Jun. 24, 2022 / Press Release

By Rep. Seth Grove

It cannot be doubted that the issues facing our national economy are having a negative impact on every single Pennsylvania household.

The current demand-side inflationary crisis has led to Pennsylvanians paying more money to heat their homes, turn on the lights, fuel their cars, and buy groceries and other basic necessities of life.

The root cause of this is easily identifiable: It is the result of the false promise of government dependence.

For too long and too often between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and well into 2021, the federal government injected money into the economy at a record clip.

While one can have a legitimate debate that this was necessary at the very start of an unprecedented impact to our economy in early 2020, Washington, D.C. Democrats quickly pounced on the opportunity to implement their vision by sustaining these efforts long past when it was necessary.

The effect of these decisions has been damaging and is something we are experiencing today.

For too long, Pennsylvanians were incentivized by these payouts to stay out of the labor market, and changing conditions caused too many to retire early or leave the labor market entirely.

It led to a situation where too few are working to support too many leaving unearned money in the pockets of people who have nothing to do but spend it, but not enough people working to produce the goods and materials needed to spend it on.

And what has been the proposed solution to this problem?

More of the same bailouts and government assistance.

While people in Pennsylvania continue to advocate for more direct checks to Pennsylvanians for no other reason than direct money to Pennsylvanians has increased the cost of living, President Biden recently said he also supports a federal gas tax holiday.

These ideas are not just a continuing downward spiral for our economy, they are literally a race to the bottom of a continuously failing economic model that leads to harder living for everyone. These are not long term solutions. These are merely ideas to paper over today’s problems so the public does not see they are being fleeced by a radical agenda that will only continue to cost them more, make it more difficult to make ends meet, and create more government dependence.

It is creating a system where if you want to be able to afford to live, you will need to keep electing people who will continue to give you direct assistance.

I would hate to call that kind of a future government model self-serving, but I do not know what else to call it.

What is the counter to this? What is the solution?

We cannot look to short-term stop-gaps. We need long-term solutions.

We need to make Pennsylvania more competitive in our tax and regulatory climate – something that this House has already delivered on.

The House recently passed a series of bills to cut the Corporate Net Income Tax and provide tax fairness and simplification for Pennsylvania’s small businesses. Doing so will drive real growth, real investment, and most importantly good jobs that will help solidify our communities.

We need to incentivize the production and transmission of in-state domestic energy products to increase supply.

We as a House have passed bills to do that.

Ultimately, we need to stop getting lost in the talking points of short-term solutions.

We need to remember being pro-family, pro-worker, and pro-jobs means being pro-growth.

It means making the decisions in the state Capitol and Harrisburg and our national Capitol in Washington, D.C. that drive investment, not bailouts.

It means making the decisions to be prudent and save, not to spend just because we have money.

It means making the tough decisions to plan for next year’s growth, despite being able to make easy decisions that help this year’s elections.

With forward-thinking, long-term solutions we can grow our economy, grow our commonwealth, and break this cycle of government dependence that started not too long ago.

State Rep. Seth Grove represents portions of York County in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He is currently the Majority Chairman of the House State Government Committee.
 

Representative Seth Grove
196th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Media Contact: Greg Gross
717.260.6374
ggross@pahousegop.com
RepGrove.com / Facebook.com/RepSethGrove
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