00:00 - The following program is sponsored in part by

00:03 - customer's bank.

00:12 - Are joined today by state representative Jim streets the house appropriations

00:16 - minority chair our budget negotiations

00:19 - progressing at this point.

00:21 - Well i they were going good

00:23 - up until a

00:24 - few hours ago.

00:26 - In all honesty i think that they are still going well

00:30 - we've had some good dialogue i think that

00:32 - all parties

00:33 - realize that we need to get this done sooner rather than later this is July first is

00:37 - as most would know

00:39 - past our deadline of June thirties to have a budget done but i think it's

00:42 - it's more important for the people who are listening to understand that

00:45 - it has to be done right

00:46 - it simply can't just be done we have to make sure that we are accounting for

00:50 - taxpayer dollars both now and in the future

00:53 - and so i think the responsible spending needs to be part of the discussion and i

00:56 - believe that has been what has occurred

00:59 - and we also

01:00 - need to look at policies related to growing our revenues in Pennsylvania as you know

01:05 - the governor introduced the spending plan we well beyond

01:07 - what we expected revenues to be for the upcoming fiscal year

01:11 - is about fifty three billion dollars for the first time in Pennsylvania history at a

01:14 - time when we expected our revenues to be

01:16 - roughly around

01:18 - forty seven forty eight billion dollars so

01:20 - that automatically created a very

01:22 - wide chasm for us to have to try and traverse

01:25 - to get to the point.

01:27 - Allen's budget.

01:28 - The negotiations have been going well i think that

01:32 - despite what you may have seen

01:34 - some of the stuff today

01:35 - unfortunately i don't i don't really support the idea of political posturing

01:41 - or or here to do a job and to get things done if

01:44 - if you know me and i think you do over these years now i'm

01:47 - a matter of fact kind of person

01:49 - i would rather sit down and get things done then

01:52 - post videos and things like that because i believe

01:54 - that's what the taxpayer sent us here to do

01:56 - and that is to be responsible with their taxpayer dollars

01:59 - to make sure that we're providing the essential

02:01 - services that people need in our communities

02:03 - and right now we're looking at

02:05 - a time when people are challenged to put food on their table to pay their bills

02:09 - and so i think it's even more prudent for us

02:11 - to be responsible with taxpayer dollars because

02:14 - if we spend in excess this year as the governor has proposed year after year sooner

02:19 - or later the reserve funds are going to run out we've already depleted our budget

02:23 - surplus and now there's discussions of depleting the rainy day fund

02:26 - understanding that we do you have obligations that need to be met but we we seriously

02:30 - have to consider what happens in the outlying years

02:33 - if we continue to go down this spending.

02:35 - Is there any scenario that you foresee where the budget

02:37 - can be balanced without touching the rainy day fund.

02:40 - We're looking at many options right now i think we

02:43 - still have to get to the point of a final number

02:46 - and so we while i think things have been going

02:49 - well there is not a solid agreement right now

02:52 - i hope that

02:53 - some of the posturing that

02:54 - went on today won't affect the negotiations moving forward

02:58 - but that is to be determined but i can assure you that

03:00 - we as house Republicans are committed to this process

03:03 - we are committed to representing our constituency in the fall

03:07 - the of being rich possible with their tax dollars

03:09 - and providing for our local communities as you noted were speaking today on July

03:13 - first at what point does a delayed budget start

03:16 - to hurt the entities that rely on state funding.

03:19 - Or i think if you look at past

03:21 - experience you're ok for a few weeks

03:24 - we certainly don't want to see what happened last year occur because then it really

03:27 - does dart to impact your nonprofit your college or school districts

03:31 - and i think people really do want us to be responsible and get it done in a

03:34 - reasonable amount of time but as i said

03:36 - i think it's important that we do it right and we're taught

03:39 - the fifty billion dollars of taxpayer money

03:42 - and

03:42 - people should want us to get that done right to make sure that we are spending

03:47 - their money in them manner that is appropriate for Pennsylvania for this commonwealth

03:51 - and

03:51 - for working families in our communities we have to make sure

03:54 - that we are accountable to their needs and deliver a budget that meets those needs.

03:59 - Last month the state supreme court ruled that

04:01 - skills gainful to adhered to the state's gaming law

04:05 - do you anticipate that some sort of skills game resolution

04:08 - well boo included in this year's budget negotiations

04:11 - or do you think that's something that's dealt with a little bit later this year.

04:15 - Given this

04:16 - this hour July first that that discussion while it is ongoing

04:21 - i don't foresee that being part of the solution

04:24 - right now understanding that we had our

04:26 - have one hundred and twenty days and counting

04:29 - to take some sort of action

04:30 - games based on the supreme court's decision and i think that

04:33 - again it's

04:34 - something that we need to discuss in great detail because

04:39 - a lot of our nonprofits are our clubs

04:42 - are depend on the skill games for some of their revenue

04:45 - at the same time we want to make sure that people are safe

04:48 - these skill games are really have proliferated

04:50 - across our our small towns in our communities

04:53 - and their safety concerns with that

04:55 - same time

04:56 - based on the supreme court's decision they are considered now slot machines and so.

05:02 - You know what do we do with that and i think

05:03 - that's part of the discussion that we need to have

05:06 - moving forward but

05:07 - at this point i don't foresee that being part of the

05:11 - continuing discussions although

05:12 - things do change and as anyone who's been around Harris berg for any length of time

05:17 - know.

05:18 - One thing on one day can change dramatically just a

05:21 - few hours later so

05:22 - while we continue that process i don't think

05:24 - we can really rule out anything at this point.

05:27 - Yesterday

05:28 - members of the Democratic caucuses noted it was the twentieth anniversary of the last

05:31 - time the state's minimum wage was increased

05:33 - do you anticipate that and minimum wage increase

05:36 - will be included in this budget negotiation

05:39 - i don't see that happy

05:40 - happening in this budget

05:42 - the minimum wage discussion has been ongoing for several years and

05:45 - and

05:45 - i think what you're seeing is that the market

05:48 - is really.

05:50 - Paying people more now

05:51 - businesses realize that if they want to keep their employees the minimum wage

05:55 - employees there for a long length of time and and if you think about the minimum wage

05:59 - it was meant to be a starting wage

06:01 - not meant to be a family sustaining living

06:03 - wage it is meant to be a starting wage to get

06:06 - really young people

06:07 - into the workforce and motivate them to do better

06:10 - so i have some serious concerns about the dramatic increase in the minimum wage do i

06:14 - think there could be a compromise i think

06:16 - that's something that we should be discussing

06:18 - but i don't believe that.

06:20 - The people that are pushing for the fifteen dollar minimum wage

06:24 - are even willing to talk about a compromise so i think i'd get it done if you really

06:27 - want to have some sort of an increase

06:29 - we have to have some more real mystic discussions on what that impact looks like

06:33 - for small businesses people who

06:35 - are already making

06:36 - twelve dollars an hour

06:38 - what happens if you bring someone new in at fifteen dollars an hour

06:41 - then

06:42 - one else is going to need an increase as

06:44 - well and for small businesses that maybe have

06:47 - four or five employees unfortunately they're going to have to make some hard

06:50 - decisions on how they can cover their payroll

06:53 - and so i think that you know.

06:55 - These blanket approaches to a

06:57 - state policy really need to be more explored more dug in depth

07:01 - and the inattentive unintended consequences need to be considered

07:04 - and i don't think that happens when you're seeing

07:07 - posturing through press conferences and things like that.

07:10 - What what sir sounds good on paper maybe sounds good to

07:12 - some people in reality can be something very different

07:15 - and so i think we need to think about the impacts on our small or small businesses

07:19 - and what this looks like for our nonprofits you know

07:22 - i I've i hear from a lot of people on this issue

07:24 - and are nonprofits often are using

07:27 - school students

07:28 - interns and things like that

07:30 - and if they are asked to pay

07:32 - them fifteen dollars an hour those opportunities will go away as well.

07:36 - Governor shapiro has until the end of the year to

07:38 - determine whether or not he will opt into a federal

07:41 - school choice tax credit program

07:43 - a recent Philadelphia inquirer article i had noted there has been

07:46 - what appears to be a change in tone on the issue within

07:49 - the Democratic caucuses as well

07:51 - have you seen evidence of this.

07:53 - Not personally though i think it's something that we should be doing we should be

07:56 - taking advantage of every opportunity we have to provide more school choice options

08:01 - for young people in Pennsylvania so.

08:04 - That they will consider that and enter into that

08:06 - because i think it's a good thing for Pennsylvania families and young people to

08:10 - anticipate that discussions over school choice might

08:13 - lead into budget negotiators in particular and

08:16 - perhaps they're an expansion of the AI to

08:18 - program in Pennsylvania

08:20 - i think that's always part of the discussion.

08:23 - If you follow some of the stuff that happened today

08:25 - with the amendment that the house democrats put into

08:28 - what would be the tax code bill i think there's some serious concerns

08:31 - about the proposal that they put forward and it's impacts on the e i t c program.

08:37 - It's a discussion that needs to occur i think it in a more frank and sincere way

08:42 - and not

08:42 - what occurred today a with a seventy four page amendment that we

08:46 - we

08:47 - hardly even had the chance to look at before we were voting on it in the rules

08:50 - committee i think we may have received that

08:52 - and

08:52 - and so those types of things if they're really honest about doing something to help

08:57 - with school choice if they're really honest about doing things to help working families

09:01 - it's really honest about putting more money back in people's

09:03 - war all it's

09:04 - then it needs to be done in a more sincere fashion not pushed as it has been today.

09:09 - At a point where again it's July first in these types of

09:12 - things don't help us get any closer to a budget resolution

09:15 - don't help us get any closer to an agreement

09:18 - and really i i think that people are tired of this type of politics in Harrisburg

09:22 - if the house democrats really sincere of i would have taken a different approach to

09:26 - that different approach than what they did today.

09:29 - Both chambers have separately moved a bill that would provide a tax cut on

09:32 - electricity rates how much this affects consumers.

09:36 - I think it would put some money back into

09:38 - people's wallets for sure and i believe most of us

09:41 - are unanimously supported that on the house floor before went over to the senate

09:45 - unfortunately that came back across and house democrats again embedded it into that

09:50 - amendment today with a whole bunch of other things

09:52 - that some can support and some can't and that makes it very difficult

09:56 - is this i'm lumped into one amendment again and

09:58 - we only had an hour an hour and a half to look at

10:01 - seventy four pages with a lot of policy in there

10:04 - that

10:05 - some can support some can't and when you put them all together i think if you're

10:08 - really honest about doing something to help working

10:10 - families then you don't do that sort of thing

10:13 - you continue to let them be stand alone bill so we can vote on what we support we can

10:17 - in vote no one what we can support

10:19 - but

10:19 - you know unfortunately that that happened here

10:22 - earlier today and it's really concerning to me because

10:25 - i believe we we should be taking a more sincere

10:27 - and frank approach to this budget negotiation

10:30 - and that that and and i hope that we can resume that here moving forward i can

10:34 - assure you

10:35 - that house Republicans are dedicating deadly rated to

10:37 - delivering a budget that helps Pennsylvania families

10:40 - and moves Pennsylvania in the right direction

10:42 - how frequently now our leaders and

10:44 - members

10:45 - of this pair administration meeting to talk about the budget.

10:49 - While there the meetings are ongoing

10:51 - despite what you may hear even though the senate sent their members home

10:55 - their leaders are still here staff are still here

10:57 - we're still here working

10:59 - on these agreements working to get to some sort of a point where we can all agree on

11:03 - what to do moving forward and then

11:05 - a lot of behind the scenes work that i don't think people realize like

11:08 - when you're putting together a budget in excess of fifty plus billion dollars that

11:12 - over that final number looks like

11:14 - there's a lot of work that has to go into actually creating the legislate shit so

11:18 - just because there's an agreement

11:20 - there's a lot of people that who will be here working around the clock to get all

11:24 - that the legislation so we actually have something to vote on

11:27 - hopefully next week so

11:28 - again i think when you

11:30 - start to point fingers like they're saying well they're not here

11:32 - or they're here they're not here it's disingenuous because

11:35 - people are working in a lotta at work credit to all of our staff

11:39 - work very hard

11:41 - but many times

11:42 - twenty four seven over the weekend

11:44 - to get that stuff ready for us to vote on so

11:47 - i think that for the general public even though the

11:49 - senate aren't here right now as far as their membership

11:52 - the work and negotiations will continue.

11:55 - How would you characterize the tone of negotiations.

11:58 - Well as i said i i believe they were going very well i think we all understand what's

12:02 - in front of us we understand the challenges

12:04 - that we face related to art or spend number and the amount of revenues that we have

12:10 - and i think we all want to get it done again to deliver a good product for

12:13 - Pennsylvania residents but we need to make sure that those

12:17 - types of as attitudes continue and we don't let things wither

12:21 - and.

12:22 - Basically

12:23 - disintegrate as they almost did today or perhaps

12:26 - you know hopefully we can remedy that and get

12:28 - everybody back together and move things forward

12:31 - with house Republicans in the minority what are you doing to make sure that your

12:34 - caucasus priorities are being hurt.

12:37 - While our priorities continue to b to grow our energy

12:40 - sector in Pennsylvania particularly our coal and

12:42 - natural gas because we need that baseload energy again

12:45 - to make things more affordable for Pennsylvania residents lower their energy bills

12:49 - so that's the one of our priorities of school choice

12:51 - as we discussed is is a big issue for us and we also feel that

12:55 - government needs to be more efficient we need to be

12:57 - more expeditious send delivering permits for new businesses that are coming in we

13:01 - need to make sure that we're opening the door to business not passing policies

13:04 - again like some of the things we've done here in the past week or so that basically

13:08 - are putting up red flags for businesses that want to come to Pennsylvania and

13:12 - i'm i'm opposed myself personally against the elimination

13:15 - of the sales tax exemption for data centers because

13:18 - why we put that out there as an incentive

13:19 - for these industries to come to Pennsylvania

13:22 - and then once they are coming now all of a sudden

13:25 - we've changed our minds so i'm very concerned with that

13:28 - i think we need to make sure that we are sending a message to the rest of the world

13:33 - that Pennsylvania is open for business

13:36 - now that's that's not.

13:37 - Probably going to be part of this punch a discussion

13:39 - but it's something that's heavily on my mind

13:42 - because i don't want to see potential investment Pennsylvania go somewhere else

13:46 - because we're putting up red flags

13:47 - and excessive rules and regulations

13:50 - at a time when we should be working with business

13:52 - and industry to grow our economy and bring

13:54 - our demographics back to where they should be in Pennsylvania

13:57 - we've been speaking with representative James Tracy house republican appropriations

14:00 - committee chair thanks for joining us

14:02 - absolutely thanks for having me.

14:15 - Wow.