Gov. Tom Wolf pushes lawmakers to send families $2,000 stimulus checks

WEST VIEW, Pa. (KDKA) - Gov. Tom Wolf was in West View Wednesday, pushing his plan to send $2,000 direct payments to Pennsylvania families.  

He's calling on the Republican-led General Assembly to pass the legislation that would use some of the leftover American Rescue Plan funds to send $2,000 checks to Pennsylvanians with a household income of $80,000 or less.

"I'm talking about $2 billion that's sitting in a checking account out in Harrisburg that if we don't use it by the end of 2024, we have to send it back to Washington. Do you want to do that? I don't," Wolf said.

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Wolf said the funding would also help with the skyrocketing inflation.

House Republican caucus spokesman Jason Gottesman has said Republicans aren't on board with the governor's idea. Sen. Devlin Robinson, a Bridgeville Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said his colleagues think there are better ways to spend the money, like funding bridge work on I-79 instead of tolling the interstate. 

But without support from the Republicans who control the General Assembly, there won't be a state stimulus check.