Enough games and showmanship – it’s time to get serious about the state budget

If Senate Republicans were looking for accolades for showing up to work this week, they should be sorely disappointed.

Instead of doing their job by listening to their neighbors and passing a thoughtful state budget responsive to the needs of Pennsylvanians in 2025, they resubmitted their work from last year, hoping for credit.

Unserious action needs to be met with a decisive response, which is why the state House, after hearing from state Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll, soundly rejected the Senate budget and transit proposals without haste this week.

If the Senate had started working six months ago, when Gov. Josh Shapiro outlined his proposal for the 2025-26 state budget, we may have had a much different – and better – product than what the Senate finally passed six weeks after the budget deadline.

While Senate Republicans are masquerading as fiscally responsible, nothing could be further from the truth. Their lack of leadership over the past six months is astounding. Inaction has consequences and Pennsylvania families, schools, and counties are already paying the price.

Meanwhile, the state House has repeatedly offered responsible options for a balanced and fiscally sound state budget. And, in the spirit of partnership over partisanship, this week we even passed a new comprehensive transportation funding bill that supports public transit in all 67 counties, invests in roads and bridges, and which adopts the Senate Republicans’ accountability measures.

The state House has been passing budget-related measures since May – including revenue generators like a plan for legalizing recreational marijuana and savings for schools and taxpayers offered through cyber charter school reform. For the Senate to return to Harrisburg six weeks after the budget was due, only to pass an irresponsible and insufficient plan, is an insult to all Pennsylvanians.

Under state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman's plan, schools are left trying to pay 2025 bills with 2024 funding. Last year, Pennsylvania made a commitment to finally begin to correct for a generation of inequitable school funding; the Pittman plan rolls back that promise and shortchanges students across the commonwealth.

We’ve been working steadily for years to restore funding for mental and behavioral health care programs offered by Pennsylvania’s 67 counties that were cut under the last Republican governor; the Pittman plan shortchanges those programs at a time when medical providers, law enforcement and other key stakeholders agree these programs are more critical than ever.

Finally, while we’re pleased that Senate Republicans finally admit that there is a public transit crisis in Pennsylvania, we are disappointed that they opted to pass an unserious plan that threatens not just SEPTA, but transit systems across the state.

SEPTA serves nearly a million people in Southeastern Pennsylvania every day. Nine out of 10 are going to work or school. Simply put, SEPTA fuels the region’s economy – and the region drives the state’s economy, contributing 40% of all economic activity. When Southeastern PA struggles, the state struggles.

Yet for more than six months, this is all we’ve gotten from Senate Republican leaders: a series of half-baked ideas (like a partial budget), weeks on hiatus from Harrisburg, and political gamesmanship. Unfortunately, political games do not get the job done – leadership does, but it has been sorely lacking from the Senate Republicans this session.

At a time of unparalleled uncertainty from elected officials in Washington, state Senate Republican leaders are causing further damage to the commonwealth with their recently passed plans.

Now that we are midway through August and all parties have had their say and advanced their own proposals, it is past time to get to business for Pennsylvanians.

The time for political games and showmanship has long expired; let’s get the job done.