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It’s Time to Help People, Not Oil Companies

  By Energy, Inflation, PA Budget and Policy Center

Pennsylvania’s families and economy are currently being stressed by a rise in prices that’s the result of an unexpectedly quick economic recovery and the supply chain issues it created, the gas price spike created by Russia’s war on the Ukraine, and the determination on the part of multi-national corporations to take advantage of these conditions to maximize their profits. As we have shown elsewhere, the state will have an accumulated surplus of $10.2 billion at the end of the current fiscal year. The Republican-controlled General Assembly has left much ARP money unspent and added far more of it than necessary to the General Fund to balance the budget. It’s time to use that money to deal with the current difficulties faced by Pennsylvania families—including the rise in gas prices—which in turn threaten to slow our economic recovery. Continue reading

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On Cultivated Ignorance

  By Philosophy

When I was 15 I decided life was too short to follow both basketball and hockey. (And I never understood what Icing the puck meant anyway.) That was the start of a life-long devotion to ignoring many of the thinkgs people today care about. I ignore much of the news everyday, starting with the sports pages–except for the NBA–then the gossip page (also known as arts and culture), then the financial pages, and even much of the political pages. On philosophy and politics, I read books and academic journals and journals of opinion and specialized reports. I read enough of the daily press to do my work and to follow the couple of sports I really enjoy, especially basketball. Even there, I pay a lot more attention to specialized on-line sports journals than the daily press. (Sports writers in the daily press are the worst of journalists, imo.) I pay… Continue reading

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STATEMENT: Celebrating the 12th Anniversary of the ACA

  By ACA, Health Care, PA Budget and Policy Center, Statements

Tomorrow, March 23, 2022, is the 12th anniversary of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. This is a day worth celebrating because of the enormous advances it made in enabling Americans, including almost a million Pennsylvanians, to secure quality, affordable health insurance.   In just twelve years, the ACA has succeeded in cutting the number of uninsured Pennsylvanians in half. The percentage of Pennsylvanians under 65 who are uninsured has declined from 11.9% in 2010 to 6.6% in 2017. The decline has been particularly striking for Black Pennsylvanians between 18 and 64 for whom the percentage of uninsured has declined from 24% in 2010 to 11.4% in 2017 and Hispanic Pennsylvanians, for whom the rate has declined from 32.2% in 2010 to 18% in 2017. The rates at which Pennsylvanians were uninsured increased by a few tenths of a percentage point after 2017 due to Trump administration restrictions on the… Continue reading

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Every kid deserves a chance; Republicans don’t agree

  By Education, K-12 Education in PA, Public Policy, Published op-eds

Originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on February 25, 2022 Before he became the great liberator, Sen. Thaddeus Stevens was, as state Representative, the author of the first Pennsylvania legislation to provide public funds to ensure that all children, no matter how rich or poor, could secure a good education. Stevens’ support for universal education grew out of the same fundamental commitment to equality that animated his opposition to slavery. Stevens, like Abraham Lincoln, believed that America must give everyone the opportunity to use their talents and abilities, to the best of their ability. Slavery blocked this opportunity, and so he opposed it. Lack of access to education blocked opportunity for every child of the working class, and so he supported universal education. Sadly, Republicans no longer seem to support that ideal. Four years ago, the Republican Chair of the Senate Education Committee, John Eichelberger, said that “inner city” education… Continue reading

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The GOP showed us who they are with challenge to Pa. House map

  By Elections and Voting, Legislative Districts, Published Op-Eds

Originally published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star on February 24, 2022 Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, recently filed suit against the House district map produced by the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC). Marc Stier (Twitter)  Most advocates of fair districting think the new district lines are an enormous improvement over those currently in place for two reasons: they reflect the changing demographics of our commonwealth and they unwind two decades of extreme partisan gerrymandering, which I documented in a recent paper.  Predictably, they have been harshly attacked by Republicans. The background for their criticism is fairly obvious—while the new districts are, by standard metrics, still somewhat tilted in favor of Republicans, they are far less gerrymandered in their favor than the districts Republicans drew for themselves in the last two decades. It is hard not to conclude that when it comes to legislative districts, like presidential races, Republicans are not willing to accept any rules that do not guarantee they win elections.  Benninghoff’s suit raises two substantive arguments that deserve attention—not least because they show us where the Republicans stand on critical… Continue reading

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The GOP Challenge to Legislative and Congressional District Maps Shows Us Who They Are

  By Redistricting

This is a revised version of an op-ed published in the PA Capital-Starr on February 24, 2022 Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court released its ­congressional district map. It meets two of the critical requirements of a congressional redistricting plan: it does not favor one party or another, and it allows shifts in voters’ choices to be reflected in who is elected to Congress. In a state with a small Democratic edge in registration, seven of the 17 districts lean Democratic, while six lean Republican. And four districts—1, 7, 8, and 17—are competitive. If voters in the state tilt toward the Democrats, Democrats are likely to hold a majority of the Pennsylvania seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. If the voters tilt Republican, Republicans are likely to do so. In addition to allowing shifts in political opinion to change the composition of Congress, competitive districts also help ensure that representatives… Continue reading

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STATEMENT: On PA Supreme Court’s Congressional Maps Decision

  By Congressional redistricting, Pennsylvania, Redistricting, Statements

For Immediate Release February 23, 2022 Contact: Kirstin Snow Statement of PA Budget and Policy Center on PA Supreme Court Decision on Congressional Maps by Marc Stier There are two critical requirements of a congressional redistricting plan: it does not favor one party or another, and it allows shifts in voters’ choices to be reflected in who is elected to Congress. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s choice of a congressional map meets both standards. In a state with a small Democratic edge in registration, seven of the 17 districts lean Democratic, while six lean Republican. And four districts—1, 7, 8, and 17—are competitive. If voters in the state tilt toward the Democrats, Democrats are likely to hold a majority of the Pennsylvania seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. If the voters tilt Republican, Republicans are likely to do so. In addition to allowing shifts in political opinion to change the… Continue reading

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The GOP Design

  By Congressional redistricting, Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties, Democracy, Elections, Fascism, Judicial Gerrymandering, Judicial Gerrymandering, Jurisprudence, Legislative Districts, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania

“When people show you who they are, believe them.” It’s time to believe what Pennsylvania Republicans have shown us they are. Begin with what they have shown us they don’t care about: Public health: They have opposed efforts to encourage—not mandate–people to wear masks and be vaccinated. They have not funded programs to make COVID tests available to all of us. Relief from the burdens of the pandemic: Despite having huge sums of our tax money in the bank, they have provided insufficient housing assistance that was distributed unfairly. They have provided too little relief to small businesses and blocked a proposal to help the restaurant industry. Unlike other states, Pennsylvania has not used ARP money to provide paid family and medical leave or support for those with low incomes. Wages: Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 for 14 years, keeps falling farther and farther behind neighboring… Continue reading

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STATEMENT: On the PA Legislative Reapportionment Commission Maps

  By Legislative Districts, Statements

For Immediate Release February 4, 2022 Contact: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennbpc.org Statement of PA Budget and Policy Center on Legislative Reapportionment Commission Maps by Marc Stier Pennsylvanians will be more fairly represented because the Legislative Reapportionment Commission (LRC) took important steps to adopt maps that are fairer than any time in recent memory. These maps look very different from the current ones because they aim to adjust for dramatic population changes over the last ten years and to remedy two decades of extreme gerrymandering. Because they do so, both maps are fairer and more representative of the people of Pennsylvania than the old ones. The people should pick their representatives, not the other way around. As a result, we expect that we will get better policy and elected officials will be more responsive to their constituents than to special interests and extreme partisanship. We appreciate the many citizens who took part… Continue reading