A monthslong deadlock on state spending looks set to loosen within hours of a federal budget breakthrough, releasing billions of dollars for Pennsylvania’s public schools and social services.
The deal, celebrated by lawmakers from both parties, includes a concession by Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Democrats to Republican objections to a regulation aimed at making power plant owners pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. And while Shapiro won’t get as much as he sought to boost the state’s flagging public schools, it still represents spending increases over last year.
Both the state House and Senate passed the budget Wednesday. In Washington, meanwhile, the U.S. House was convening to vote to reopen the federal government following a Senate vote on Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, praised the deal to reopen the state coffers after nearly five months.
“There’s still a battle ahead to make sure that folks have access to that benefit.”Justin Lee
“This plan directly addresses many of the challenges facing Pennsylvania’s families: rising costs, expensive care and inequitably funded education,” Costa said. “I am especially proud of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which puts money directly into the pockets of those trying to make ends meet.”
Jeremy Shaffer, R-Pine, also termed the deal “a step forward.”
Future of SNAP still uncertain
After state and federal budget impasses have tied up the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other funding for the food insecure, local providers warn of continued strain beyond today’s resolutions.
“There’s still a battle ahead to make sure that folks have access to that benefit,” said Justin Lee, COO of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. “There could be another cliff in December when folks will fall off their SNAP benefits and either become ineligible due to the new requirements or not having filled out the correct paperwork.”
The organization, which served around 400 households last week — close to three times its regular load — has fronted about $2 million to cover operations since the state budget impasse began June 30. Lee said he is hopeful, though not certain, of recouping those expenses.
Food advocacy nonprofit Just Harvest, which helps people apply for and receive SNAP benefits, has seen increased panic, confusion and misinformation in Pittsburgh as the twin budget crises unfolded, said Grassroots Organizer Dan McCarthy.
While the nonprofit doesn’t lean heavily on state funds — as some of its food distribution partners do — it does rely on state reimbursement to process EBT payments for farmers market vendors and to run its SNAP assistance hotline.
McCarthy said food benefits will likely remain a dividing partisan issue that faces continued cuts. The solution, he said, may be more state safeguards on social services and alternative food assistance options in Allegheny County.
“SNAP is one of the few programs that actually works really well,” he said. “It keeps millions of people out of poverty and out of hunger every year … The rest of us need to decide if this is something that’s worth saving, worth investing in and worth improving.”
Deal brings relief, but not resolution, to schools and social services
The advancing votes in the politically divided General Assembly arrive weeks after counties, school districts and social service agencies warned of mounting layoffs, borrowing costs and growing damage to the state’s safety net.
School districts, rape crisis agencies and county-run social services have gone without state aid since July 1, when the state lost some of its spending authority without a signed state budget in force.
Allegheny County used reserve funds — amounting to roughly $50 million a month — to keep human services programs running during the impasse, said Hilary Marcell, chief planning officer at the Department of Human Services.
“The passage of a state budget is a relief. It’s really critical to our ability to continue to support the delivery of those services in our community,” Marcella said.
She said the county’s next steps are to familiarize itself with the new budget and to explore reimbursement from the state, which it currently has no timeline on. It is also considering how potential future shutdowns could affect its federal grants.
Some Allegheny County schools rely on the state for 75% or more of their budget, and have been operating without payments since June.
Kevin Busher, chief advocacy officer at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, warned of a “downstream impact,” with complications following districts into the next year even with a swift end to the impasse.
In a statement, PA Schools Work, an advocacy group for equitable school funding, hailed the budget’s “transformational funding to keep our public schools operating with another critical year of adequacy funding directed to the schools most affected by decades of underfunding, as directed by the Commonwealth Court.”
GOP scores climate concessions
The agreement to back off the carbon dioxide cap-and-trade regulation on power plants comes six years after then-Gov. Tom Wolf made joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative the centerpiece of his plan to fight climate change.
Wolf’s regulatory plan went around resistant Republican lawmakers in a bid to make Pennsylvania — the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer — the only major fossil fuel-producing state to undertake a carbon cap-and-trade program.
It has yet to take effect while the state’s highest court considers a legal challenge that questions whether the carbon-pricing plan amounts to a tax, and is thus unconstitutional without legislative approval.
Backers of the regulation included environmental advocates as well as solar, wind and nuclear power producers who called it the biggest step ever taken in Pennsylvania to fight climate change.
“This budget also allows for the people of Pennsylvania to once again become pawns next year.”1Hood Media
It was opposed by Republicans, fossil fuel interests and the labor unions that work on pipelines, refineries and power plants who warned that the cost was sending energy companies to other states to build new gas-fired power plants.
Shapiro had also expressed misgivings about it, and an alternative plan that he proposed has yet to receive traction in the legislature.
Some say deal misses mark
Local nonprofit 1Hood Media admonished the budget deal in a press release, stating that it won’t increase revenue, lacks environmental protections and allows “corporate loopholes.”
“This budget also allows for the people of Pennsylvania to once again become pawns next year,” the statement read.
The Transit for All PA Coalition also denounced the budget for failing to increase allocations to struggling transit agencies.
Under the $50.1 billion budget deal, new authorized spending would rise by about $2.4 billion, or 5%, including some cash going onto last year’s books.
Almost all of the overall spending increase would go toward Medicaid and public schools.
Billions in surplus cash will be required for the plan to balance, the second straight year that Pennsylvania is running a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
The agreement also includes the state’s first refundable earned income tax credit, which reduces or wipes out the state income tax for people who make less than a certain amount of money, depending on how many children they have. It’s something most other states have on their books.
Pennsylvania’s plan is projected to cost roughly $200 million a year. Had it been in effect this year, the average eligible family would have gotten a $650 break, lawmakers say.
Ember Duke is a Pittsburgh’s Public Source editorial intern. She can be reached at ember@publicsource.org.
Lajja Mistry contributed.
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