Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed $27.14 billion budget for 2012-13 includes three "R's," but not the ones students traditionally learn in school, state Secretary of Public Welfare Gary D. Alexander said Tuesday at the Pottsville Club.
"Restraint, responsibility and reform" are the hallmarks of Corbett's spending plan, Alexander told about 30 members of the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce in his first visit to Schuylkill County. "The reforms ... are necessary. They maintain the critical services for our most vulnerable citizens."
Corbett's budget proposal, with spending cuts and no tax increases, has drawn both praise and criticism. The state House and Senate, each of which is controlled by Corbett's fellow Republicans, have until June 30 to approve a budget.
"It's just at the very beginning," state Sen. David Argall, R-29, said of the Legislature's budget process.
Alexander, who revamped Rhode Island's welfare system as its secretary of health and human services before coming to the Keystone State, said during the one-hour chamber luncheon meeting Tuesday that Pennsylvania's welfare system also needs changes.
"Make the department an employment-first agency" that spurs people to get jobs instead of public benefits, he said. "There are jobs out there. We haven't given them an incentive to get off the system."
Pennsylvania spends 43 cents of every budget dollar on the Department of Public Welfare, more than it does on education, according to Alexander. He said that his department serves 2.7 million Pennsylvanians, 80 percent of the state's public welfare spending is on Medicaid, and the growth of the system must be slowed to avert a financial crisis.
"Unless we have dynamic job growth ... we could be standing here a year from now with 5.8 million Pennsylvanians with a full-time job and 3.3 million in the public welfare system," Alexander said. "These are the challenges we face: an increase in poverty, an increase in spending."
Alexander criticized federal government mandates in Medicaid and other welfare programs, saying they tie the hands of state and local governments that try to innovate.
"It leaves us with very little to work with," he said of such regulations.
Argall expressed similar sentiments, saying Alexander does not intend merely to throw money at problems.
"If you just keep giving it more money, you don't solve the problem," Argall said of government. "(Alexander) was confirmed ... not to protect the status quo."
Alexander said his agency will continue to root out fraud, waste and abuse, and that he will crack down on service providers who do not follow the rules as well as recipients who do not deserve their benefits.
He also suggested that the state should give welfare families a budget as a way to control spending.
"We have to change," Alexander said. "None of us wants to have their taxes raised all the time. Businesses have to grow."
Chamber Executive Director Robert S. Carl Jr. said Alexander's message was important.
"We all benefit from that direct knowledge," Carl said.
Alexander enjoyed visiting the county and is optimistic that most of Corbett's budget will become law.
"The Legislature and the governor are working with each other. I think the vast majority of the (proposal) will pass," he said.