Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) speaks during a press conference on Wednesday, October 9, 2025, about the state’s budget impasse. (Photo: Peter Hall/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
In their first public action in nearly two months amid a state budget impasse, Democratic-led House lawmakers approved a $50.25 billion spending proposal and sent it to the Senate for consideration.
Wednesday’s 105-98 majority vote came after an afternoon of heated rhetoric and finger-pointing by Democrats in the House and Republicans in the Senate on the 100th day since the June 30 budget deadline passed without a deal.
Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation that does not have a spending plan for fiscal year 2025–2026.
The general appropriations bill, passed with the support of three GOP lawmakers, calls for a $2.4 billion — or 5.1% — spending enhance over the 2024-25 budget. This represents a further $300 million reduction in spending from the budget proposal passed by the chamber in July.
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It includes an additional $565 million for the commonwealth’s least affluent school districts as part of a plan to correct decades of inequities in the state’s education funding system. It will also provide $105 million more for basic education and $40 million for special education.
This includes over $785 million in savings for school districts as a result of: statewide tuition rate for cyber charter schools which the House adopted in June.
Major spending reductions include a $49 million cut in state funding (in addition to approximately $11 million in federal cuts) from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and a $38 million cut in Department of Health spending due to $47 million in federal cuts.
The House budget is an amendment to Senate Bill 160, which was identical to the previous fiscal year’s budget.
Senate Republicans said Wednesday they were not ready to hold a vote without adequate time to review the House’s plan. Both houses adjourned until the end of this month.
“We have no idea what they are doing there,” Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (D-Ind.) said Wednesday before the vote. He added that Senate leaders have heard little from Democrats since Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a momentary solution to the transit funding crisis, which initially was a major sticking point in negotiations.
“The degree of communication between the administration and House Democrats has been sparse at best,” Pittman told reporters.
After the vote, Gov. Josh Shapiro sharply criticized Senate Republicans for going into recess without taking action.
“At some point the Senate is going to have to stop making excuses and come to work to do their job. I spent the entire summer running back and forth between leaders [Matt] Bradford and leader Pittman. I called them to dialogue,” Shapiro said.
He called the Democrats’ proposal “a real compromise” and said the budget would “lower taxes” and “secure the rainy day fund,” long a priority for conservatives.
Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) said the Democratic proposals are too exorbitant, taking away from the state’s $3 billion budget surplus and rainy day fund. reached a record high of $7.04 billion last month.
Shapiro’s Feb. 4 proposal called for spending the surplus and taking $1.6 billion from the rainy-day fund to balance the budget.
“I heard today… ‘We’re not calling for a tax increase.’ Well, you may not use those words, but when you spend way more than what we take in, you’re calling for a tax increase,” Ward said.
Shapiro also noted that three Republicans voted for the House bill and that Senate Democratic leaders believe they could achieve unanimity in their caucus.
“There’s obviously a dynamic in the Senate Republican caucus that makes it very difficult for their leadership to find the votes they need,” Shapiro said. – The thing is, it’s their job.
Sen. Vincent Hughes (R-Philadelphia) said 23 Democrats in the upper chamber were willing to vote for the compromise first adopted in July. After additional concessions were passed in the bill on Wednesday, Hughes expressed confidence that he would receive enough Republican votes to pass it.
Hughes accused Senate Republicans of playing politics ahead of Shapiro’s re-election bid next year. He is expected to face a challenge from Republican state treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is seeking the party’s nomination. Garrity got involved in budget policy, offering low-interest loans to county governments and jump-start programs. It has since expanded to include domestic violence prevention and rape support groups.
On Wednesday, the Senate passed a bill that will make this possible allow her department to write off the interest on these loans.
“These people are putting people last for political reasons. They see their assessment as… you know, if we just delayed the budget and delayed the budget, all Democrats would do badly,” Hughes said.
Asked about the allegations, Pittman said his caucus wants accountable government and that Republicans worked during the first two years of Shapiro’s term to reach compromises at the negotiating table.
“I think he’s using this as a very poor excuse because he hasn’t been able to unite the divided legislation that he talked so much about into a consensus product,” Pittman said.
House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) said part of leadership is persuading followers to accept arduous compromises.
“If you can’t tell the public that we’re not going to get everything we want and we’re going to have to compromise, then you shouldn’t lead and you bloody hell shouldn’t lead the club,” Bradford said.
However, House Speaker Joanna McClinton (Philadelphia) stated that despite constant assurances that the budget was “on the ball,” Senate leaders refused to negotiate in good faith, following “their leader in Washington.”
“We are closing rape crisis centers. District offices are laying people off. Senior centers are closing in Westmoreland and Indiana counties,” said House Speaker Joanna McClinton (Philadelphia). “It’s not a good afternoon because it’s been 100 days and Senate Republicans are shutting down state government.”
