Congress Passes Additional FMAP and Teacher Funding
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 247-161 on August 10 to provide $26 billion in additional federal assistance to the states. Pennsylvania will receive about $600 million in additional FMAP funds and $388 million in funding to keep teachers in the classroom.
Pennsylvania's 2010-11 state budget counted on $850 million in additional FMAP funding, which has prompted the Rendell administration to make an additional $212 million in cuts to the 2010-11 Fiscal Year budget.
The administration is also proposing to bridge some of the budget gap with additional revenue from a Marcellus Shale severance tax. Learn how you can help with that effort.
Over the past two years, more people have turned to state government for help, but Pennsylvania has been cutting back: making cuts to libraries, literacy and job training, environmental protection, services for abused and neglected children, and assistance to vulnerable Pennsylvanians.
Federal fiscal assistance is critical to preserving jobs and keeping the economic recovery on track. About half of the jobs that will be preserved through continued state spending are in the private sector - including contractors and local vendors across the Commonwealth. We cannot afford to stall this fragile recovery.
Below are Congressional district fact sheets detailing the number of Pennsylvanians receiving Medical Assistance and other critical human services and the economic impact in the health care sector created by funding those services.