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PPC Statement on PA Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2025–2026 Budget
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on February 10, 2025. READ IN A PDF READER OR PRINT. February 4, 2025 Loading Viewer… Continue reading
Category: Blog post
Pennsylvania Organizations Opposed to Medicaid and SNAP Cuts, and Tax Cuts for the Ultra-Rich
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on February 9, 2025. This letter from Pennsylvania organizations was sent to all members of the PA congressional delegation on January 29, 2025. As you know, the incoming Trump administration and the Republican congressional leaders plan to extend and potentially expand the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which is set to expire at the end of 2025. We urge you to use the expiration of these provisions as an opportunity to address long-standing inequities in our tax code and to raise more revenue to meet our country’s current obligations and address critical unmet needs. We also urge you not to reduce federal funding for the Medicaid, CHIP, and SNAP programs. No matter what we look like or where we’re from, all Pennsylvanians believe in caring for their families and community. People in our state work hard, giving our all as teachers, delivery drivers,… Continue reading
Connecting the Dots
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on February 9, 2025. This is roughly what our executive director, Marc Stier, said on Wednesday, February 7, 2025, at the “50/50/1” event on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg. More than 400 people were there to protest the Trump administration’s march towards fascism. It’s great to see at least four hundred of you here today. I know a lot of people were afraid to come to this event because they didn’t know who sponsored it. So, I applaud you for joining us. It’s going to take courage to fight back against the terrible things happening in Washington, and you are showing that today. In my remarks today I want to connect the dots between the four things the Trump administration is doing publicly and one other thing that’s happening mostly behind closed doors in Washington. It is the far less public thing that ultimately… Continue reading
Statement: Trump’s Executive Order Freezing Federal Payments Is Harmful, Illegal and Unconstitutional
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on January 29, 2025. For Immediate Release January 29, 2025 Contact: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennpolicy.org Late on Monday, the Trump administration issued an executive order halting payment of grants and loans to state and local governments, social service providers, and others. This action is illegal and unconstitutional. And it is likely to cause immediate and widespread harm to people and families across our state and the country. It must be rescinded by the President as soon as possible. There are still many uncertainties about the impact of the order. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has issued a number of clarifications of it—however, they have done little to clarify the scope and intention of the order. It appears now that funding for state and local programs that provide veterans’ services, ensure public safety, and help seniors will be halted. So will some funding for… Continue reading
STATEMENT: Trump Priorities Pose Stark Contrast to MLK’s Vision of Equality and Opportunity for All People
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on January 17, 2025. VIEW IN PDF READER OR PRINT. Loading Viewer… Continue reading
Comments Given at the PA Schools Work Press Event – January 2025
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on January 16, 2025. January 16, 2025 by Marc Stier I’m here to call on the General Assembly to fill the remaining $4 billion gap needed to adequately fund our schools in four years. Let me explain why PA Schools Work believes this is a reasonable goal. The education budget adopted for the current 2024–25 fiscal year accomplished three very important things. And, unusually for a state budget, the most important accomplishment may be less well known than the less important ones. First, most people know that the state added more than $1 billion to the state’s support for K–12 education. This is the largest one-year investment in the state’s history. Second, many people know that this budget shifted the paradigm for state funding of education. Instead of directing most of the new money through the fair funding formula benefitting all districts, the bulk… Continue reading
The Barbarians Are at the Gate
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 23, 2024. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are about to seek major cuts in Medicaid to pay for deep cuts to the taxes of the ultra-rich and wealthy corporations. We often talk, with pride, about our American civilization as a high mark of the West. Yet what makes for civilization? Human history is full of great and powerful kingdoms and empires led by, and mostly serving the good of, kings, emperors, and monarchs. They weren’t civilized by our standards. The aim of most of those grandees was not to help those they ruled but to take from them to enrich and elevate themselves. What makes the United States different and truly civilized is that we have attempted to create a government by and for the people, one in which the powerful are constrained by the people to serve the people. And… Continue reading
Senator Bob Casey: An Appreciation
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 4, 2024. By Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center While our organization does not endorse candidates, we do have our favorite elected officials. Bob Casey has always been on that list—so we are sad to lose him as our senior senator. I want to say a few words about why the Senator has been a truly wonderful representative of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Senator Casey has been a progressive champion of so many issues on which Pennsylvania Policy Center and our allies have worked. Unlike many legislators, he truly understands the importance of working with advocacy groups. He gets that building up our profile and influence enables us to help him accomplish his legislative goals. That, plus his commitment to progressive public policy, is why he is the legislator on whom we’ve most relied, whether it was around a relatively small… Continue reading
What Happened. What We Must Do to Resist. And What We Must Do to Move Forward.
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on November 15, 2024. by Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center Pennsylvania Policy Center doesn’t endorse candidates. But we can react to the results. And we, like you who follow us, are hurting today. We are frustrated and scared. While we need to take some time to deal with the emotional upheaval created by an election result that will no doubt undermine progress to our goals, it’s important that we understand where we are and what we can do to save our country and move it in a better direction. You may not yet be ready to think about that. But here are some initial thoughts for when you are. 1. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who worked so hard over the last weeks and months to stop this from happening. It was truly impressive and… Continue reading
The PA House—Our Ray of Electoral Sunshine
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on November 13, 2024. We have one ray of really good election news. Even in the face of a red wave, Democrats remain in control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and Rep. Joanna McClinton remains speaker of the House. While, sadly, we didn’t pick up any seats, every Democratic incumbent won reelection. Here is why I think it happened. Under the leadership of Speaker McClinton and Majority Leader Matt Bradford, the PA House Democrats have had an incredible record of achievement in working for the people of Pennsylvania, even while holding only a one-seat majority. Most importantly, they took a huge step forward toward overcoming decades of inadequate and inequitable funding for education with the largest funding increase for our schools in history. They then passed legislation that cuts taxes for working people and seniors, taxes corporations that pay nothing, protects the safety… Continue reading