

Gaydos emphasized the need for fiscal responsibility: "The one thing that is certain is the state must get its budget under control and work to add to the Rainy Day Fund. Our budget surplus was substantially reduced with this plan. We need to get back on track by tightening our belt and reviewing our expenses more carefully."

Looking ahead, she underscored economic growth: "The year ahead will be important in order to make Pennsylvania a stronger place to do business. If we are not going to be cutting expenses, we need to make sure we are creating a robust economy to drive up revenue. I believe that starts with a good educational foundation, which is why I cast an affirmative vote."

For further details on the 2024-25 budget, visit PAHouseGOP.com/budget2024.

Representative Valerie Gaydos

44th Legislative District

Pennsylvania House of Representatives