Fall 2009

ongress Urged to Recognize Honor andRemember Flag as National Symbol of Service andSacriﬁce of Our Fallen Soldiers

s sprng auore a ouse resouon urgng ongress o aop egsa-tion that would officially recognize the Honor and Remember” flag as the na-tional symbol of the brave men and women in the United States Armed Forceswho gave their lives in the line of duty.This flag is a simple, yet powerful, symbol of the great sacrifice so many menand women have made in our nation’s wars. For the families of these soldiers,e aopon o egsaon recognzng e ag s an mporan sep n er ea-ing process and a way for them to forever show their pride for a loved one nolonger with them.There have been an estimated 1.6 million fallen servicepersons throughoutthis nation’s history. Among them is Private First Class Aaron Genevie, formerlyof Chambersburg, whom I posthumously honored on the state House floor witha conoence resouon.On April 10, his mother, Patricia Genevie, became the first Central Pennsyl-vania person to receive an Honor and Remember flag on behalf of the supremesacrifice of her son while serving in Iraq. Aaron was tragically killed on April16, 2007, when his humvee hit an improvised explosive device while servingin Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was awarded both the Purpleear an e ronze ar or s servce.e ea or e ag came rom a aer wo os s son n e raq ar.The flag’s design holds great significance:•The

red ﬁeld

represents the brave men and women who sacriﬁced their lives for freedom.•The

blue star

is a symbol of active service in military conﬂict.•e

we orer

recognizes the purity of sacriﬁce.•The

gold star

signiﬁes the ul-timate sacriﬁce of a warrior in activeservce wo s no reurnng ome anre ecs e vaue o e e gven.•e

oe ag

ggs snation’s ﬁnal tribute to a fallen servi-ceperson and a family’s sacriﬁce.•The

red ﬂame

symbolizes theeternal spirit of the departed.ouse esouon , wc urg-es ongress o o cay recognzethe Honor and Remember ﬂag as anational symbol of our country’s fallensoldiers, was unanimously passed bythe House of Representatives.

The state House unanimously voted in favor of legislationauthored by Rep. Rob Kauffman urging Congress to of-ﬁcially recognize the “Honor and Remember” ﬂag as thenational symbol of the brave men and women in the UnitedStates Armed Forces who have given their lives in the lineof duty.

2009-10State Budget Wrap Up

e most ennsyvananswere relieved when Gov. Edene ene a more tan -day-long stalemate by signing astate uget nto aw, vote nodue to the tax hikes and exces-sive spending in the ﬁnal budgetagreement.

Tax Hikes

The budget includes a 25-cent-er-pac ncrease n te state taxon cigarettes and creates a newax on “little cigars” at 1.60 per ack. The state spending planalso calls for a 374 million taxon Pennsylvania employers at aime when the Commonwealth’sworkers and job creators arereeling from the internationaleconomic recession.In addition, the budget includesa tax on eca anage areOrganizations (MCOs).e goo news s tat wehe state spending plan includese targete tax ncreases aove,ouse Republicans were able tooc severa new or ncreaseaxes proposed by Rendell. Atarious points during the bud-get process, the governor calledor both a Personal Income Taxncrease an an expansonof the state Sales and Use Tax. e were ae to ocboth of these broad-based taxncreases.

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In addition, the governor pro-osed a severance tax on natu-a gas arveste n ennsyva-ia. This would have stunted thegrowt o ennsyvanas emergngarcellus Shale natural gas indus-ry, resulting in fewer good-payingobs for Pennsylvania workers.e were also successful in avert-ng this job-killing tax proposal.

Draining the Reserve Accounts

Budget negotiators balancede state spenng pan, n part, ydraining several reserve accounts.e ommonweat a ut up a$755 million Rainy Day Fund thats ntene to ep te state payor unanticipated expenses. Thatund will be completely depletedduring the current budget year.The budget also calls for de-leting the $708 million HealthCare Provider Retention Accountand taking 100 million from theCare Fund. Both of these fundsare use to ep cover te cost oedical malpractice for the healthcare nustry.Furthermore, $150 millionwould be taken from the TobaccoSettlement fund, which receivesoney from a federal lawsuit andallocates those funds for tobaccorevention and statewide health.By draining the state’s reserveaccounts, notng w e avaaeext year. This could be devastat-ng n te event te economy oesot turn around. Given the fact thatstate revenues are already 140illion short for the year, this is aserous concern.

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State Budget Wrap Up

continued from page 1

Federal Bailout Dollars

After being sworn into ofﬁce,President Barack Obama and theDemocrat-controlled Congress inWashington, D.C., acted swiftly toapprove several bailout measures.ne o tose was te mercanRecovery and Reinvestment Act, wc, among oter tngs,provided federal dollars to subsidizestate ugets.he Pennsylvania state budgetincludes more than $2.6 billion infederal bailout money. Added to thenearly $25.2 billion in state dollarsin the ﬁnal budget, this means the

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Now Accepting Applications

ommonweat w spen approx-ately $27.8 billion in the currentspenng pan.Due, in part, to the extensivese of federal dollars for education,school districts in the 89th Legisla-ive District received large increasesn funding within the state budget. Al-hough I am an advocate for educa-on, ts eve o spenng cannot eaintained once the federal moneyuns out n a coupe o years, wceans taxpayers will have to makep the difference. This, in my opin-on, is not an ideal situation.heatingat mustfuel, ter-anger of ng uttyst coun-h

eating4 hourse ysstancety at 1-Countyions arealso available from local utilitycompanies and community ser-ce agences, suc as rea gen-ces on gng or communty actonagences. cas grant ap-lications are available online atcompass.state.pa.us.

Income eligibility for cash grantsbegins at $33,075 for a family of four.

or compete egty requre-ents an atona normatonon LIHEAP, visit my Web site at

RepKauffman.com

and click onLIHEAP Information.”

2009-10 Education Funding for 89th Legislative District

*Special education funding will remain the same as last year. Federal funding will provideadditional money; however, this funding is only available for three years.

School District Basic Education Basic Education Federal StimulusFunding Percentage Increase Funding

Shippensburg $8.84 million 8.44% $1 millionChambersburg Area $19.46 million 4.58% $2.74 millionFannett-Metal $2.21 million 2% $346,873Greencastle-Antrim $5.7 million 4.80% $650,640Tuscarora $8.12 million 5.50% $724,218Waynesboro Area $12.9 million 4.49% $985,912

www.RepK

Hunters Encouragedto ‘Share the Harvest’

t untng season n uswing, I am asking successfulunters to conser sarng aportion of their catch with thosen nee.very year, Pennsylvaniadeer hunters donate tens of thousands of pounds of veni-son, or deer meat, to localfood banks and soup kitchensthrough the Hunters Sharingte arvest program.stablished in 1991, HSH issponsore y ennsyvanansfor the Responsible Use of Ani-mas an operates wt te co-operation of the PennsylvaniaGame Commission and stateDepartment of Agriculture,along with several state sports-men’s organizations.he HSH program calls uponunters to onate anytngfrom a few pounds of venisonto a woe eer to ep neeyPennsylvanians.On average, the meat fromone deer can provide 200 mealsfor hungry Pennsylvanians.Venison is a good source of protein, low in fat and eagerlysought after by food banks for its nutritional value.t more tan mon eer currently living in Pennsylvania,t comes as no surprse tathunters have managed to do-nate more tan , pounsof venison a year to needy in-dividuals and families throughfood banks and soup kitchens.One of the group’s largestcosts is the result of processor reimbursements, which is whycontnuay accepts mon-etary contributions year-roundor ts servces. unters o-nating their harvest voluntarilypay a 15 tax-deductable feetoward each processed deer.he remainder of the process-ing fee is covered through HSHsponsors and generous dona-tions of individuals across thestate.nyone ntereste n con-tributing venison to the HSHprogram sou ca ---2141. Information can also befound by visiting my Web site at

RepKauffman.com

and click-ing on “Sharing the Harvest.”

Local Students Participate inGuest Page Program

Rep. Rob Kauffman posed for a picturewith Matthew Brockman, a senior atShalom Christian Academy, on June 23.

Brendan Bittle and Brenton Miller, pictured with Rep.Rob Kauffman, participated as guest pages on June 16.

House Republican Plan

several spending plans through theuget process, ncung te mostcomprehensive plan created with theinput of several key House Demo-crats (House Bill 1943). Only par-tial withdrawls from the reserve ac-counts and none of these new andincreased taxes would have beennecessary uner te ouse epu-lican budget proposal, which wasnever rougt eore te eneraAssembly for consideration by theemocrat-controe ouse.

2010-11 Budget Process

e w e worng on te2010-11 budget in less than threemonths, and we must follow our constitutional obligation to get astate budget passed on time.ere are severa egsatveproposals currently being circu-ate tat mgt ep expetethe process and put measures inplace to hold the General Assem-bly more accountable. Those ini-tiatives should be coming beforethe House and Senate in the nextfew months.