Where Phil Stands on the Issues
Phil Rice is running to make life more affordable, keep our communities safe, and put the people of Cambria County ahead of Harrisburg politicians and special interests.
Here is where Phil stands on the issues that matter most to families in the 72nd District.
Affordability
Cambria County families are struggling to keep up with rising costs that have been exacerbated by big-spending liberal politicians in Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has the fifth highest tax burden in the nation, and in the last four years politicians have increased spending by over $5 billion. As our next State Representative, Phil Rice will work to:
- Make life more affordable for families and seniors
- Eliminate wasteful spending and fraud
- Reduce costs by increasing Pennsylvania energy production
- Decrease the gasoline tax
- End vehicle emissions testing in Cambria County
Energy
We in Cambria County are paying more for electricity, and bills continue to soar while liberal Harrisburg politicians try to impose even more costly mandates. Pennsylvania’s leaders must find ways to produce more energy to reduce our costs and create jobs. Phil Rice supports:
- Modernizing our infrastructure to boost energy production
- Ending costly green energy mandates
- Cutting red tape to encourage growth
Data Centers
Harrisburg politicians have welcomed big tech billionaires with open arms and tax breaks to build data centers throughout Pennsylvania. State Representative Frank Burns voted to give away state tax dollars to out-of-state tech companies and lobbied for additional tax breaks for tech companies and data center developers. Phil Rice’s plan for data centers includes:
- Prioritize our communities’ needs over those of big tech
- Require data centers to provide their own energy and recycled water sources
- Require data centers to meet noise and environmental standards
- Use brownfields and existing industrial sites, not farmland and neighborhoods
- Collaborate with communities to ensure responsible development
Education
Pennsylvania is currently in the top seven states in the nation for K-12 education spending, spending over $41 billion. Despite that spending, 69 percent of Pennsylvania eighth graders are not proficient in math and cannot read at grade level. Phil Rice believes that every child deserves a quality education and that parents have a right to choose the academic setting that best meets their children’s needs. That’s why Phil supports:
- Scholarships for children in failing schools
- More choices for parents, such as charter schools
- Homeschooling
- Expanding the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) tuition assistance program
- Opting into the federal EITC program to allow more scholarships for students
Healthcare
Pennsylvania is facing a serious rural healthcare crisis driven by workforce shortages, financial strain on hospitals, and a lack of specialty care. While Frank Burns has had an adversarial relationship with the medical community in our area, Phil Rice is determined to work with our medical providers to attract and retain doctors and nurses and to increase our access to quality healthcare. Phil Rice supports:
- Medical liability reform
- Eliminating venue shopping
- Capping non-economic damages
- Attracting and retaining skilled doctors, nurses and specialists
- Incentives to practice in rural areas
- Loan forgiveness, scholarships and bonuses
- Supporting local pharmacies, hospitals and medical centers
Elections
Phil Rice spent his career fighting to protect the Constitution, our freedoms and liberties, and free and fair elections. Phil supports Voter ID, increased transparency, and ballot security.
Phil’s goal: making it easy to vote and hard to cheat.
Public Safety
It seems like every night there is another story on the news about rising violent crime in Johnstown. Phil Rice believes that public safety is the number one responsibility of government. As State Representative, Phil Rice will:
- Oppose and ban sanctuary cities
- Secure more funding for our police, EMS, and firefighters
- Defend our right to bear arms and protect our families
- Work to stop big cities from importing their problems here
Second Amendment
Phil Rice is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment. He has been endorsed by Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Firearms Owners Against Crime (FOAC) and received an A rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). As State Representative, we can count on Phil to:
- Support concealed carry for law-abiding gun owners
- Support our constitutional right to bear arms
- Oppose municipalities’ attempts to impose unconstitutional gun restrictions
- Never vote for an anti-2nd Amendment Speaker of the House