House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) talks to reporters on June 30, 2026, the deadline for lawmakers to pass a spending plan. (Photo: Whitney Downard/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
For the fifth year in a row, Pennsylvania will not have a state budget on time.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Republican-controlled state Senate adjourned for a week without a spending plan. Democratic leaders in both legislative chambers expressed frustration with the decision and Republicans’ reluctance to share the proposed spending plan as the June 30 midnight deadline passes.
“[It’s] disappointing, to say the least, and we believe continued work is necessary,” Senator Jay Costa (D-Allegheny), said the state Senate minority leader. “We are here, the governor is here, [and] I want to be able to bring this matter to an end.
He added that all Democratic senators voted against Tuesday’s request for a recess.
Tentative budget proposed by Governor Josh Shapiro passed Chamber in April. Until then, the Senate Appropriations Committee did nothing undressed this proposal at Monday’s meeting, sending it to the meeting room as a formally blank slate.
The pause means no agreement will be reached until next week.
“It’s incredibly frustrating that we’re here on the last day of the fiscal year, but not the last day of the week, and the Senate is already throwing in the towel,” said Rep. Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery), the House majority leader.
In a statement on social media, Shapiro called Republicans’ decision to postpone “disrespectful to the people of Pennsylvania.”
“On the day they were supposed to have sent the budget to my desk, they decided to go home for the holidays,” he wrote. “We were supposed to get through this and finish the job together, but instead they ran away.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives Joanna McClinton (Philadelphia) noted that its chamber, currently scheduled to meet Wednesday, will remain in Harrisburg as long as necessary to finalize the spending plan.
“We will be here on Friday, Saturday, and here at the state Capitol, we will kick off America’s birthday with the adoption of the budget,” she said. “The majority of Senate Republicans have failed again, they are not leading, they are not acting, they are not compromising and, most importantly, they are not finishing the work we are all committed to doing.”
House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) said he felt negotiations had reached a level “in terms of what can be done in the next week and a half.”
He added that budget talks are more complicated because of Pennsylvania’s divided legislature, which has “two completely different opinions on where the Commonwealth should go, what our finances are and how we should get there.”
“Bringing them together [is] very difficult and we are making progress,” he continued.
Costa said a proposed bipartisan meeting with Shapiro on Monday, at which Democrats “were willing to show up,” did not materialize. On Monday, Topper attended a separate meeting with Shapiro.
Negotiations are ongoing
Topper added that budget talks forced both sides to abandon major policy points after they “failed to reach consensus in a timely manner.”
He said conversations about arcade games, tax cuts, the balance between education spending and school choice, raising the minimum wage and legalizing marijuana have “flatlined” in recent days.
On Tuesday, Senate and House Democrats held a press conference on Capitol Hill to mark the 20th anniversary of Pennsylvania’s founding recently raised the minimum wage — criticizing Senate Republicans for their reluctance to consider this year’s minimum wage bill. And a recent decision by the state Supreme Court arcade games are illegal leaves room for a fresh source of state revenue should the community decide to legalize and tax machines.
Democrats do not want to comment on specific sticking points in the negotiations, saying the most essential one is Senate Republicans’ decision to leave the Capitol.
“We can’t negotiate off the highway,” said Sen. Vincent Hughes (R-Philadelphia), the Senate minority appropriations chairman.
In a statement, Senate Republican leaders said they “obtained needed clarity this week on many of the outstanding issues that are delaying the completion of this year’s budget,” adding that they hope to have a completed spending plan “in the days following July 4.”
A statement from President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) and Appropriations Chairman Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) noted that the chamber will return to Harrisburg “when the final budget language is ready.”
Neither party’s leaders would comment publicly on the final spending figure, but Costa said Democrats were “ready to find a compromise” to reach an agreement.
As America’s 250th birthday approaches this weekend, Rep. Jordan Harris (Philadelphia), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said it’s “rich” that lawmakers will leave the Capitol to mark the sesquicentennial with “unfinished work.”
“There are people behind these numbers, and failure to do our job could have consequences,” he continued.
