HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday accused Treasurer Stacy Garrity of lying to Pennsylvanians about the purported benefits of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act while the treasurer shot back that the governor is concocting negative narratives in a “relentless fear-mongering campaign.”
Shapiro has been relentless, but hardly alone, in his opposition to the trillion-dollar tax and spending bill that narrowly passed both the House and Senate this week. He’s warned about the potential loss of health care and nutrition benefits, predicted job losses in the renewable energy sector, as well as an inability for the commonwealth to make up for a resulting loss in federal funds.
In doing so, Shapiro’s called out Congressional Republicans by name and has shared online and in text messages to constituents the estimated number of people who would lose SNAP or Medicaid in all 10 congressional districts held by the GOP in Pennsylvania.
Asked Thursday about Garrity’s support for the federal bill, Shapiro didn’t mince words.
“She’s another example like those I cited before who just lied,” Shapiro told WILK Newsradio’s “The Morning News w/ Nancy and Jason.”
“She actually stood with me at a rural hospital, claiming to care about rural health care. Well, now, we’ve got 25 rural hospitals that are likely to shutter,” Shapiro said, referring to hospitals already operating at a loss and dependent on Medicaid reimbursements to sustain revenues.
Garrity responded that “instead of focusing on getting a balanced budget done in Harrisburg, Governor Shapiro is continuing a relentless fear-mongering campaign because the facts aren’t on his side.”
Shapiro, a potential candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, is expected to run for re-election to the governor’s office next year. Garrity is counted on the short list of potential Republican challengers after eclipsing Shapiro’s former record for most votes received in a statewide election in Pennsylvania.
The One Big Beautiful Bill that advanced to the desk of President Donald Trump is keystone legislation for the administration. The bill is massive in size and scope. It will cement most expiring tax cuts enacted in 2017 during Trump’s first term and raise spending on administration priorities, namely, border security, military might and energy production.
That’s coupled with substantial spending decreases proposed for Medicaid and SNAP to offset part of the tax cuts. The administration maintains the reductions would represent efforts to remove ineligible beneficiaries, while opponents have said such severe cuts couldn’t be accomplished without harming those the program is intended to serve: senior citizens, children and persons with disabilities.
Shapiro has estimated that 310,000 Pennsylvanians would lose Medicaid, another 200,000 would lose coverage through the Pennie marketplace, 140,000 would lose SNAP and 26,000 people would lose work in the renewable energy sector. The pending cuts to SNAP could leave Pennsylvania with no choice but to shutter the program entirely, Shapiro has said.
“Let’s be clear: no one is coming off of Medicaid that isn’t supposed to get it. The bill also includes no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, all while ensuring that programs are being used by the people they are meant to serve. This sounds like a good deal to the working men and women of Pennsylvania to me,” Garrity said.
She also commented on estimates by the Congressional Budget Office that the bill would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt by 2024.
“The CBO’s methodology doesn’t account for the expected economic growth from this bill. We’ve seen the CBO make the same mistake in the past: The CBO initially said that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would boost GDP by 0.7% per year. However, GDP was 2.5% higher by the end of 2019,” Garrity said.
On Thursday, Shapiro posited that Garrity’s interest in the One Big Beautiful Bill is more about gaining the approval of Trump than advocating for Pennsylvanians.
“The thing that I find most laughable is she’s always the one talking about fiscal responsibility and living within your own means, and now she’s apparently campaigning for a bill that would add $3.5 trillion to the federal deficit,” Shapiro told WILK Newsradio. “She has zero credibility to ever preach about fiscal responsibility.”
Garrity shot back at Shapiro and Pennsylvania’s ongoing budget negotiations. Shapiro’s $51.5 billion proposal, introduced in February, remains pending days after the June 30 deadline. There’s no immediate end in sight; however, negotiators from all sides have expressed that they’ve agreed on the issues but not the resolution, yet.
“What we know for certain, however, is that Harrisburg continues to spend more than it brings in with Shapiro at the helm,” Garrity said, referring to the approximate $4.5 billion deficit the governor proposed to make up with budgetary reserves and money from Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day Fund.
“Instead of fear-mongering over competing projections of what (One Big Beautiful Bill) will do, the Governor should be focused on getting our Commonwealth’s spending under control before we run out of money,” Garrity said.