00:00 - The Capital Blue Cross Forum is sponsored in part by Capital Blue Cross.

00:05 - Good morning.

00:06 - I'm Doug Furness, and welcome

00:08 - to this episode of the Public Affairs Forum, hosted by

00:11 - Capital Blue Cross.

00:12 - Capital Blue Cross is a regional Blue Cross plan serving approximately

00:16 - 800,000 members in central Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley.

00:20 - I want to thank PCN Pennsylvania Cable Network,

00:23 - our long time partner in these broadcasts, for their commitment to the program

00:27 - and the relationship it has with Capital Blue Cross.

00:30 - We look forward to continuing that relationship for many years to come.

00:33 - Our format today is the same.

00:36 - Our guest will make a brief presentation followed by a question and answer session

00:39 - moderated by me.

00:41 - If a member of our live audience wishes to ask a question of our guest,

00:45 - please submit it through the Q&A function and I'll ask it.

00:48 - All programs should last about an hour.

00:50 - Many of you will, recognize our guest.

00:54 - He's a repeat, guest on the public affairs forum.

00:58 - Our guest today is, Pennsylvania State Representative Jordan Harris.

01:01 - He's the majority appropriations chairman

01:03 - for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

01:06 - Chairman Harris

01:07 - was first elected to the House in 2012.

01:10 - He represents the 180 86 legislative district

01:13 - in the city of Philadelphia.

01:16 - Chairman Harris began, his ascension to leadership in 2018

01:20 - after being elected with the whip of the Democratic caucus in the House.

01:24 - And he's most recently, most recently was elected by his colleagues,

01:29 - as appropriations chair for,

01:32 - the 24 to 26 legislative session.

01:36 - Chairman Harris is the first African American to serve as both whip

01:39 - and appropriations chair, and the second African-American in either position.

01:44 - Chairman Harris has also served as the chair

01:46 - of the Pennsylvania Legislative Back Court Black Caucus.

01:49 - Please welcome House appropriations.

01:53 - Chairman Jordan Ayres.

01:55 - Chairman Harris, how are you? I'm wonderful.

01:58 - How are you doing? I'm doing I'm doing well.

02:00 - I'm glad you, we're able to join us again.

02:04 - I'll let I'll let you,

02:06 - speak to the

02:07 - group, before we, have at, the questions.

02:10 - Thank you.

02:11 - Well, thank you so much for having me.

02:13 - And thank you for,

02:16 - the invite as well as the, patients.

02:20 - Sometimes technology doesn't work the best.

02:23 - But we are here, and I am so excited to,

02:26 - be a part of of this conversation.

02:29 - For those that don't know me.

02:30 - Jordan Harris, I represent my neighbors

02:33 - and 186 district, which are parts of South and Southwest Philadelphia.

02:38 - Just point Breeze, Grays ferry Graduate Hospital in Kansas.

02:42 - And those are all of my, neighborhoods, in my district.

02:46 - And, I serve as the majority chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

02:51 - And it it's been an honor, honestly, the God of my life.

02:54 - And to be able to serve the community that I was raised in, the community

02:58 - that my mother still lives in and,

02:59 - and a lot of my family still lives in, but also in this critical time,

03:03 - and our country's history in this critical time, in the history

03:07 - of this Commonwealth.

03:09 - To be the majority chairman of the House Appropriations Committee,

03:12 - is truly an honor.

03:13 - And I look forward, to being with you today and talking

03:17 - and answering all of the questions, that you may have.

03:19 - So, Doug, thanks for having me.

03:21 - Glad to be back with you. Look forward to the conversation.

03:27 - Well.

03:27 - Welcome back.

03:29 - We have you on every year this time, because the appropriations

03:33 - process and state budget is important to all of us.

03:35 - We have,

03:37 - a number of our employees here.

03:39 - And so, we'll just jump right in and start talking about,

03:43 - about the appropriations, process in the state budget.

03:46 - And I guess the first question that all of us,

03:49 - want to know when we have it done on time.

03:53 - Well, listen, I it it is my goal.

03:57 - To have on time budget.

03:59 - Last year, budget was about 135 days past, its due date.

04:03 - And, that kind of uncertainty.

04:07 - While we ended up with a product that, I believe addressed

04:11 - a lot of concerns, and priorities, from my caucus.

04:17 - It was 135 days.

04:19 - Like, that's a lot of uncertainty

04:21 - for school districts, for nonprofit organizations.

04:26 - And for many folks who are depending on state resources and revenue.

04:30 - And that type of uncertainty is not good for, the Commonwealth.

04:34 - And and so, on April

04:39 - 14th, we sent a budget over to the state Senate.

04:44 - And we are awaiting the state Senate to either

04:48 - pass the budget that we sent, which was the governor's budget proposal,

04:51 - and or make some type of amendments, changes, whatever.

04:55 - And send us something back.

04:56 - But we need, to have a on time budget this year.

05:01 - So that there's some type of predictability,

05:04 - with all of the folks who are depending on the state.

05:08 - Well, thank you for that.

05:09 - And just so you know, Scott Martin is, Senator Martin is, joining us in June.

05:15 - And so, do you have a message

05:17 - you'd like to leave, for him and, on, on our short.

05:21 - So, Scott, let's let's get this started.

05:23 - Scott. Are both Millersville grads.

05:27 - So if if if by time you don't have him

05:30 - by title, you have him on a program that the budget's not done.

05:33 - Tell him he can meet me in the student memorial center.

05:38 - On the campus of Millersville.

05:40 - And we'll iron out everything else, or we'll bring everything to Millersville.

05:44 - The place that has birthed both of us.

05:47 - And we'll we'll get it done.

05:48 - Well, as a ship grad, I won't hold that against either one of you.

05:53 - But I do appreciate you joining us.

05:55 - And so let's just dive in.

05:58 - You've been doing, You've obviously been in the house

06:00 - for, for a while, but you've been the, appropriations chair, for several cycles.

06:05 - So what are the top priorities for the House Democrats in this go around?

06:11 - Well, you know, we,

06:14 - have been laser been focused on fully funding of our education system,

06:18 - as everybody knows, at this juncture in 2023.

06:23 - There was a Commonwealth Court

06:24 - ruling that said how we fund schools in Pennsylvania is unconstitutional.

06:28 - Following that, this education.

06:30 - Can I hold you for a second?

06:31 - Explain that to the viewers. What?

06:33 - What the court said. Why was it unconstitutional?

06:36 - What were we doing and what did we have to do?

06:39 - Well, I mean, everybody, though let me not say that, you know,

06:42 - we fund education on property tax.

06:46 - And when you look at it

06:49 - basically

06:50 - based off of the the home that you live in, in the, the, the,

06:54 - the value of that home and how much tax we generate,

06:57 - because we weren't making up the difference at the state level.

07:00 - Many of our districts were not receiving, the adequate nature,

07:07 - by which it's needed to fund our children's education.

07:11 - And the court said that that's unconstitutional.

07:15 - The court said that we needed to fix that.

07:17 - And so the Basic Education Funding Commission put together

07:20 - a nine year plan, by which to, to fix that.

07:24 - The number was well over $4 billion that we were deficit

07:29 - and, and adequately funding schools in Pennsylvania.

07:33 - In my city alone, that deficit was about $1.2 billion.

07:38 - And what that means is that those are the resources that should have been

07:42 - at our school districts, at the district level,

07:45 - to fund nurses and counselors and reading specialists

07:49 - and math specialists and whatever else the districts believed that they needed.

07:52 - But what it also meant was that there were local governments

07:56 - who were raising their property, and school tax was a certain level,

08:00 - just so they can make up for what the state wasn't doing right.

08:04 - And so I've traveled all over Pennsylvania, and I've heard folks

08:08 - who've had some tremendous concerns about,

08:12 - their school and property tax and how much they're paying.

08:15 - And, the problem is, when you have a state who's not doing its

08:20 - responsibility and lifting that low, local governments are forced to do it.

08:25 - And so there's a nine year plan on how to get us into a place where

08:30 - we're funding schools based off of what we believe is adequately.

08:34 - Two cycles have already passed

08:36 - since then where we've got money and to adequacy bucket.

08:40 - And our education spending, and begin to invest those resources

08:45 - in a way that we believe brings us in the constitutionality

08:49 - this year, the budget that we sent over to the Senate has the third tranche,

08:53 - which means we would if we get this done, we'll be a third of the way

08:57 - to where we need to be, where we're fully funding schools

09:00 - and where you, the taxpayers, should be able to see one

09:04 - that your school districts aren't raising your your taxes anymore,

09:09 - and to where you should be able to see benefits

09:12 - in the classroom for our young people.

09:15 - Obtaining the education that our Constitution requires us

09:18 - to give them and so on.

09:21 - For us as a caucus, this is a priority.

09:24 - In addition to that, we have to look at on

09:28 - the Department of Human Services, and the funding there.

09:31 - Many folks, know about, H.R.

09:35 - one, which came out of the federal government,

09:38 - which aims to claw back,

09:41 - and a lot of resources, quite honestly, that's put forward to the state

09:47 - to fund, our Medicaid program or other,

09:51 - social safety nets, for the the Pennsylvania's population.

09:56 - Once you understand this, just to fund the same level of care

10:01 - that we had last year, with

10:04 - DHS is $1.3 billion.

10:08 - And I say that again, just to fund the same level of care.

10:12 - It's $1.3 billion.

10:15 - And so, that is an it is, a big priority for us

10:20 - because next year's budget is going to also include

10:23 - not only the cost of caring, but all of the cuts that we'll see

10:27 - at the federal level.

10:29 - Why is that important?

10:31 - That's your health care.

10:32 - When you're on, a government subsidized health care program.

10:37 - So, Keystone first product or,

10:41 - one of the UPMC, a managed care programs.

10:46 - That is your health care that the federal government is saying

10:50 - they're not going to spend, and invest the resources.

10:54 - They have been into your health care, which means that your state government

10:58 - is now looking at how we can, cover

11:02 - without increasing the services

11:05 - that we provide.

11:08 - I think sometimes folks,

11:09 - look at these things as a nice to have, but until you get sick,

11:15 - health care may not be on the top of your mind,

11:17 - but let you get sick or let your child get sick.

11:20 - Let's. We have sick parents.

11:22 - You understand?

11:23 - The significance and the importance of high quality health care.

11:27 - And so when we look at the state budget,

11:31 - one of the largest things that we're

11:33 - investing state resources in

11:36 - is the health care of the people of Pennsylvania.

11:39 - And so for us, we're going to continue to fight for education funding.

11:43 - We're going to continue to fight so that we don't have to kick off

11:46 - the most vulnerable, folks in Pennsylvania.

11:51 - Off of their health care.

11:52 - And then also, we're also one of the other things

11:55 - that we know is extremely important in Pennsylvania is housing.

11:58 - And that's whether you're in urban Philadelphia or

12:01 - if you're in rural parts of Pennsylvania.

12:04 - Housing and its affordability, is at the top of mind.

12:08 - So when you think about all of these things,

12:10 - they all come together into this one big bucket of making Pennsylvania

12:14 - more affordable for people, making it more affordable

12:17 - so that your taxes aren't going up for your schools.

12:20 - Making Pennsylvania more affordable so that, you can afford the, health care,

12:24 - whether you're paying on an exchange or whether you're getting health care.

12:29 - Subsidies, or making,

12:32 - Pennsylvania more affordable when it comes to purchasing a home.

12:35 - We gotta make sure that we're talking and tackling the affordability crisis

12:40 - that we see in the Commonwealth and across the country.

12:43 - Well, I appreciate those comments.

12:44 - You're obviously speaking to a health insurance company, and a lot of the,

12:47 - of our live audience are employees of that, of of capital BlueCross

12:52 - and, and, and we, we feel the concern

12:57 - you have on the health care, on the health insurance piece.

13:01 - And I the question I have along those lines

13:04 - is, cost of care is a challenge for us.

13:10 - And so that we can control the price of the product

13:13 - I sell in, in the marketplace to, to the consumers.

13:16 - But it sounds like cost of care is also a challenge for you

13:19 - and the state in the Medicaid program and the health for health care of

13:23 - of, of the residents of PA

13:26 - that are consuming, the Medicaid product.

13:30 - How do we get your hands around the cost of care?

13:32 - That cost of care keeps going up tremendously.

13:35 - You mentioned affordability.

13:37 - And and that's a challenge in, in a whole,

13:41 - you know, for the hospitals, for the pharmaceutical industry,

13:44 - for just the, the physician community and obviously for health

13:49 - insurance company who's trying to control all of those costs,

13:53 - so we can sell a product in a marketplace that is,

13:58 - where it's the challenge is growing.

14:01 - We hear from our, our consumers.

14:03 - Hey, this is too expensive. It sounds like you are, too.

14:06 - How do we get our hands around that?

14:08 - Well, I think first of all, we have to understand where we are

14:10 - in the Commonwealth.

14:11 - I think the statistic is, by 2030, about 54

14:15 - of Pennsylvania's 67 counties will have more people

14:19 - over the age of 65 than under the age of 18.

14:23 - Okay.

14:24 - Pennsylvania is a state where we have a tremendously aging population.

14:29 - With that aging comes an increase in cost with things such as health care.

14:34 - All right.

14:35 - And so what we have to do, we have to do a better job

14:39 - for me of recruiting more young people to come to the Commonwealth.

14:43 - Well, and to stay in the Commonwealth,

14:46 - work in the Commonwealth, raise their families in the Commonwealth.

14:49 - We do a good job of getting them here, whether they are born

14:51 - and raised here or whether they come here for one of our fine institutions.

14:55 - You know, you're a Shippensburg grad.

14:59 - I'm a Millersville grad.

15:00 - We have a fine state system,

15:02 - but we also have, you know, Penn State and University Pitt.

15:06 - And then you got temple, and you, Penn and Drexel and all of these other,

15:10 - great universities.

15:12 - Young people are coming here.

15:14 - They're getting their education, but sadly, many of them are leaving.

15:17 - We need them to come here, and we need to stay because,

15:21 - their earning potential is what's going to help the revenue of the Commonwealth.

15:25 - As we look at increased cost and our health care,

15:29 - because of the nature of the population that we we have here in Pennsylvania.

15:33 - The other thing is we have to work with our pharmaceutical companies

15:36 - to look at how are we controlling the pricing,

15:39 - of a lot of the pharmacies that are coming into the marketplace

15:43 - that in many instances, are life

15:46 - saving and life sustaining, pharmaceuticals that people need.

15:51 - In addition to that, though, the federal government cannot pull back

15:55 - on its responsibilities to the American people and folks,

15:59 - I need folks to understand that we have to get past political rhetoric

16:03 - and actually get to a point of where we're understanding that

16:06 - when the federal government is pulling back on its responsibility

16:10 - to the health care of Americans,

16:11 - it is making the health care Pennsylvanians more expensive.

16:15 - And so, you know, I've had many of the managed care organization folks

16:20 - in my office, over the last few weeks, and we've been talking about what to do.

16:25 - It's one of those things where you can't cut your way out of things.

16:28 - There's just a cost in health care, and it has to be something

16:32 - that we all believe that everybody is deserving of.

16:36 - And for me, I believe that.

16:38 - And the

16:38 - I believe my humanity teaches me that everybody is deserving of

16:42 - high quality health care.

16:43 - And so we got to talk to the pharmaceutical companies, and we got to

16:47 - have them come to the table with pricing.

16:49 - We have to do our part, though, at balancing the age

16:52 - demographic of our state so that we bring more revenue in from,

16:56 - from attracting more, younger folks, coming to the Commonwealth,

17:00 - understanding the age of the population of the people of Pennsylvania.

17:04 - Right.

17:05 - And but then also we have to advocate to our federal partners,

17:09 - that we need them to continue, to support,

17:14 - sustaining health care here and in America, which means that,

17:19 - those resources need to be returned to the people of Pennsylvania.

17:24 - Thank you.

17:24 - Thank you for that.

17:25 - And, and I would just offer, my services

17:29 - as you tackle the issue of affordability.

17:31 - You know, the health insurance industry, capital BlueCross in particular,

17:34 - would love to be a part of those conversations,

17:36 - because obviously we have, our own thoughts on the matter as well.

17:40 - But thank you for that.

17:41 - You mentioned education, human services, right?

17:44 - There are two biggest parts of the state budget.

17:46 - And they both get significant

17:50 - investments from, taxpayers.

17:53 - How do you guys evaluate

17:56 - success or failure of those programs?

17:59 - That you that you fund every year?

18:01 - It's got to be a challenge, right?

18:03 - It's billions of dollars.

18:04 - How do you evaluate those programs?

18:07 - Well, there are many different ways to to to make those kind of evaluations.

18:11 - Some of my, friends like to talk about,

18:18 - I don't I don't want to use the terminology, but,

18:20 - you know, making sure that the dollars are going to the right

18:23 - places, particularly in the Medicare and Medicaid space.

18:26 - And, one of the things that,

18:28 - you know, the the heads of our Medicaid, organizations will tell you

18:33 - was that when you look at people who are taking advantage of these

18:36 - programs, it's not typically the end user, but it's the person

18:41 - company that sends an extra walker and,

18:44 - and charges the, the, the insurance for the extra walker

18:48 - that the physician did not ask for or when they send in more material,

18:53 - more, a medical supplies

18:56 - to a person's home, that, physician didn't ask for.

19:00 - But then they bill the insurance company, which in turn,

19:03 - if you're on a medicaid product, is billing the government.

19:07 - And so the end user is like, oh, great, I got an extra walker.

19:11 - But what they don't understand

19:12 - is that there are medical company providers that they're trying

19:16 - they're using that to to get over on on the government.

19:20 - And so when you talk about fraud or waste, if you talk to those who are heading

19:26 - our Medicaid organizations, they will tell you that's where it lives.

19:30 - And so we evaluate our programs to see, how do we get, our numbers,

19:36 - at the National average when it comes to monitoring,

19:39 - those type of programs to make sure that the, that that the, Pennsylvania

19:44 - taxpayer is not being taken advantage of,

19:47 - by, by these type of, companies.

19:51 - And so we look at that.

19:53 - We also look at, how, you know, how are you doing

19:56 - as a managed care organization to make your, your folks healthier?

20:00 - You look at that in education space.

20:03 - We're looking at, our students, growth, and whatnot.

20:09 - And then also, a big part of it is the feedback that we get

20:13 - from Pennsylvanians, and being all across the Commonwealth

20:17 - and talking to people about how they feel their government is doing

20:20 - and what we're doing, and what better things are that we need to do.

20:23 - But we are always diving deep into the numbers, to see and make sure,

20:28 - that we are investing the Commonwealth's resources

20:32 - back into the people in the best way.

20:34 - And manner possible.

20:36 - I appreciate hearing that.

20:37 - I mean, you're speaking our language

20:38 - when you're talking about the health, health care.

20:40 - We see a lot of the same things in the in the private marketplace as well.

20:45 - So again, if there's a way that we can work together on that

20:49 - affordability, piece, please, just say so.

20:54 - We'd be happy to be part of that.

20:58 - Another thing that interests me

21:01 - is obviously we're all feeling the inflationary pressures.

21:05 - I mean,

21:06 - the just the last time you fill up your, your car,

21:09 - it hits you right in the face.

21:12 - And as a, as the, the person

21:15 - who is at the point of the spear and drawing up a state budget,

21:20 - how do you balance, you know, that long term

21:24 - fiscal stability of the state of Pennsylvania versus those,

21:30 - the immediate needs and the inflationary pressures

21:33 - that are being put on Pennsylvanians today?

21:38 - When you're when you're trying to craft that document,

21:41 - I mean, because you you are being tasked with looking, you know, five, ten,

21:46 - maybe even longer years in the future to, to put us on a sustainable path.

21:52 - But you're facing some real issues immediately.

21:57 - How do you balance that?

21:58 - Well, I think for me it's, it's not an either or.

22:02 - It's a, it's a both.

22:03 - And, you know, we have to do both.

22:06 - We have to deal with.

22:07 - And I was on a panel over the weekend,

22:11 - we're talking about we were talking about that, you know,

22:17 - there are people who have immediate needs

22:19 - that have to be addressed today, across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

22:23 - And so we have to address the immediacy of those needs.

22:26 - But we also want to look at how do we make sure that the state

22:29 - is in a good position in 5 to 10 years, as well,

22:32 - and that we continue to build on all of the gains that we've made.

22:36 - And so for me, it's one of those things where you have to do both.

22:42 - The first thing folks I like folks to

22:44 - understand is just like you have bills at home, right?

22:47 - That you just you just have to pay those things.

22:49 - You know, you have to pay the mortgage.

22:51 - You have to pay the electric bill.

22:53 - You have to pay the gas bill.

22:56 - The Commonwealth has those same type of bills that we just have to pay.

23:00 - We can't default on our, on our on our, our our debt obligations.

23:05 - The the

23:07 - the ramifications would, would be catastrophic

23:10 - for Pennsylvania and for Pennsylvania's taxpayers for tax purposes.

23:14 - We we we have to, adequately fund our schools.

23:19 - The, the Commonwealth Court says that it's a requirement of us.

23:22 - We have folks who, need high quality health care.

23:28 - What we understand is if we push off their health care needs, it

23:32 - honestly just costs us more in the long run than getting those folks in

23:37 - to see their primary care physician today and getting them into a healthier state.

23:43 - So, like, we have, required financial obligations

23:48 - as a commonwealth that we must meet.

23:51 - Just like you have things that you must be.

23:54 - But then we want to also be aspirational as a commonwealth.

23:58 - We want to talk about how do we continue to build on the success that we've had,

24:03 - but how do we continue to create the Commonwealth that we all want?

24:07 - And so that's aspirational thinking, like,

24:10 - how do you tackle the crisis of of child care in Pennsylvania?

24:14 - Anybody that's watching this that is either having a child in childcare

24:19 - today has had a child in child care recently or some of us watching this.

24:24 - You might be having flashbacks

24:26 - of what it cost you when you did have to pay, for child care.

24:30 - You know that those are one of the.

24:31 - That's something that,

24:34 - many people in Pennsylvania are facing,

24:37 - and the cost of child care could be the cost of a car.

24:41 - And in some families, the cost of child care is the cost of the mortgage.

24:45 - Right.

24:45 - And so when you're talking about creating a Pennsylvania that we all want

24:49 - while we're handling that crisis of today and meeting our financial obligation,

24:54 - we also want to be aspirational and look at things like that.

24:57 - We also want to be aspirational and look at things like housing.

25:01 - We need more affordable housing in Pennsylvania.

25:05 - We need that Philadelphia County, but we also need it, and I can't.

25:08 - We need it in Montgomery County, but we also need it in Monroe County, right.

25:12 - And so we look at how do we handle those things today,

25:17 - but also put things in place that put us on a trajectory where we can address

25:21 - the need that we know is coming, and providing a better Pennsylvania

25:26 - where folks want to live, work and raise their family.

25:31 - And so you have for me, you know, you can't stop.

25:36 - You got be both.

25:37 - It's also about looking at what we have at our fingertips.

25:40 - We have, cannabis here in Pennsylvania that we haven't, legalized

25:45 - an adult use perspective, which we know would bring us an additional revenue

25:49 - to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

25:51 - We have skill gains that are here.

25:53 - If that's a failure, that are unregulated,

25:56 - that we should regulate and know that that is more

25:59 - resources to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania.

26:03 - Although all of the states around us have increased their minimum wage.

26:06 - We haven't increased our minimum wage.

26:08 - We know that doing so will help us with the longevity

26:12 - and the long term success of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

26:15 - So those are also things that we've been pushing,

26:18 - trying to get done at the state level,

26:20 - because we understand that it helps our five and ten year trajectory.

26:26 - But thank you.

26:27 - And before I get into my next question, you mentioned skill games.

26:30 - And and for a lot of people,

26:32 - a lot of people know what they are but a lot don't.

26:35 - And what is a skill game for the audience and the folks

26:38 - who will be watching this on PC and who may not know what

26:41 - is the skill game, where do you find them and and why are they unique

26:47 - or what's your text?

26:49 - Yeah.

26:49 - So, you know, when you go into a casino, you have, you know, slot machines

26:54 - and those are what we call you know, those are chance games, right?

26:57 - But then you have games where they're in our VFW, they're in our large halls.

27:02 - And the different, you know, social clubs, but they're also, now

27:07 - when you're pulling over at different, rest stations and stops,

27:11 - you see these games, and some of them literally just say,

27:15 - you know, say skill game or whatnot on the machine.

27:20 - These machines are different.

27:22 - The, court has allowed them to be here in Pennsylvania,

27:26 - but for the last few years, we've been trying to regulate them,

27:30 - regulate, you know, what their tax rate is going to be, regulate.

27:34 - Where and how many you can have and where you can have them

27:37 - and all those kind of things.

27:39 - It is an unregulated market at this particular time.

27:43 - And we at the state level have been talking about

27:45 - how do we regulate them so that they're in a fair space, right,

27:49 - so that the communities have more input and say on where these things are,

27:53 - and so that the people of Pennsylvania also get to benefit from the revenue

27:57 - that's coming in.

27:59 - From these from these games.

28:00 - So that that's that's a skill game.

28:02 - Thank you for that.

28:03 - I mean, we hear it all the time.

28:05 - And I would imagine, there's a fair number of Pennsylvania just don't know.

28:08 - But what we're all talking about.

28:10 - So I appreciate that. That's, that's going to be helpful news for folks.

28:14 - I want to turn, the conversation to probably

28:17 - a major issue in the passage of this, this year's budget.

28:21 - And that's the issue of, the budget surpluses

28:26 - and the reserve funds that we have.

28:27 - I'm curious what your perspective is on the size of, of,

28:33 - the budget surplus and the reserve funds

28:35 - and how they how best to use them.

28:38 - Well, listen, we've done a fairly good job over the last years

28:42 - of looking at our finances here at the state level, reining things in,

28:47 - and really covering the things that are necessary, in the budget process.

28:53 - And so, we found ourselves, in a good position.

28:59 - Right.

28:59 - But we also understand that when we have financial obligations

29:03 - that we need to be to, we know that the federal government

29:07 - is pulling back on the investments that they're making across this country.

29:11 - And, and so we're we're being called

29:14 - on, to do more at the state level.

29:17 - And so,

29:19 - year to date, we've had a great year so far.

29:22 - When we look at, revenue that we've bought in,

29:25 - we're about 990 some odd million dollars ahead of our revenue projections.

29:32 - Let me explain what that means to folks at home who may not understand it.

29:36 - Budgets are really, educated estimations.

29:40 - We and we estimate how much things are going to cost us throughout the year.

29:44 - We estimate how much in tax revenue that will get in.

29:48 - And sometimes, estimations on what we believe

29:52 - we're going to get it or lower than what we actually bring in.

29:55 - And so every month we actually get, we get the actual numbers of what we bought.

30:00 - And it's it's like, you know, if you're at home,

30:05 - you know, some folks you check every two weeks is the same.

30:09 - Sometimes your check might fluctuate where, you know, you get a little bit

30:13 - more based off of you work more hours or whatnot.

30:17 - Right?

30:17 - And so for us, we've seen that we received more revenue.

30:23 - And then we estimate it to the tune of 990 something plus million dollars,

30:29 - which is good.

30:30 - That means that revenues are in a good position and they're up.

30:33 - And so for us we're just reinvesting.

30:36 - We're going to reinvest that money back in the people of Pennsylvania

30:39 - and pay for the things that we know are necessary.

30:42 - And so that's how we we deal with it.

30:44 - We, we, you know, we the good stewards over the taxpayers resources, partnering

30:49 - with the Shapiro administration, the last year of the Wolf administration,

30:53 - we did well and managing taxpayer resources.

30:57 - And now, that those resources are needed.

31:01 - We're trying to make sure that people don't feel,

31:05 - a decrease in services and that we can continue

31:10 - without increasing taxes to the people of Pennsylvania.

31:13 - Quite honestly, we've actually cut taxes in Pennsylvania

31:17 - seven times, whether that's creating a working families tax credit, where folks

31:21 - are getting money back in their pockets, whether that's creating the child

31:25 - independent tax credit, that mirrors what we have at the federal level.

31:29 - That's more money back into people's pockets through their state income tax,

31:33 - whether that's an increase of the property tax and rent rebate.

31:36 - Many people who are watching this right now have seen more money

31:40 - come back into their pockets from the state of Pennsylvania.

31:43 - And we want to continue doing that.

31:47 - You you mentioned, several times,

31:51 - during our conversation about the federal government

31:53 - and the federal government's, interaction with the state.

31:56 - I'm curious,

32:00 - if you can help the viewers, how do federal funds specifically

32:04 - like infrastructure, we've talked about on the health side,

32:07 - factor into your state budget strategy?

32:10 - Oh, those funds or those those funds are much, much needed and necessary.

32:15 - We could not, manage

32:18 - all of the need without our federal partners.

32:22 - And so when you look at the Department of Transportation,

32:25 - there are federal dollars that come in

32:27 - the Department of Transportation that helps us manage our roads

32:30 - and our bridges, throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

32:34 - Department of Human Services, a lot of money,

32:37 - that comes through the Department of Human Services, federal dollars,

32:40 - the Department of Health, the Department of Education.

32:43 - You know, while our budget is significant, 50,

32:46 - you know, last year was 50 billion plus.

32:49 - The one we send to the Senate is 53 billion plus.

32:52 - There's, even more money that comes from the federal government

32:57 - on top of those resources that help us run the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

33:02 - And so

33:04 - folks need to understand when the federal government talks

33:06 - about cutting the resources that they're bringing to the table,

33:12 - that means that we're at the state level,

33:15 - want to be more responsible financially.

33:18 - We have to find those resources somewhere.

33:20 - So one of the things we've been telling folks

33:22 - is that some of the things

33:24 - we are not going to be able to backfill at the state level.

33:27 - And that's just not good for Pennsylvania.

33:31 - That means there, you know, there possibly cuts in services and people getting,

33:35 - you know, kicked off their health care and, and, and, and flooding

33:38 - back to the emergency room as their primary care physician

33:42 - because, a lack of resources.

33:45 - And so,

33:48 - I know that there were some who were celebrating,

33:50 - some of the actions of the federal government.

33:53 - What they have to understand is I use this analogy all the time.

33:56 - My grandmother used to say, sometimes you got to rob Peter

34:00 - to pay Paul, and that's cool if you Paul.

34:04 - But at some time, at some point in time, Peter going to have to get paid too.

34:07 - And that's what we're seeing with the federal government's cuts.

34:12 - Well, thank you for that.

34:13 - I mean, you know, those of us, at of a certain age, remember

34:17 - that old commercial, the Fram oil filter you pay me now, you pay me later.

34:21 - And, and if you don't get paid, it's got some similarities to what you're saying.

34:26 - Yeah.

34:27 - And, and and, you know, one of the final questions

34:31 - I want to ask about the budget process is how do you ensure

34:35 - that there Pennsylvania is a broad state?

34:38 - I mean, you know, from Erie to Philadelphia and and from Scranton

34:42 - to Pittsburgh, and every place in between,

34:45 - we have some historically underserved communities.

34:49 - And those underserved communities aren't always urban.

34:52 - Some of them are rural.

34:53 - And, and how do you ensure using,

34:56 - you know, the state budget process that some of, that,

35:02 - that some that those underserved communities benefit

35:06 - equitably, for other communities in the state budget process?

35:11 - I'm thinking primarily and I, I'm a I'm a health care guy is like rural hospitals

35:15 - and and rural health care is is a crisis at the moment.

35:20 - But how do you, from your position,

35:23 - try to, manage the state budget, budget process?

35:26 - So those, historically underserved,

35:30 - communities

35:31 - are treated fairly in the process?

35:35 - So let me be very clear.

35:39 - Most of the underserved areas

35:41 - in Pennsylvania are rural areas like like,

35:45 - I know folks like to draw

35:48 - this viewpoint of what the urban areas are doing, but 40%,

35:53 - over 40% of the Commonwealth's

35:55 - revenue comes from the five county regions in southeastern Pennsylvania

36:00 - Philadelphia, Delaware, bucks, Monto, Chester.

36:05 - 40% of the revenue that we use

36:08 - to fund everything in Pennsylvania comes from just those five places.

36:12 - And so when you talk about areas that are in need

36:15 - and that are struggling or that need that are under-resourced,

36:18 - many of those areas are in rural Pennsylvania.

36:22 - You got, you know, Pittsburgh on one side, Philly

36:26 - one side, you got your you Lancaster and your, your, your Harrisburg.

36:30 - But most of Pennsylvania's 67 counties of rural Pennsylvania,

36:35 - and they are underresourced the most

36:39 - they need services the most.

36:41 - They are using government subsidies the most.

36:46 - Now, you know, when you your when you think about

36:50 - when you think about when you think about,

36:54 - the the month, the numbers,

36:56 - it might be, numbers might be different, but that's because of population.

37:01 - But look at the percentage, the percentage of those counties

37:06 - that are necessary are in need of government services.

37:09 - The percentage is higher.

37:11 - When you look at it.

37:12 - So, so I want folks to understand that it is rural Pennsylvania that needs help

37:18 - and needs significant investment, more than other parts.

37:22 - Pennsylvania. Number two.

37:24 - What I do is I travel the state, whether it's a red part of Pennsylvania

37:29 - or a blue part of Pennsylvania, a purple part of Pennsylvania.

37:32 - I don't care if it's in the Commonwealth.

37:34 - We go out and we like to talk and listen to people,

37:37 - listen to local elected officials about what they're telling us, that they need.

37:41 - I remember I was out in one part of western Pennsylvania.

37:42 - They talked about resources

37:44 - for water treatment plants because they need, help with that.

37:48 - Listen,

37:49 - talk to some parts of Pennsylvania where they talk

37:51 - about their crumbling infrastructure and they need help with that.

37:54 - I'll listen.

37:54 - In one part of Pennsylvania where you talk about

37:56 - they can't have development because they have a big problem

37:59 - with blight removal and the need, to work on that.

38:04 - And so, you know, we travel all across PA to hear what folks are saying,

38:10 - whether they're in rural Pennsylvania or whether they're in urban Pennsylvania.

38:13 - But here's the other part for me, as the majority of appropriations,

38:17 - whether their area is represented by a Democrat

38:20 - or whether their area is represented by Republican,

38:23 - it's all Pennsylvania.

38:24 - And we need to be out listening to the concerns and the needs

38:28 - of all of the people of that Sylvania.

38:29 - And so when I'm in Harrisburg

38:31 - or folks are coming in my office, they're not just from Boone County.

38:35 - They're from blue, red, purple, wherever.

38:37 - But I'll tell you one thing.

38:38 - They're from Pennsylvania,

38:39 - and they need services, and that's what we're looking at doing.

38:42 - Well, thank you for that.

38:43 - And that's a wonderful segue into my next, line of questioning.

38:46 - It's about you.

38:47 - You've been in Harrisburg now,

38:50 - going on 14 years, and all of that.

38:53 - And, and your role as the majority

38:56 - chair is for the big picture,

39:00 - obviously elected by, what's a House district now?

39:03 - Still 60,000, 63, 64,000. Yep.

39:08 - You're, elected by 60, 63,

39:11 - 64,000, of your friends and neighbors.

39:14 - And so I'm curious,

39:17 - how has

39:18 - your the, obviously, you got elected and you had a core set

39:22 - of principles that you wanted to advocate for when you came to Harrisburg.

39:25 - How's that changed?

39:27 - And how does that work, like your big picture now?

39:30 - Because you're representing a Democratic district in the city of Philadelphia,

39:33 - but you're obviously looking, at that big picture of Pennsylvania.

39:38 - How does that all work?

39:40 - Well, so let me say this, you know,

39:44 - I don't necessarily know if what I believe what's left.

39:48 - I guess

39:50 - I have been in office for 14 years.

39:53 - I'm I am grateful,

39:55 - that the people in my community have to think to send me back to Harrisburg.

39:59 - I don't necessarily know if things have changed

40:05 - as, as as much as they have

40:08 - matured in evolved in the sense that, you know, I'm a silly boy.

40:12 - When I first got to Harrisburg, the thing I knew about energy was,

40:17 - if you pay to go build your life's road, that's kind of what I know.

40:20 - What I mean?

40:21 - Being on environmental resource and and energy

40:24 - help educate me more on on energy across Pennsylvania.

40:28 - I remember I had a colleague, she's retired now.

40:32 - Pam Snyder, Pam Snyder represented Green County.

40:36 - And I remember Pam used to always talk to me about rural broadband.

40:40 - And, you know, I'm from Philly, so, you know, I,

40:43 - I always have a well, for the most part, always have a cell phone signal.

40:47 - I could always jump on the, the, the internet.

40:50 - I have none of those issues.

40:52 - I remember one time Pam invited me out to her district.

40:55 - I came to her district, and I had my iPhone user.

40:58 - So, you know, my phone, my messages were blue.

41:01 - They kept turning green.

41:02 - And I'm just like, what in the world is going on?

41:05 - And then it got to a point

41:06 - where they weren't going to at all because I didn't have a signal.

41:09 - And so it showed me. Right.

41:11 - Firsthand what, Pam Snyder was talking about

41:16 - when she talked about the need for investment because of rural broadband.

41:20 - And so I don't necessarily know if over the years, things have changed things.

41:25 - My, my view on things are changing.

41:28 - They may evolve a little bit, but I think really what has happened,

41:31 - I am blessed to see more of the, of Pennsylvania

41:34 - so that my view has expanded on not just what we need here

41:39 - in the city of Philadelphia or not just what we need 186 district,

41:43 - but what we need in the whole Commonwealth.

41:45 - I think the best and the biggest part to that, though, is to see

41:50 - how cold and interdependent we are on each other.

41:54 - And I don't think that's something that we talk enough about as a commonwealth,

41:58 - that a lot of what happens in Philly, the people in rural Pennsylvania need.

42:03 - We found an awful lot of things throughout Pennsylvania

42:07 - from Philly, Monaco, Chester Dell, Delaware County and Bucks County.

42:13 - But we also use a lot of stuff that's grown

42:16 - and or manufactured in other parts of Pennsylvania.

42:21 - That's why this whole concept of a commonwealth actually works.

42:25 - It works because we really are and interdependent on each other.

42:29 - And so what happens in Warren County, Forest County,

42:35 - Pike County, or Erie County is important to me now.

42:39 - My first responsibility as the state rep did 186

42:43 - district is also always the first concerns

42:47 - of the people who live in Point Breeze graze for parts of greater hospital.

42:51 - Parts of King Cecil, and so that's always front of mind.

42:56 - But also with my role in leadership.

42:59 - But but just with my understanding of the interdependency of this Commonwealth.

43:05 - I'm also concerned about what happens in Monroe County or Mifflin.

43:10 - And so I wish more people thought like that.

43:14 - That's what my years of service have taught me.

43:17 - Is that we really are

43:20 - dependent on each other more than we know.

43:24 - And we really do need each other in the Commonwealth.

43:28 - Well, thank you for that.

43:29 - And, and, and.

43:32 - Yeah, that's that's just wonderful as a citizen of the Commonwealth to,

43:35 - to hear, one of our leaders say it, say it that way.

43:38 - Because you're right.

43:39 - We're all we are all interdependent.

43:41 - I'm also curious,

43:46 - You know, like I said, you've been you've been here 14 years.

43:49 - What would you, place as your

43:54 - best, most significant legislative accomplishment?

43:57 - That's 14 years.

44:00 - You're most proud, that you're most proud of?

44:04 - Yeah.

44:04 - So the work that I've done in the criminal justice space, the Clean Slate Act,

44:08 - I think everybody, at this point knows the work that we've done

44:12 - in criminal justice reform.

44:15 - You know, folks who are who we pay attention to that space,

44:18 - know about clean slate?

44:21 - I can't even remember the last count, but it was like 60,

44:24 - 70 million criminal records had been sealed

44:27 - because a clean slate, you know, that's the work that I did.

44:31 - Well, representing the Lozier who's

44:34 - who has, decided to retire.

44:37 - Her and I joke about that now, when she made the decision, she gave me

44:41 - a call before the became public to tell her what she was going to do.

44:45 - But she's been my partner now.

44:48 - Probably 8 or 9 years.

44:50 - Some of this criminal justice stuff.

44:52 - So we did we did clean slate.

44:54 - We did probation reform.

44:55 - We do professional licensing reform.

44:58 - People talk a lot more about clean slate.

45:01 - But we did all of those things in the criminal justice space together.

45:03 - So, I would say my work in the criminal justice space, really makes me smile.

45:10 - But there are a couple other things now that I, as appropriations chair,

45:17 - I think are really significant, significant to the Commonwealth.

45:20 - The education funding

45:21 - that we're doing is extremely significant to the future of the Commonwealth.

45:25 - When I sit down with educated from all across Pennsylvania

45:28 - and they tell me the type of investments

45:30 - that they've been able to make in the classroom,

45:32 - I mean, when I look at a school district and they tell me that we've had

45:35 - we have more reading specialists than because of our reading specialists.

45:39 - Our, our, our, our reading scores are going up.

45:43 - But not just to reading scores growing up,

45:46 - but young people really being able to have comprehension and understanding,

45:50 - that that is a straight a correlation between us

45:55 - increasing the resources and the school districts using the resources correctly.

46:00 - Or when I hear a young person talk about how they now know what

46:04 - they want to do in life because they had a counselor,

46:07 - in the school, because the school was able to hire more counselors.

46:10 - And so now instead of you know, our counselors being rushed to give,

46:15 - you know, students, you know, only half an hour, an hour worth of guidance,

46:19 - they're actually able to, you know, cut their load because they have more,

46:23 - counselors at schools.

46:25 - And, and they're able

46:27 - to help our young people plot out what happens after high school.

46:31 - Those type of significant investments, really has,

46:35 - helped us, move things forward

46:39 - or, you know, sometimes I tell people this all the time,

46:43 - sometimes it's not about the big, you know, billions of dollars

46:47 - or hundreds of millions of dollars in funding that I think,

46:52 - make me happy about the work that we're doing.

46:55 - Sometimes it's the smaller numbers represented.

46:58 - The Rorschach Parker has talked for years about, you know, feminine

47:01 - hygiene products in our schools being given away to,

47:05 - I young, a young,

47:10 - young female learners.

47:12 - I didn't know the issue.

47:14 - She brought it up.

47:15 - You know, since then, $3 million

47:18 - for free feminine hygiene products in our schools

47:21 - so that young girls don't have to stay home

47:23 - because of their families inability to provide those products for,

47:27 - you know, or or the work that, representative Cephus Mays

47:32 - and Currie are doing with black maternal health and trying to address

47:36 - the black maternal health crisis that we have in, in the Commonwealth.

47:39 - And so putting money in for, for, for health care,

47:44 - and that space around the Commonwealth,

47:48 - around the high inmate population,

47:51 - hospitals and health care systems,

47:56 - you know, obstetrics is one of those things

47:58 - where it's not like the money makers of prosthetics or other things.

48:02 - And so a lot of people are pulling back.

48:05 - You know, if you live in Philly, you know, when you're given, you're

48:08 - about to give birth, you have a multitude of hospitals to go to.

48:11 - Well, in rural Pennsylvania, you might have to drive a half an hour,

48:15 - 45 minutes, an hour, an hour and a half to have a baby, to have a baby.

48:21 - And so the resources that we're putting into those spaces

48:24 - to to try to address the health care deserts

48:29 - that we have in parts of Pennsylvania, listen, that's not about the 186

48:33 - district, because, you know, we have a lot of places to go,

48:37 - but that might not be the case in Pike County.

48:40 - That might not be the case in Elkhart County or Camden County.

48:44 - And so, you know, addressing those things, in my 14 years,

48:49 - those are things that I believe, will leave a lasting impression.

48:54 - Well, I for the folks who

48:56 - watch this program, frequently, they'll recall that,

49:00 - and, Representative Dozier, that was your first, time on the program.

49:03 - You came out of our facility, when we were actually doing these live

49:08 - before Covid.

49:09 - And, and you and, represent the closure, spoke to our employees

49:14 - about the work

49:15 - you were doing, the bipartisan work that you were doing on, on Clean Slate.

49:19 - So I want to thank you for that.

49:20 - And I, I when I asked the question, I thought, I'm

49:24 - kind of sure I knew the answer.

49:25 - That's an old teacher at me.

49:27 - You never ask a question you don't know the answer to.

49:29 - But, I appreciate that.

49:32 - We appreciate, all the work that you do for all of us.

49:36 - I'm curious,

49:38 - what do you think are the issues,

49:41 - that are going to shape the next five years or the next ten years?

49:46 - Yeah.

49:46 - Of of your work in the in the legislature.

49:49 - What are those challenges that are going to face, Pennsylvania moving forward?

49:54 - But we we have to, continue the work that we're doing

49:57 - in the education space.

50:02 - In order

50:03 - for Pennsylvania to attract more businesses to the Commonwealth,

50:07 - we have to have the workforce that is ready to do the work necessary.

50:11 - And so that means that we have to continue our investment in our young people.

50:15 - And quite honestly, any of our, our constituents

50:19 - or going back into the classroom to learn,

50:22 - we have to make sure that we're giving them the resources,

50:26 - to do so, we have to, in my opinion, we have to tackle the crisis of, of

50:31 - of childcare, childcare costs,

50:35 - whether people talk about it enough or not, childcare costs are crippling,

50:39 - crippling many of the people across Pennsylvania.

50:43 - People are literally, like I said earlier,

50:46 - paying additional mortgages to send their children to childcare.

50:50 - And don't let you have more than one child in childcare at the same time.

50:55 - Families are making decisions to pull one of the parents

51:00 - out of the workforce and stay home because it's more cost effective

51:05 - in some places for a person to stay home then for them to be in the job market.

51:11 - So, high quality and affordable childcare is extremely important.

51:15 - And so we need to be talking about when you look at

51:17 - when we talk about the next 5 to 10 years, we have to be talking about

51:20 - what universal childcare looks like in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

51:24 - And look, this is not, you know, pie in the sky conversation.

51:29 - This is a conversation I think most of Pennsylvanians

51:33 - who are having children are grappling with, hey, here's the other part to it.

51:38 - You have a ton of Pennsylvanians

51:40 - or grandparents who are raising their children,

51:42 - and they're experiencing a second round of childcare cost.

51:46 - And so we have to talk about what childcare, looks like in Pennsylvania.

51:51 - So for me, education, childcare, the other thing is, I think,

51:57 - infrastructure, a

51:59 - big part of infrastructure has to be the conversation around housing.

52:02 - Housing instability in Pennsylvania is not a Democrat or Republican idea or issue.

52:08 - It's not a rural or urban issue.

52:11 - You can go out to some of the more affluent parts of Pennsylvania

52:14 - and you will see homelessness.

52:16 - You will see housing instability.

52:18 - You can go into poor parts, of our of our commonwealth,

52:21 - and you will see homelessness and you will see housing instability.

52:25 - And here's the thing that folks don't understand

52:28 - housing instability is not

52:30 - just about a person who might be homeless, sleeping on the street.

52:34 - If you have another family living in your home with you,

52:37 - and they have to alternate or rotate where they're where they're living,

52:41 - that's housing instability.

52:43 - You got a cousin who staying on your couch for a little while,

52:45 - and then they're going to move on to somebody else's because they can't afford

52:48 - to have a place of their own.

52:50 - That's housing instability.

52:52 - And so we have to look at what infrastructure funding

52:56 - we can bring to bear, to look at building

52:59 - more affordable housing across the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,

53:04 - one that helps us deal with the housing instability that we have.

53:07 - But two, it's a jobs plan.

53:09 - It literally will be putting people back to work

53:14 - across this Commonwealth, and that's good for the Commonwealth's economy.

53:17 - And so those dollars will circulate several times

53:21 - in the Commonwealth by building it here, by having the products come from here,

53:26 - by using people who are here to actually do the work.

53:29 - And so education, we got

53:31 - we got to continue what we're doing in education space.

53:34 - We have to tackle the crisis of the ballooning cost of childcare.

53:38 - And we also have to deal with housing insecurity by infrastructure

53:42 - planning and infrastructure building in the space of affordable housing.

53:46 - Well, thank you for that.

53:47 - I do want to, you know, I, I have been remiss that I haven't asked

53:52 - you about, what's happening in your city over the next several months.

53:56 - It's like, it's like

53:59 - the central part of the World Cup.

54:01 - And, you know, the 250th anniversary of our great country.

54:07 - What can you tell us?

54:08 - The folks who are watching today and across the state, about your city,

54:13 - being ready to host a bunch of visitors over the next several months.

54:18 - Well, let's in Pennsylvania is going to be the envy of the world.

54:22 - And all eyes will be on Pennsylvania, but particularly the city of Philadelphia

54:26 - in 2026. And we've already seen that.

54:29 - And I say Pennsylvania because, even folks who are coming to Philadelphia

54:33 - on the surrounding counties will see a lot of folks traveling there.

54:37 - I would be remiss if I didn't start by saying one of the first things we saw

54:41 - benefit Pennsylvania was the NFL draft that happened in the city of Pittsburgh.

54:45 - I was actually out there, to to view

54:49 - and see the NFL draft.

54:50 - And I just have to give a big kudos to visit Pittsburgh

54:54 - and to, the mayor and the county executive,

54:57 - city council, and all of those folks, the folks in the previous administration

55:01 - who did all of the planning to get, folks prepared.

55:05 - But, I enjoyed my time.

55:09 - It was great.

55:11 - From what I saw economically for the city of Pittsburgh,

55:14 - and I mean, the traffic wasn't bad.

55:18 - People were getting around.

55:20 - They were getting around, and mass transit, mass transit.

55:25 - Another thing that we need to fund fully in Pennsylvania, people were getting

55:29 - around via BRT in mass transit and they were using their resources.

55:34 - And I saw folks from all across the region,

55:38 - not just in Pennsylvania, but all across the region

55:41 - coming into the city of Pittsburgh and spending their resources

55:44 - in the city of Pittsburgh.

55:45 - So kudos, to the city of Pittsburgh and its leadership

55:48 - for hosting an amazing draft.

55:50 - In Philadelphia, though, we're going to see,

55:53 - the World Cup this summer.

55:56 - We'll see, 250th America and all the folks will come in

56:01 - to see the 4th of July and all that kind of stuff in Philadelphia.

56:04 - National Black Conference of state legislators will be in Philadelphia.

56:07 - I mean, you name it.

56:09 - Conference over conference over a sporting event, over sporting event

56:13 - is happening in the city of Philadelphia, the birthplace of this nation.

56:17 - And here's the thing.

56:19 - Whether you're in Philly or whether you're in another part of Pennsylvania

56:23 - that is good for all of us,

56:26 - those dollars that are coming into Pennsylvania,

56:29 - through the city of Philadelphia, because of the 250th of this nation,

56:33 - it's going to be money that goes into the general fund.

56:37 - It helps us.

56:38 - It helps us with revenue

56:40 - to fund all of the things that need to happen across Pennsylvania.

56:43 - And in addition to that, what my hope is,

56:45 - is that people come from all over the world.

56:48 - I was at the, World Trade Council's,

56:53 - national international

56:56 - conference that they had maybe a month ago.

56:59 - I was on a panel with doctor J.

57:02 - Which was actually really cool amongst other people.

57:04 - And, we were selling Philadelphia and selling Pennsylvania,

57:10 - to the world around why people should move their businesses here.

57:15 - And so what I hope 2026 is for the city,

57:20 - and for the Commonwealth is our opportunity

57:23 - to tell our story on why Philadelphia, why Pittsburgh,

57:26 - and why everything in between is great

57:29 - and why people should want to live, work

57:32 - and play here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

57:35 - Well, I tell you what, that's the last word.

57:38 - I was going to give you the last word, but that's the last word for,

57:42 - those of us, from capital BlueCross who are watching and those,

57:47 - across the state will be watching on PCN and, in the upcoming days.

57:51 - But I want to thank, Jordan Harris for joining us today.

57:55 - And,

57:57 - appearing on the public affairs foremost by Capital Blue Cross.

58:01 - And please stay tuned.

58:03 - In June when we have another Millersville alum,

58:06 - Senator Scott Martin from Lancaster County, who will be our guest in June.

58:11 - Thanks again to Jordan Harris for joining us and have a good day.

58:47 - The Capital

58:48 - Blue Cross Forum is sponsored in part by Capital Blue Cross.