News & Brews June 27, 2025
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Bailouts, gaming, and spending hold up budget
Spotlight PA reports that lawmakers are set to blow past the traditional June 30 budget deadline as they seek to navigate what Sen. Majority Leader Joe Pittman calls “very deep philosophical differences.” These difference span issues ranging from spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bail out mass transit to regulating so-called “skill games” to increasing (or not) state spending to beyond what taxpayers can afford. How late will “late” be this year? That remains to be seen.
Democrats’ John Fetterman problem
Not toeing the party line on one or two issues is bad enough when it comes to staying in Democrats’ good graces. Not toeing it on three or more? Unforgivable. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has bucked his party on immigration, Israel, violent riots, and a willingness to talk to President Trump, to name just a few. And now, Democrats aren’t sure what to do with Fetterman. But one Democrat—former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb—sees his chance. The AP reports that Fetterman “isn’t even up for reelection until 2028, but already a one-time primary foe, former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, is crisscrossing Pennsylvania and social media, looking and sounding like he’s preparing to challenge Fetterman again.”
Garrity: ‘Washington leads while Harrisburg lags’
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity has a new letter in PennLive contrasting Washington’s approach to “getting stuff done” with Gov. Shapiro’s and Pa. Democrats’ unwillingness to tackle real reforms. “[A]s Pennsylvania faces a multi-billion-dollar structural deficit,” Garrity writes, “Gov. Josh Shapiro and his friends in the legislature are devising ways to increase spending, increase taxes, increase special-interest handouts, and increase families’ frustration over government recklessness.”
Pa. Chamber offers NYC businesses an escape from Mamdani
Following socialist Zohran Mamdani’s primary election win in Tuesday’s New York City mayoral primary, the Pa. Chamber of Business & Industry is inviting city employers who are concerned about Mamdani’s radical policies to relocate to the Keystone State. “In a video posted on social media, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry President and CEO Luke Bernstein directs big Apple companies to uproot their operations and move to the Keystone State following the election results, touting its ‘pro-business’ policies,” the Center Square reports. Granted, Pa. has a way to go in improving our own business tax environment—last year the Tax Foundation ranked us 31st in state business tax climate. But NY state ranked an abysmal 49th, and Mamdani’s policies would make the city even worse.
About those ‘millions’ losing Medicaid
You’ve heard Gov. Josh Shapiro’s and national Democrats’ fearmongering on Medicaid reform. But the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board injects some truth into the hype. Of the 7.8 million that the Congressional Budget Office predicts “won’t have health insurance in 2034 because of GOP Medicaid changes … some 4.8 million are uninsured because they don’t comply with the bill’s part-time work requirement.” In other words, these are able-bodied adults without dependents who on average “spend 4.2 hours per day watching television and playing video games, or 125 hours during a 30-day month.” What’s more, another 1.4 million are illegal immigrants who are not eligible for Medicaid. And “the 7.8 million figure includes 1.6 million who have access to other forms of subsidized coverage such as the ObamaCare exchange.” Finally, even with Republican reforms, Medicaid spending will increase “by more than $200 billion over 10 years.” So much for Democrats’ claims of a “cut.”