Gov. Tom Wolf visited a West View resource center on Wednesday to urge support for a plan to give as much as $2,000 to Pennsylvania households making up to $80,000 a year.

Joined by state Rep. Emily Kinkead and state Sen. Lindsey Williams — two Democratic legislators whose districts cover West View — Mr. Wolf called on Republicans in the General Assembly to back his plan to use $500 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for the PA Opportunity Program, which would send checks directly to Pennsylvania residents.

The purpose, Mr. Wolf said, was to help offset the squeeze of inflation for families making less than $80,000 annually. It’s part of the governor’s broader, $1.7 billion proposal to use more than $2 billion of the state’s ARPA money, which includes funding for property tax relief and resources for healthcare systems.

“This is about getting money into the hands of people who need it,” he said. “I want to put $500 million of that $2.2 billion into people’s hands right now.”

Rep. Kinkead called it a way to make generational investments into Pennsylvania’s communities to help people who are struggling to pay for goods.

“Budgets are moral documents, and it absolutely says a lot about us — as Pennsylvanians, as legislators, as elected officials — how we spend that money and who we actually invest it in,” she said.

Much of the proposal’s details are still being determined. Mr. Wolf said there would be a sliding scale for how much money people can receive, with $2,000 being the maximum.

“The idea is that it’s not one-size-fits-all,” the governor said. “There might be different people … the idea is to try to tailor it to the individual needs.”

It’s also not clear how a family’s household income will be determined, such as whether the state will use recipients’ most recent tax returns. The state treasurer and the Department of Community and Economic Development will determine those guidelines, Mr. Wolf said.

The governor said he believes the bill will be passed, and the main question is how it will happen, despite the legislation lacking sponsorship from Republicans.

“The way we laid it out is, ‘This is our idea,’” Mr. Wolf said. “‘And we’re open to listening to your idea. Let’s just do it. Let’s do something.’”

With no restrictions or guidelines on how Pennsylvanians could use the direct payments, Rep. Kinkead said it was a challenge for conservative legislators to “literally put their money where their mouth is.” 

“If that is genuinely what they believe, that taxpayers can spend their own money better than the government can, then we should trust [people] to do that,” she said. “They know how to spend this $2,000 in a way that will be most beneficial to them.”

A spokesman for Republican House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff said the proposals for spending these dollars are “just merely talking points and not real plans,” because the governor, legislative Democrats and [governor] candidate [Josh] Shapiro have put forward three different ways to spend the federal funding.

“They aren’t on the same page,” Jason Gottesman, Mr. Benninghoff’s press secretary, wrote in an email. “They have no unified plan, they have no unified vision, [and] they just have cannon fodder for press conferences.”

The press conference was held at West View Hub, a community resource center, to show that the money could be used to help people with their daily needs. Susan Scott, of West View, said the organization was a blessing to her family after a disability caused a series of financial burdens. 

“I found the hub, and in the hub I found family,” she said at the press conference. “I found a home. Could there be a better blessing? Well, maybe. If the governor succeeds in giving every eligible family a check for $2,000, indeed that would be a major blessing.”

Mick Stinelli: mstinelli@post-gazette.com

First Published: June 1, 2022, 6:56 p.m.
Updated: June 2, 2022, 4:17 p.m.