For Fifth Year, State Doesn’t Have A Budget By Deadline

Emily Scolnick is a 2026 Dow Jones News Fund at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. 

By Emily Scolnick | Pennsylvania Capital-Star

For the fifth year in a row, Pennsylvania will not have an on-time state budget.

The Republican-controlled state Senate adjourned for the week without a spending plan in place Tuesday afternoon. Democratic leadership from both legislative chambers expressed frustration with the decision and Republicans’ unwillingness to share their proposed spending plan as the June 30 deadline passes at midnight. 

“[It’s] disappointing, to say the least, and we think it’s imperative we continue to work,” Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny), the state Senate minority leader, said. “We are here, the governor’s here, [and] wants to be able to bring this thing to closure.”

He added that every Senate Democrat voted against Tuesday’s motion to recess.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget initially passed the House in April. The Senate Appropriations Committee did nothing until it stripped that proposal in a meeting on Monday, sending it to the chamber floor as what is procedurally a blank slate. 

The recess means no deal will be reached before next week. 

“This is frustrating beyond belief that we are here on the last day of the fiscal year, but not the last day of the week, and the Senate is throwing in the towel already,” said Rep. Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery), the House majority leader.

In a statement on social media, Shapiro called Republicans’ decision to adjourn “disrespectful to the people of Pennsylvania.”

“On the day they should be sending a budget to my desk, they decided to go home on vacation,” he wrote. “We should work through this and finish the job together, and instead, they ran away.”

House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia) noted that her chamber, which currently has a session scheduled for Wednesday, will remain in Harrisburg as long as it takes to finalize a spending plan. 

“We’ll be here Friday, Saturday, we’ll kick off America’s birthday here in the state Capitol by passing a budget,” she said. “The Senate Republican majority is failing again, not leading, not working, not compromising, and most importantly, not finishing the job we’re all charged to do.”

House Minority Leader Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) said he feels negotiations have progressed to “within the realm of what can be done in the next week and a half.” 

He added that budget conversations are more complicated due to Pennsylvania’s divided legislature, which has “two completely divergent opinions on where the Commonwealth should go, what our finances are, and how we should get there.” 

“Bringing those together [is] very difficult, and we are making progress,” he continued. 

Costa said a proposed bi-party meeting on Monday with Shapiro, which Democrats “were prepared to show up” to, did not happen. Topper attended a separate meeting with Shapiro Monday. 

Negotiations continue

Topper added that budget talks have forced both parties to let go of major policy items after not being “able to reach a consensus in a timely manner.” 

He said conversations over skill games, tax cuts, the balance between education spending and school choice, raising the minimum wage, and legalizing marijuana have “fallen off” in recent days. 

Senate and House Democrats held a press conference in the Capitol on Tuesday — marking 20 years since Pennsylvania last raised its minimum wage — criticizing Senate Republicans for their unwillingness to consider this year’s minimum wage bill. And the state Supreme Court’s recent decision that skill games are unlawful leaves room for a new source of state revenue, should the commonwealth decide to legalize and tax the machines.   

Democrats would not comment on specific sticking points in negotiations, saying the biggest one was Senate Republicans’ decision to leave the Capitol. 

“We can’t negotiate from the highway,” Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia), the minority Senate Appropriations chair, said.  

In a statement, Senate Republican leadership wrote that they have “received the necessary clarity on many outstanding issues which were delaying completion of this year’s budget” this week, adding that they hope to have a completed spending plan “in the days following July 4th.” 

The statement from President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) and Appropriations Chair Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) noted that the chamber will return to Harrisburg “once final budgetary language is ready to advance.” 

Neither party’s leadership would comment publicly on a refined spending total, but Costa said Democrats are “ready to find a compromise” to come to a deal. 

As America’s 250th birthday approaches this weekend, Rep. Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said it is “rich” that lawmakers would leave the Capitol to honor the semiquincentennial “with the work undone.” 

“There are people behind the numbers, and there are ramifications for us not getting our job done,” he continued.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.