During an appearance at the Pennsylvania Press Club on Monday, state House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) told the audience that his faction had not said “hell yeah” to school vouchers. But when a group of reporters later asked him about them, Bradford said he viewed school vouchers, which have caused a rift between Democrats in the Legislature and Gov. Josh Shapiro, as “very problematic, period.”
It was one of several comments Bradford made during the press club luncheon (and afterward) about the current state of affairs at the Capitol. In addition to school vouchers, he addressed the state’s unfinished budget, whether he thinks the state will move its presidential primary and how House Democrats are “willing to talk about the important issues.”
Bradford described the Democrats’ one-seat advantage in the House of Representatives as a “modest majority” and praised his faction’s focus on advancing legislation that would “increase minimum wage in the stateprotect a woman’s right to choose and protect the environment.”
He said that while he doesn’t always agree with Gov. Josh Shapiro, a fellow Montgomery County Democrat, the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is willing to work with the Republican-controlled Senate” and the governor to “create a better Pennsylvania.”
“Those nine months were not without drama and dysfunction. It wasn’t all smooth sailing,” Bradford said. “But it set us on a different course to address issues that had been suppressed for a long time.”
Bradford said Democrats and Republicans generally agree on lowering the state corporate income tax, but the two sides still can’t agree on education vouchers.
Earlier this year, Shapiro expressed support for a $100 million education voucher program backed by Republican senators during budget negotiations. But later budget item vetoed the program when House Democrats said they would not support it.
“Our faction said we’re going to sit down and have a conversation with the governor, who we love and respect, and the Senate, who we may disagree with, but if they want to talk about poor kids and poor schools, from an equity perspective, especially for Black and brown kids,” Bradford told WHTM-TV’s Dennis Owens during a question-and-answer session, “we look forward to having that conversation.”
In February Commonwealth Court ruled that the state’s system of financing public K-12 schools is unconstitutional.
“I don’t believe in using government taxpayer money to fund religious schools, schools that may discriminate, schools that frankly don’t have to deal with the most difficult cases,” Bradford told reporters after the luncheon. “I want to talk about alternatives.”
On the state budget, Bradford reiterated the governor’s words that there is no budget impasse. In August Shapiro signs $45.5 billion budgetbut some priorities remain unfunded.
Bradford added that House Democrats made the most of the situation months ago to ensure certain programs would receive adequate funding.
“We took lemons and made lemonade, making sure that Pennsylvanians didn’t get hurt in the process,” Bradford told reporters after lunch. “Are there things we need to work on? Sure, but again, we recognize that we’ve been able to limit the amount of pain that people have felt.”
Bradford also addressed a question about why House and Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle appear to be making no progress on the budget.
“I think sometimes they talk past each other, and by ‘they’ I put myself in their shoes,” Bradford said. “We all have an obligation to redouble our efforts.”
During the question-and-answer portion of the program, Bradford said he opposes a Senate-backed bill introduced delayed last month that would move 2024 state presidential primaries by March 19.
“Look, the challenge in setting a date is that our councillors felt that the March date was too short and too compressed,” Bradford said.
Bradford added that The House adopted the bill which would move the 2024 primary election date from April 23 to April 16, avoiding it being held on the same day as Passover. However, Republicans argued The deadline to change the primary election date has already passed and the matter will no longer be considered in the Upper House.
When Owens pressed him during a question-and-answer session whether he would consider moving the primary date to May, Bradford indicated he was willing to go along with the suggestion.
“We’re not tied to any specific date,” Bradford said. “We’re tied to respecting people’s religions and making sure counties can have free and fair elections.”
Governor Josh Shapiro is scheduled to be the speaker at the next Pennsylvania Press Club lunch November 20th.
