00:00 - Hi, everybody.

00:03 - Looks like a full room today.

00:05 - I'm just going to kick off this press conference by making sure

00:08 - we all understand that what we care about most are the Pennsylvanians.

00:13 - We are talking about Pennsylvania first.

00:16 - We cannot burden those workers who go to work every day

00:20 - and work an eight hour shift, and then are waiting for their overtime.

00:25 - We have to be very careful on how we treat them.

00:28 - And again, this is the fourth time.

00:31 - This is our fourth budget from the governor that spends way too much.

00:36 - A lot more than what we are

00:38 - bringing in in revenue.

00:41 - We plan to be

00:43 - as fiscally, fiscally responsible to the people of Pennsylvania

00:49 - that we are able to be.

00:52 - The other thing, one thing I think is important to all of us

00:55 - that will definitely still be here in 2028 is, you know, the governor brought up

01:01 - the housing issue and bonding in 2028

01:06 - when he plans on being gone.

01:09 - He plans on being somewhere else on another office.

01:13 - That is, if he wins this year and it leaves that burden for all of us

01:20 - putting all of that money in

01:22 - into a bond, we again will be left holding the bag.

01:26 - And that just means that the people of Pennsylvania are left

01:29 - holding the bag.

01:32 - That's all I'm going to say right now.

01:35 - I'm gonna bring up my friend, Senator Joe Pittman.

01:39 - Thank you.

01:39 - Thank you, Pro Tem. Good afternoon.

01:41 - Appreciate everybody being here.

01:43 - Beyond stating the obvious what the president pro tem said,

01:47 - the governor simply wants to spend too much money in this budget.

01:51 - Period. Full stop.

01:53 - But much of what I heard in his remarks today reminded me of two things.

01:59 - Imitation is the best form of flattery

02:02 - and success has a thousand fathers.

02:05 - And here's the reality.

02:06 - So much of what we heard today sounded an awful lot like the agenda

02:12 - that the Senate and House Republicans have advocated for years,

02:18 - slicing through bureaucracy

02:21 - through red tape, permitting reform, cutting taxes.

02:25 - Seven tax cuts would not have been possible without the Senate

02:31 - and Republican House working together to achieve those tax cuts.

02:36 - Energy. Welcome to the party.

02:38 - We've been talking about energy

02:40 - and the need to have a reliable energy supply for years.

02:44 - And the list goes on and on.

02:46 - Public safety reduce crime rates.

02:49 - All of those things are initiatives that we have pursued

02:52 - and continue to pursue and will pursue in the budget ahead.

02:56 - So we welcome

02:59 - his embracing of our priorities in so many ways.

03:04 - And what I mean by success having a thousand fathers.

03:07 - Let's be very clear.

03:09 - Much of the successes that he touted today

03:13 - would not have been possible without our initiative.

03:17 - Speeches are great.

03:18 - Applause lines are wonderful.

03:21 - But at the end of the day, speeches and applause lines cannot become law.

03:26 - And it takes us as a

03:27 - general assembly, leading the way to effectuate

03:32 - so much of what the governor has claimed.

03:35 - Achievement on over the last three years, and wants to achieve

03:39 - in his fourth budget ahead.

03:42 - And so, as the weeks and months unfold, we're going to continue

03:45 - to engage in a dialog.

03:47 - I'm glad the governor took my advice and

03:51 - is engaging much sooner in the process.

03:54 - As he said, we're going to have a conversation tomorrow.

03:58 - Initially about the budget.

04:00 - That's what I had suggested we do months ago,

04:03 - and I'm glad that he is following up on that suggestion.

04:07 - So at the end of the day, we're going to go through

04:09 - a very complicated and difficult process again.

04:13 - But we're committed to working together

04:14 - to make sure, as the pro tem said, the people of Pennsylvania

04:18 - and their needs are addressed in the budget that's in front of us.

04:23 - But make no mistake, in our appropriations, chairman will talk a lot

04:26 - about this.

04:27 - There's a lot of hard work and a lot of hard decisions to be made

04:32 - in the years ahead in terms of our fiscal stability

04:35 - and what the people of Pennsylvania may inherit.

04:38 - Long after the governor is no longer in his chair.

04:42 - And that's what we have to be focused on, is the long term view

04:46 - of the viability of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

04:50 - But it's all about economic development.

04:52 - It's all about demographics changing our demographic tide.

04:56 - Much of what the governor had said.

04:58 - And thanks to our leadership, he's been able to claim credit

05:02 - for some of that,

05:03 - which is fine, because, as we said, success does have a thousand fathers.

05:07 - And at the end of the day, we're a critical piece

05:10 - to achieving any of that success.

05:12 - Now I'm going to turn it over to our appropriations chair, Senator Scott Martin.

05:18 - Thank you leader.

05:19 - Good afternoon everybody.

05:21 - You know, I really don't want to be a broken record

05:23 - because, quite frankly, it feels like this is the fourth time I've stood before

05:26 - you and talked about the exact same thing.

05:29 - And the position that we find ourselves in now is exactly where we'd said we'd be.

05:33 - Now, the one thing I'm grateful for, with the people standing behind me,

05:36 - is the fact that we probably would be talking

05:38 - about broad based tax increases this year if we haven't done our part

05:42 - to try to temper back some of his previous spending proposals.

05:46 - So it's no secret, no

05:48 - secret whatsoever what our structural deficit is.

05:52 - As much as I've heard leaders from the other side of the building

05:55 - and the other chamber who claim we have no structural deficit.

05:58 - We are spending about $4.5 billion more than we're taking in.

06:04 - And if you would take away some of the one time sources of revenue

06:06 - that we took the couch cushions for last year, trying to get lapsed

06:10 - fundings and and interest from special accounts,

06:14 - we're probably talking about closer to $5 billion in terms of that deficit,

06:20 - to see that we have another proposal that increases

06:23 - spending by another 5.4 billion is just is mind boggling to me.

06:28 - And the way they make their numbers work, this is no secret.

06:32 - You are going to hear it again in our hearings.

06:34 - They underestimate what their spending is going to be deliberately,

06:38 - and they overestimate what their revenues are going to be.

06:42 - They're going to pick revenue sources that are very controversial

06:45 - and have been long time battlegrounds here that do not exist right now.

06:50 - And they're going to try to tell you that next year and the year

06:52 - after, we're only going to increase spending by about $400 million.

06:55 - Well guess what.

06:56 - They said it about the same thing about this year.

06:58 - And he's asking for $2.6 billion.

07:02 - You know,

07:03 - we have worked our caucuses deliberately

07:07 - over the last three years

07:08 - to try to position this state to be as competitive, to grow,

07:13 - to keep our young people here, to get them to invest here

07:17 - and to be able to afford a quality of life here in Pennsylvania.

07:21 - Now, you did hear a lot of him talking about some of the things

07:24 - I heard him talking about pathways to good Pennsylvania jobs

07:28 - and easing the burden on our students.

07:30 - Man, I mean, the leader.

07:32 - Pittman I said to him, he's

07:33 - doing a lot of twisting and turning so he wouldn't have to talk about Grow

07:36 - pay, which was an initiative off there by myself.

07:39 - Leader topper that had 11,000 Pennsylvania

07:42 - young people want to stay here and commit to living in this state.

07:46 - Instead, he wanted to talk about the wonderful things

07:48 - government can do in terms of the state Board of Higher Education,

07:51 - as if that's going to make things more affordable for Pennsylvanians,

07:54 - which will not.

07:56 - You also heard him talk about energy.

07:58 - I'm here to tell you, as much as he wanted to talk about his lightning plan.

08:02 - Just like last year, he is not booking

08:05 - any of that programmatically

08:08 - or spending money related to tax credits in this year's budget.

08:12 - It's not there.

08:14 - You heard mentioned before about the bond that he wants to do.

08:17 - They're not even booking that. The 2829.

08:20 - But probably the thing that concerns me the most

08:23 - is that every person in this room heard him

08:27 - reference multiple times.

08:30 - Our positive bond upgrades,

08:32 - our positive outlook, the money that is saving us.

08:36 - You even heard him talk about changes

08:38 - with the federal government in terms of emergency management.

08:41 - What we all know is we're talking about the rainy day fund.

08:45 - So on one hand, he sugar pot and everybody over here

08:49 - talking about all the benefits of a rainy day fund.

08:53 - But on paper, in terms of his budget,

08:56 - he wants to take $4.6 billion out of that.

09:00 - Now, if anyone's ever done bond work before, let me tell you something.

09:04 - The moment we start draining that fund completely

09:06 - is the moment we're going to get bond downgrades.

09:08 - We're going to get a negative outlook.

09:09 - We're paying more for our debt, and all sudden we have nothing

09:13 - and we have nothing.

09:15 - Then you were probably talking about one of the largest broad based tax increases.

09:20 - I'm not going to say years down the road.

09:22 - I'm telling you, next year, unless we get this under control.

09:26 - So as much as I respect Senator Pittman and I'm not going to talk about

09:29 - Groundhog Day,

09:31 - I will say that this budget is rinse and repeat,

09:35 - and we're going to stand for the same things

09:37 - we've been fighting for along the way

09:38 - and try to deliver a budget that's fiscally responsible

09:41 - and keep this Commonwealth on a path to growth.

09:43 - So with that, I'd like to turn it over to our good friend, leader Jesse Topper.

09:51 - Good afternoon.

09:54 - The governor at several points mentioned the growth of our economy,

09:58 - and we agree that it has been growing

10:02 - mostly because of initiatives that we've been touting

10:05 - in terms of permitting reform.

10:06 - And we believe that escaping the specter of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

10:11 - and that carbon tax will absolutely help energy development in Pennsylvania.

10:16 - We need to see that come in the next few months.

10:18 - And we believe that that we will see that.

10:20 - But even with that rate of economic growth,

10:23 - it still doesn't match the spending.

10:27 - If we don't bring those in line, then we will continue

10:30 - to be outsized in how much we're spending versus how much we're bringing in.

10:34 - But but these guys up here, we'll talk about the numbers.

10:37 - I'm sure you'll hear from Chairman Susie and Chairman Martin,

10:41 - during appropriation hearings in their committees about the numbers.

10:45 - But I think what you really saw today

10:47 - and why it can be very difficult to govern in this divided state, is

10:51 - the fundamental, fundamental disagreement over the role of government.

10:56 - The amount of times I heard today that government

11:00 - was going to intervene into the private sector, that government

11:05 - is what would create prosperity, that government is what would create jobs.

11:10 - When he said,

11:11 - now we have Reggie out of the way, we don't have an excuse to do anything.

11:14 - My first thought is, now that Reggie is out of the way,

11:16 - what we need to do is stand back and watch the private sector work

11:20 - and watch the private sector grow the jobs that will support this economy.

11:24 - But what you saw on display today was the fundamental disagreement

11:28 - over the role of government.

11:29 - We believe that if you want to put money back into people's pockets,

11:34 - if you want to make everything from groceries to electric bills

11:39 - more affordable to higher education, what we need to do as government

11:43 - is far less.

11:45 - We need to get our footprint down.

11:48 - That is what we believe will make things more affordable for Pennsylvanians.

11:52 - Unfortunately, from what we heard today, that is exactly the opposite

11:56 - of what we're hearing from the administration.

11:58 - And it will be up to us to bring those two diametrically

12:01 - opposed visions into focus so that we can get a product done.

12:05 - With that, I'd like to introduce, I believe, our final speaker, the majority

12:08 - whip, Senator Wayne Langer, who'll.

12:12 - Thank you. Good afternoon everyone.

12:13 - I want to say first that it's a pleasure to be part of this leadership team,

12:17 - as we will continue to hold the line.

12:19 - It's a pleasure to be part in good company with fiscally responsible

12:23 - individuals that have consistently held the line.

12:27 - And I wonder where we would be if we weren't

12:30 - the ones that were reining back and hoarding.

12:32 - You hear the policies of tax cuts.

12:33 - Those are policies that are borne by members that are there on this stage.

12:38 - And where will we be if we did not,

12:42 - advance those policies, we would be in a whole different situation.

12:45 - And conversely, I will say, where would we be

12:49 - if we had not been into Reggie?

12:52 - You know, you hear the governor

12:54 - is screaming from the heavens, it seems, saying that we need to do energy policy.

12:58 - We need to do energy policy when effectively our borders of our state

13:01 - were closed to any energy development since 2019.

13:06 - And where did that development go?

13:07 - Look next door to the state that he touted that he just beat.

13:10 - Apparently Ohio.

13:12 - Look how many power plants were built and are operational now

13:16 - in that state that could have been here, that could have been economic development.

13:21 - And also, you hear the touting of the money,

13:24 - the millions of dollars that this governor saved for utility payers.

13:30 - I want to

13:30 - personally ask those that are watching this now,

13:34 - the taxpayer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,

13:37 - the energy bill that you got your electricity bill this month,

13:40 - the month before or the prior month, did this, governor save you money?

13:45 - I would beg to differ.

13:46 - I look forward to working with this leadership team, that the hard work

13:49 - that is done by so many, the appropriations chairs in both,

13:52 - both bodies in holding the line and enacting fiscal commonsense.

13:57 - Thank you.

13:58 - With that, I'll turn it back to Leader Pittman.

14:00 - We'll be happy to entertain a couple of questions.

14:03 - So, Stephen, the Commonwealth structural deficit exists despite a pretty

14:07 - much near continuous roll of Republicans are designing these budgets.

14:11 - People up here voted for every budget that you were saying.

14:14 - Got us to this point fiscally.

14:15 - So why should people trust that Republicans

14:17 - are going to be able to address the structural deficit?

14:19 - Well, first of all, you have to look at what's been proposed

14:22 - over the last several years versus what has been enacted.

14:25 - And there's no question that everything

14:28 - that has been proposed by this governor and certainly the House Democrats,

14:32 - the spending would be infinitely more than what we're dealing with now.

14:36 - We've been very vocal about the fact

14:38 - that we continue to spend too much, but in this divided government,

14:41 - we only have so much capacity to deliver that particular message.

14:46 - But we're continuing to be creative and innovative.

14:49 - As we've said before, we are we are draining the couch

14:52 - cushions of the bureaucracy of every dollar we can find.

14:56 - And I assure you, in this budget,

14:58 - we're going to make those couch cushions as flat as a pancake.

15:01 - We're going to do everything we can to protect the taxpayer

15:04 - and make sure that the dollars that have already been allocated are wisely used.

15:10 - Is is tapping into the rainy day

15:12 - fund on a red line this year for several pockets.

15:16 - But practically speaking, it's going to be a difficult

15:18 - task to not have any conversation about the rainy day fund.

15:22 - But here's the reality.

15:24 - This is February, and we have a long way to go

15:27 - in terms of revenue projections and revenue estimates.

15:30 - But we do believe before we have a rainy day fund type of conversation,

15:34 - we have to make sure we're again stretching every taxpayer dollars we can

15:39 - and bring the cost of government down as much as possible.

15:42 - There's quite a few things in his budget, such as the corrections line item

15:45 - where we just closed

15:46 - two prisons, and yet he wants another $140 million of increased spending.

15:51 - We think that is wholly ridiculous, given what certain communities

15:55 - in this commonwealth just went through.

15:59 - The Democrats say

16:01 - five years from now, they'll still be $1 billion in the rainy day fund in reserves.

16:06 - How do you guys respond to that?

16:08 - And where you had mentioned the Department of Corrections?

16:11 - Are there other areas that you guys are looking to take the money?

16:14 - If they think that much is going to be there,

16:15 - they better hope that Republicans are still in control

16:17 - of the legislature, because that's the only way that'll happen.

16:20 - I think you can make the numbers say what you want them to say.

16:25 - And I think Senator Martin mentioned that of how you can do the numbers gymnastics.

16:31 - But what we believe is we can look at the demographics in the way they're trending.

16:35 - This state is getting older.

16:37 - This state is losing young people and development to other states.

16:41 - It is our goal to turn that trend around.

16:43 - And to Steve's point earlier about what have we done in the budget?

16:47 - We believe that the policies that we have forced the governor's hand on

16:51 - is what will turn those demographics around,

16:54 - and it will take time and it will take work.

16:56 - And we need to continue to do that.

16:58 - And if we don't see those demographics turn around, then you won't.

17:03 - You'll need a bucket to catch the tax increases that will be coming.

17:07 - My question

17:09 - is, I mean,

17:11 - how do you respond to Governor Shapiro's calling out of Senate

17:14 - Republicans over the following is the statute of limitations for.

17:18 - So let me start by saying that we all, every person in this room

17:23 - feels for those victims.

17:26 - We have also, on the Senate side,

17:28 - passed a constitutional amendment four times.

17:32 - And, you know, we don't believe we all want to help the victims.

17:36 - We just believe there are different paths to do it.

17:38 - We do not believe the statutorily is the way to go

17:43 - because we have a remedies clause.

17:44 - And what other states don't have a remedies clause.

17:48 - So it's it's easier for them.

17:50 - But I would say this to the governor,

17:53 - if he is sincere about victims, not only in the past

17:57 - but more present, he should return the $1.1 million

18:01 - he got from Reid Hoffman, who is on the Epstein list.

18:06 - Further, further,

18:08 - I would guide you to a case in Williamsport that is in federal.

18:13 - It's in federal court right now, and it is about the Williamsport

18:18 - High School baseball event that happened.

18:22 - It is in federal court.

18:24 - It landed in the attorney general's office while Governor Shapiro

18:28 - was still attorney general.

18:29 - We have all the documentation.

18:31 - We have the the lead detective saying he can't prosecute

18:35 - because it's above his pay grade.

18:37 - So I would just guide you to that.

18:40 - We have a case number if you'd like to see it.

18:43 - That's all I have to say. Yeah.

18:46 - For the leaders regarding the meeting tomorrow,

18:48 - do you believe that there is any increased motivation to start early

18:52 - and put the groundwork in before, you know, things get out of hand?

18:57 - Well, this team has always been quite motivated to delivering a budget on time.

19:01 - We were motivated in doing so last year, but delivering a budget on time

19:06 - and delivering the right product have to go hand in hand.

19:10 - And so we certainly want to avoid a protracted impasse as we saw last year.

19:15 - As I've said before, for me professionally and personally, it wasn't fun.

19:19 - We didn't look to have an impasse just to have an impasse.

19:23 - And we realized there were a lot of negative consequences to it.

19:26 - But if we had not held the line the way we did, some of the achievements

19:30 - that we had as it relates to permitting reform

19:32 - and certainly protecting every consumer of electricity

19:35 - in this Commonwealth from the electricity tax of Reggie would not have occurred

19:39 - had we gotten the budget done on June 30th.

19:42 - So we're committed to getting

19:43 - this budget done on time, but it has to be done responsibly.

19:49 - To an old

19:49 - argument, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

19:52 - The way the governor's framing it, it could save the Commonwealth

19:56 - $300 million

19:57 - a year on entitlement programs like Medicaid, because it would bring up

20:01 - the actual amount that people made in the year.

20:03 - What do you say to that?

20:04 - We keep talking about maximum wage jobs,

20:07 - and that's where this whole conversation

20:10 - that our friends on the other side of the aisle have is quite misplaced.

20:14 - Because quite frankly, if an individual's making seven, 25 an hour or $15

20:19 - an hour, they're not going to be able to effectuate the American dream.

20:22 - They're not going to be able to buy a home.

20:24 - They're not going to be able to afford their electricity bills.

20:26 - And that's why we have continually been focused on pro-growth economic policies

20:31 - that bring all wages up to maximum wages.

20:34 - So, like his conversation about career and technical education leader

20:38 - topper can talk about that.

20:39 - That's been something we've championed for many, many years,

20:43 - and we've championed it because we know it leads to families sustaining wages.

20:46 - We're willing to have a conversation about minimum wage

20:50 - and to see if we can come to a compromise.

20:53 - But based on the way the governor delivered that message,

20:56 - I think he's more interested in the political talking point

20:58 - than actually getting something done on the issue.

21:01 - You eliminate the talking point, it would just raise

21:03 - it wouldn't affect the things you're talking about.

21:06 - Although always be a talking point.

21:08 - Right. What is the base?

21:09 - I mean, he even mentioned

21:10 - West Virginia $10 an hour, but he certainly didn't propose $10 an hour.

21:15 - We believe once again, that you have to have the market

21:19 - be able to effect what the wage wages are.

21:22 - And and we've said that that being said,

21:24 - as the as leader Pittman said, it's all part of a budget negotiation.

21:28 - This is this is where the negotiation starts.

21:30 - And I think it's important for everybody back in our communities,

21:33 - back home, school districts, county agencies to understand that

21:37 - the product that was touted today is a proposal.

21:41 - Don't book any of those funds.

21:43 - Don't talk about any of those policies.

21:45 - They're not done yet.

21:46 - It is not law yet.

21:47 - That's our job and we plan to get to it.

21:50 - Appropriate amount of money spent on school.

21:53 - The governor is talking about another half $1 billion.

22:00 - The appropriate money is when you can see it being effective.

22:04 - Now, the governor said two things today.

22:05 - First, he talked about the amount of money,

22:07 - but then he also addressed the fact that because of the demographic challenges,

22:11 - our schools are seeing, less students.

22:14 - So where is that effective point?

22:16 - We believe that it's not just money that makes schools effective.

22:20 - We believe that parental choice in the students education is

22:24 - what makes education effective.

22:26 - We believe ensuring their strong and robust career and technical education

22:30 - programs are what makes schools effective.

22:33 - So it's not just about the amount of money.

22:35 - That is what the other side would have you believe.

22:38 - We believe that there's a lot of policy, similar to the literacy initiatives

22:42 - that we were able to get in last budget,

22:43 - that will actually help to turn our results around.

22:46 - And that has to go hand in hand with any amount of money.

22:49 - Two more questions I think you had don't.

22:52 - That's good.

22:54 - Can you give us an update on cannabis schools, James?

22:57 - Closing

22:58 - any of the revenue generators that the governor proposed?

23:01 - We've continually talked about gaming reform as a five party conversation.

23:06 - We still believe there is something that needs to occur on gaming reform.

23:10 - As we all know, the Supreme Court has heard arguments on this.

23:14 - We think it would be extraordinarily helpful if the Supreme Court would deliver

23:18 - an opinion that has clarity and deliver that opinion sooner than later.

23:23 - But I will tell you, I would also like to see the governor's words on paper.

23:27 - Keep in mind, when the House Democrats passed recreational marijuana last year

23:31 - and they came up with that crazy plan to have the state stores

23:36 - implement it.

23:37 - We heard nothing from the governor on whether or not he even signed the bill

23:41 - as an example.

23:42 - The governor talks about gaming reform, but we have yet to see a legislative

23:46 - proposal put in front of us.

23:48 - Again, applause lines and speeches don't deliver action.

23:53 - Words on paper deliver action.

23:56 - I think last question.

23:58 - Yeah, I guess I was just interested in if you folks, as leaders could comment

24:03 - on the status ten principles for guide for Development

24:08 - of Data centers that the governor introduced in his address today.

24:11 - Do you feel like those things are needed at the state level?

24:15 - And so you're generally

24:18 - in as it relates to data centers.

24:21 - Keep in mind that

24:23 - affordability

24:25 - and availability of electricity go hand in hand.

24:29 - The reason why electricity is increasingly unaffordable

24:33 - is because it's decreasingly available, and it's because some of

24:37 - the crazy policies that we've had, not just in this state, but other states,

24:42 - as leader Tom has said, for six years, we wasted time on Reggie.

24:47 - The governor inherited Reggie from his predecessor,

24:50 - and for some reason he chose to give it a big old hug

24:53 - until he realized the cost of electricity was going to go through the roof.

24:57 - And then he dropped it like a hot potato.

24:59 - So we're going to have a conversation about data centers,

25:03 - not only how we handle local communities, not only how they pay their fair share,

25:09 - but the conversation has to be rooted in the fundamentals that affordability

25:13 - and availability of electricity go hand in hand.

25:16 - The notion that data centers should bring their own supply to the market seems to

25:20 - make a lot of sense.

25:22 - So anything else

25:23 - can the administration require that those currently under lock?

25:28 - I don't think they can.

25:29 - Otherwise he wouldn't be asking us for it. Thank you all very much.