HARRISBURG — With Pennsylvania’s delayed budget settled into a stalemate, opposing viewpoints expressed this week from both the governor and a top Republican in the state Senate reaffirmed that a stopgap solution is unlikely.
Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, supports the concept of a six-month budget, if necessary, to disburse certain vital funding to schools and counties. In the interim, state lawmakers could continue negotiating more difficult issues, including spending on mass transit and Medicaid, as well as the potential to enact a school voucher program.
“If we can’t come to an agreement on this budget in the next week or so, we should just pass a six-month budget while we keep working,” Ward said Tuesday during a radio interview on the “Dawn Stensland Show” on 1210 WPHT.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was asked about Ward’s comments during an interview Friday with “Philadelphia’s Morning News with Ian Bush” on KYW Newsradio. Shapiro said the “time is up” to adopt a full budget, one that includes a recurring stream of additional funding to support mass transit across Pennsylvania.
“I don’t think we need to do a cop-out here or a half-step; I think it’s their job to work together to find common ground and to bring everyone together to pass an annual budget that everyone can rely on. Short-term spending is not going to be reliable. We need to get this done and now is the time to get this done,” Shapiro said.
Pennsylvania’s budget was due June 30. Budget negotiations are held in private with Shapiro, House Democratic Majority Leader Matt Bradford and Senate Republican Majority Leader Joe Pittman as the primary brokers. Publicly, the trio and others have said work is progressing and the major issues are known to one another.
Reaching a compromise on those issues, namely spending, is the challenge.
Shapiro offered a $51.5 billion budget on Feb. 4, chock-full of initiatives championed by fellow legislative Democrats — more money toward public education, bonuses planned for childcare workers, a loan repayment program to recruit healthcare providers to rural areas, raising the minimum wage and boosting Pennsylvania’s investment in public mass transit.
Wary of a structural deficit as well as spending the commonwealth’s reserves to close the deficit as planned by Shapiro, Republicans in the House and Senate immediately opposed the plan. They pointed to a lack of revenue to account for added spending.
The proposal sought an additional $3.5 billion partially offset by two prospective revenue initiatives that, as of yet, don’t exist — marijuana legalization and the regulation and taxation of video skill games. The latter of the two is in play, though there remains division among Senate Republicans on how high to set a tax.
They also sounded warnings about $2 billion in additional spending on Medicaid, largely driven by increased use as well as the booming popularity of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic. The Shapiro Administration has pursued coverage restrictions in an effort to limit the burden, but without additional revenue or deep cuts to counter the cost.
As budget negotiations continue, the House Democratic majority is forging ahead with a revised mass transit plan to avoid fare hikes and service cuts in Philadelphia beginning Aug. 24 while boosting proposed funding for road and bridge infrastructure in rural areas in hopes of reaching a concession with Senate Republicans. A final vote on a new bill in the House is expected Monday.
Shapiro stressed on Friday that about 800,000 people ride the SEPTA system of trains and buses daily in Philadelphia and that the system stimulates $5.5 billion in economic activity. He’s sought increased funding and in the past has approved stopgap funding to avert system failure. He stopped short of saying he’d do so again.
“At this point, it’s up to the legislature to finally act on recurring revenue,” Shapiro told KYW.
Though not a lead negotiator, Ward’s an influential member of her caucus. She’s opposed to the House Democratic proposal on transit, even with added funding for roads and bridges. Rather than shifting additional revenue from the state sales tax, Ward supports dipping into the $2.3 billion in the Public Transportation Trust Fund. Her position may reflect how the caucus will react should the transit bill reach the Senate — the fifth such proposal sent by the House to the Senate since 2023.
“Listen, we all know that both of those things are important. Depending on what part of the state you come from, which one’s more important? But they’re both important, you know, that’s how people get to work,” Ward said during Tuesday’s radio interview.
“If (Democrats) don’t want to do that, I need them to tell us. We need to hear what tax they want to raise on Pennsylvanians,” she said.
Shapiro continues to press Senate Republicans to return to Harrisburg and act on the budget as well as mass public transit. A House budget trimmed to $50.6 billion was sent last month to the Senate, but it was since gutted and hasn’t been replaced.
“I introduced my budget that funded mass transit (185 days) ago and, in that time, the state Senate has been in session just 25 days. They need to come to Harrisburg, we need to vote on this, and it needs to get done,” Shapiro said.
“Respectfully, before Gov. Shapiro involves himself in the schedule of the legislature,” Erica Clayton Wright, Ward’s spokesperson, said in response, “he should evaluate how much he is charging taxpayers to jet set across the state and to sports events. Senate Republicans are committed to working for the people of Pennsylvania and preventing higher taxes, not debating the frequency of our gatherings.”