DV Journal

(This column first appeared in Broad + Liberty.)

The governor giveth, the governor taketh away.

On a positive note, during his annual budget address, Governor Shapiro called on the Republican Senate and the Democratic House to work together to pass Lifeline scholarships. They would allow low-income parents whose children attend the worst public schools in Pennsylvania to use scholarships to transfer to a better school. (In 2023, the problem was the House, run by Democrats: the Senate passed Lifeline.)

On a less positive note, the governor’s budget contains no money to pay for Lifeline.

The debate over school choice has become a national battle and, unfortunately, a partisan battle at times. Worse, some politicians and the teachers’ union pit parent against parent, student against student. As if some parents shouldn’t be allowed to have a choice, as if some kids should be forced to go to bad schools — just to prove a point. As if some kids are lesser.

Lifeline is a small, targeted program to help the poorest families, whose children are forced to attend the worst schools. (President Biden might say: “C’mon man.”)

In response to a Court ruling urging the Commonwealth to increase funding for public education — with a focus on students falling behind, attending chronically underperforming schools, the governor’s 2024-2025 proposed budget has the largest-ever annual increase in public education — over $1.5 billion.

(One might note that the governor’s proposal comes immediately after the 2023-2024 budget, which contained the largest increase in public education spending ever, almost $1 billion. That came one year after the 2022-2023 budget which contained the largest increase in public education spending. And so on.)

For those believing that more taxpayer money is needed for public schools: you got it.

Despite the teachers’ union and their special interests’ never-ending public relations campaign to confuse us, we do have several types of public schools in Pennsylvania. Most children attend schools operated by local school districts — what most people think of as “public schools.”

However, there are other public schools in Pennsylvania: charter schools. There are both the traditional school building type (“brick and mortar” schools) and cyber charter schools. While they are created and operated independently, they are funded by taxpayers, authorized to operate and regulated by school districts or the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and their budgets, assessments and board meeting minutes are all available to the public. They are public schools under state laws.

Over 68,000 Pennsylvania students attend a cyber charter school. Nearly 90,000 Pennsylvania children attend a “brick and mortar” charter school. Together, they are larger than the largest school district — Philadelphia School District, plus the Pittsburgh and Reading School Districts combined.

So, when the governor promised over $1.5 billion for public schools, you’d think that charter school parents would be cheering, too. Well, not so fast.

Because while the governor promised over $1.5 billion more for public education, he also proposed cutting cyber education by $262 million.

The governor giveth; the governor taketh away.

The governor’s argument is that cyber schools don’t need as much money for buildings as traditional public schools. At first, that may seem to have some validity. But, the facts and state law shows that, sadly, it’s rhetoric over reality — even putting aside the judge’s ruling urging more spending.

First, contrary to rhetoric and intentional confusion by special interests, cyber schools actually do in fact have buildings. It’s where the administrative officers are, where teachers teach, counselors meet, and students may go for additional help or tech support. Some larger cyber schools have multiple buildings or office space across the state, as Pennsylvania students may attend any cyber school. So, cybers do have buildings and building costs — despite not getting one penny of taxpayer money to get those buildings.

Second, yes by law, cybers are prohibited from using taxpayer money for their buildings. (They typically issue bonds, borrow from banks, or raise the money through donations to buy, build or retrofit buildings.) So, having prohibited cybers from using taxpayer money by law, it seems unfair and disingenuous to cut their education budgets by claiming they don’t need money for buildings.

Third, cybers — as is the case for “brick and mortar” charter schools — only get paid about 70-75 cents on the dollar of the local school district where the school is located to educate their students. The local school district gets to keep 25 to 30 percent of the money spent on education — allegedly to help with “administrative” or “support” costs, etc. So, school districts already get up to 30 percent of a student’s educational costs — for not educating a student — and now, this budget would give a cyber school actually educating the child even less?

(Pennsylvania’s charter school law was passed in 1997. Under state budgets up through 2011, school districts were paid an additional 30 percent of the cost of students who transferred out of a school district and into a charter school of any type. So, for fourteen years, they got 60 percent of the funding of students that they did not educate. Since 2012, they get up to 30 percent of the student’s education costs — again, for children they are not educating.)

“I believe every child of God deserves a shot here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and one of the best ways we can guarantee their success is…a quality education. I’ve been very clear that I’m open to that concept that you described (school choice)…”

This is what Governor Shapiro told the nation live on television. It’s what he has repeated to the Wall Street Journal and to newspapers and radio and television stations across our state.

The governor attended Jewish Day School — a choice his parents made. (As did my parents, sending me and my brothers to Catholic School in South Philly.)

The governor and his wife send their children to Jewish Day School. (As my wife and I did for our children, by sending them to Catholic Schools in Chester County and Philadelphia.)

Many want to believe that the governor wants “every child of God” to have a shot — to be all they can, to reach their potential. He repeatedly says it. It’s how he has lived his life as a student and as a parent.

It’s time for him to step up and fight for all Pennsylvania children. Bring the parties together. Tell the teachers’ union to stand down — as many of them send their own children to charter, cyber, religious and private schools.

It’s time to stop dividing our children and positioning them as competitors — with one “stealing” money from the other. It’s time to recognize that most parents have “school choice” — they move or they pay for it; but, others don’t have any choice. So, cutting charter funding and failing to pass Lifeline reduces choices, which violates commonsense and compassion.

It’s time for the budget and our laws to match the governor’s soaring rhetoric.

Otherwise, we may have no choice but to assume that cyber students, charter students, and public school students trying to escape the worst schools in Pennsylvania are “children of a lesser god.”

While Gov. Josh Shapiro spends the next few weeks selling his $48.3 billion spending plan to Pennsylvania, a fiscal watchdog warns the budget proposal will drain the state’s recently replenished finances.

Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day Fund sits around $14 billion. That’s enough to fund the government for almost 50 days in lieu of a government shutdown. “You’re still just pushing it down the road,” Commonwealth Foundation Senior Vice President Nathan Benefield told DVJournal. “It’s unwise to be using that just to go like, ‘Hey, we could use that money this year’ and still have an unbalanced budget.

“Using the one-time reserves for ongoing spending that’s going to be year after year is not sustainable.”

Benefield points out that multiple Shapiro administration officials and the governor himself claim to support fiscal responsibility when it comes to taxpayer dollars.

Shapiro hailed Pennsylvania’s budgeting ability last September after S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s moved the Commonwealth’s outlook to ‘positive.’

“Our commonsense investments and sound fiscal management are setting the Commonwealth up for continued success,” the governor said at the time. “My administration will strive to ensure that our fiscal outlook remains strong by working with leaders in both parties to continue making commonsense investments…all while remaining fiscally responsible.”

Budget Secretary Uri Monson praised sound fiscal management last September, saying it “makes a difference in the lives of Pennsylvanians every day.”

But Benefield pointed out credit rate agencies want Pennsylvania to keep a high balance in the Rainy Day Fund balance. “The credit rate agencies all basically pointed to the fact that Pennsylvania has a reserve and would maintain it in case there is a recession.”

S&P and Moody’s highlighted Pennsylvania’s need to keep its reserve fund high in their credit rating outlook announcements. One S&P analyst said Pennsylvania could see its overall rating go up if it preserved or increased “reserve balances in its budget stabilization reserve.”

Moody’s said it was “particularly important” for Pennsylvania to maintain adequate reserves because of extremely long budget negotiations. The state’s budget wasn’t finalized last year until late December.

There’s also disagreement on whether the Pennsylvania government can use the Rainy Day Fund to fill in the budget hole.

State law says the fund can be used in “emergencies involving the health, safety or welfare of the residents of this Commonwealth or downturns in the economy resulting in significant unanticipated revenue shortfalls…”

Pennsylvania’s government is also blocked from using Rainy Day Fund money to “begin new programs.”

That’s what Shapiro wants to do, according to Benefield. “His proposal, if you look at it, is a lot of new programs,” he said. “They’re not to deal with an emergency. They’re simply to prop up spending.

“The idea that having an ongoing structural deficit year after year is not an emergency. That’s simply poor budgeting,” Benefield added.

Shapiro said during his budget address that the state needed to spend some of the reserve cash as a so-called investment into Pennsylvanians.

“We need to build a more competitive Pennsylvania that starts in our classrooms, runs through our union halls and our small businesses, through our farmlands and our high rises, our college campuses, and leads to a life of opportunity and a retirement with dignity,” he said. “We need to keep people safe, make sure they have access to the medical treatments and care they need, and build communities where they see a future of opportunity.”

Benefield doesn’t believe that Shapiro’s budgetary wishes will come to fruition. Calling the proposals “pie in the sky and even campaign-oriented,” Benefield said that he doesn’t see them getting done this year. “There isn’t a lot of appetite to have that large of a budget deficit of $3 billion-plus this year. I think there probably will still be a deficit this year, but I expect it to be a lot less than what Shapiro proposed.”

The Pennsylvania legislature remains divided, with Republicans controlling the Senate and Democrats holding a small lead in the House.

Neither House nor Senate Republicans appear to desire Shapiro’s proposed spending spree.

“While I can support initiatives that invest in our workforce and help more folks to lay down roots in Pennsylvania, those initiatives cannot be coupled with an endless wish list of spending agendas that are unsustainable and eviscerate our safety nets,” said Rep. Donna Scheuren (R-Montgomery). “That is not good governance, nor is it fiscally responsible.”

“We cannot reverse years of progress with a single-year spending spree that sacrifices our future,” said Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster). “We need a responsible budget that helps grow jobs here and encourages families to put down roots here so we can reverse the negative economic and demographic trends that threaten our future stability. I look forward to working with my colleagues to make that happen.”

An email to the Shapiro administration was not answered.

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As I sat in the state Capitol rotunda listening to Gov. Josh Shapiro lay out his 2024-25 budget proposal, I couldn’t help but wonder if the gilded hall rubbed off on the governor, giving him a different perception of the state of the commonwealth’s finances. Perhaps he was transported back to when this magnificent building was constructed in the early 1900s, representing the power of a Pennsylvania flush with Industrial Revolution cash.

Times have certainly changed.

The governor is swinging for the spending fences in this budget. Without even mentioning future fiscal years, his 2024-25 budget alone proposes an increase in spending of $3.2 billion, bringing our state budget up to $48.3 billion.

But what I find troubling is not the programs he wants to create or fund. I find many of these initiatives to be worthy of government funding. Where we must be cautious as lawmakers, and of the governor’s plan, is asking how are we going to pay for this spending tab without asking Pennsylvanians to bear significant tax increases and service cuts in the near future?

I see very few paths forward without this very real possibility.

The governor proposes to spend all of Pennsylvania’s budgetary reserves (coined the Rainy-Day Fund), vastly overstates future tax revenue growth, understates projected growth in our human services budget, and plays budgetary tricks (such as not booking increased education funding beyond the current fiscal year) to balance this un-balanceable budget.

Using one-time dollars for reoccurring expenses is not the way to create a sustainable budget.

There is the real potential, if fully enacted, that the bipartisan hard work done in recent years to help right Pennsylvania’s fiscal ship could be undone.

Make no mistake, I believe there are initiatives worthy of support. I, too, believe we should be fully funding education, especially basic and special education, and providing parents with real education alternatives and finding better pathways that will lead their children to success. Additionally, now is the time to tackle cyber charter school reform.

I was glad to see the governor include new economic development programs that are long overdue. Recently, I held a roundtable with semiconductor industry experts to discuss how we can better support this growing, geo-strategically important industry, which can serve as a powerful economic driver for southeastern Pennsylvania. We can make investments today in our economy that will pay dividends in the future and build homegrown family-sustaining jobs.

We also need to work toward a more sustainable funding system to support our local fire and EMS companies, protect government agencies against ever-increasing cyberattacks, and institute necessary reforms to ensure that every veteran receives the benefits they earned.

But as lawmakers, we must be judicious and strategic when making these decisions. The public has entrusted us with the sacred responsibility of being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, we must balance our budget and ensure that we are not asking more from families that are already struggling with high inflation and rising property taxes.

As we begin our Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearings, I look forward to taking a deeper dive into this proposal and finding ways we can come to the table and compromise. But ultimately, we need to take a balanced approach that not only funds key areas of government responsibility, but also ensures that our financial footing is not jeopardized in this and future budgets.

If we don’t, the people who can least afford it, the people we collectively represent, will be saddled with the burden.

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There is an old saying among farmers and financial analysts: Don’t eat your seed corn.

That sums up what House Appropriations Chair Seth Grove (R-York) said in an hour’s discussion with the press Wednesday about Gov. Josh Shapiro’s $48.3 billion 2024-25 budget ahead of budget hearings. The Democratic governor wants to spend $3.7 billion more than the previous year or 8.4 percent.

Shapiro’s plan calls for spending more money than the state takes in and will burn through its general fund surplus and Rainy Day Fund by 2028-29, leading inevitably to tax increases, according to Grove.

The general fund surplus would be cut in half to $3.4 billion from the projected $7.1 billion.

In the current fiscal year, revenue is falling $209 million below projections. Revenue from personal income taxes is down by $306 million; non-motor vehicle sales and use is down by $29 million, and cigarette taxes are down by $17 million.

He said three agencies use 84 percent of the budget: Human Services, Education, and Corrections.

Grove referred to Shapiro’s “Christmas List” of requested spending, with an additional $1 billion for education topping the gifts.

Shapiro did not address the structural deficit, said Grove. His budget would “blow through” $15.9  billion of the general fund and Rainy Day Fund balances.

They are two separate funds. The Rainy Day Fund, now at $6.12 billion, was created for economic downturns like the 2009 recession, he said.

Because the state has a $6.2 billion surplus in the general fund, the treasurer does not have to borrow to meet expenses throughout the year, saving $10 million on interest payments “that we can use for other stuff,” he explained. The state also makes money from interest on the Rainy Day Fund, which is invested, he said.

“Over the next three years, (Shapiro’s) budget eviscerates that,” said Grove.

Grove claimed Shapiro “wants to be president,” adding Lt. Gov. Austin Davis might not want to run with Shapiro again because he’d be stuck raising taxes.

Two “revenue modifications” that Shapiro proposes are raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and imposing a 42 percent tax on the daily gross from some electronic gaming machines (skill games). The increased wages could bring in $22.6 million in personal income tax and $34.1 million in sales and use taxes in 2024-25. And the skill games tax would bring in $150.4 million this year and $300 million annually in the following years.

But he said while Shapiro’s budget calls for $2.5 billion in new or expanded government programs, including for basic education, there’s no accountability. Grove noted the governor also plans to spend more on higher education.

“The big question is, do we have a balanced budget?” said Grove. “There’s one-time revenue propping up massive spending.”

“The big problem is we’re growing (the budget) at 2 percent based on the basic education ($1 billion in additional funding) he has,” said Grove.

“It’s a compounded problem…the general fund balance goes to zero, and then you start on the Rainy Day Fund,” said Grove. “And we’re out of all surplus in 2027-28.”

“Everything sounds good when you want to give puppies and kittens and chocolate and candy to everybody. But there’s a cost to that,” said Grove.

Grove said the income tax would be raised by 6.3 percent to cover the budget gaps, noting Democrats prefer to raise income taxes rather than other taxes, like the sales tax.

And if they shift taxes so the wealthy are paying more: “If you have money, you’ll be out of here in two seconds.”

“If someone finds a new tax that we didn’t propose, I’d be shocked,” he said, listing various taxes, such as the hotel tax, that the legislature has considered over the years. “You need a major tax source to cover billions of dollars.”

“Based on this budgeting (Shapiro) is going to be good for reelection, all this spending without raising taxes,” said Grove. “Financially sound, yada-yada.”

But eventually, taxes will need to increase. Unlike the federal government, the state can’t print money.

Personnel costs are increasing under Shapiro, Grove pointed out, including $2.1 billion for pending contracts for the state police and corrections officers. Employees have increased by 1,200 people, and so have salaries. Total salaries are up 4.8 percent. The average state employee’s compensation is $114,752, including benefits. Overtime expenses have also increased, reaching $372 million for 2022-23, up from $351 million for the prior year.

Shapiro also penciled in $161 million more for SEPTA, bringing the total state funding to $1 billion. Grove said the counties served by SEPTA should increase their share of SEPTA funding.

“They need skin in the game as well. I have not seen one county propose new revenue or new taxes,” said Grove, who also noted SEPTA’s money woes stem from falling ridership due to passengers’ safety fears. He said the legislature passed a bill for a special prosecutor for SEPTA areas that Shapiro signed. The attorney general has not yet hired that prosecutor in the face of opposition from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and a 30-day deadline has passed.

The Shapiro administration said, “The Commonwealth is projected to have a total budget surplus of $14 billion at the close of June 2024. This sum factors in federal funding received during the COVID-19 pandemic and nearly $7.2 billion in the Rainy Day Fund.

“Even if every one of the initiatives in the governor’s budget is fully funded, Pennsylvania will still have an $11 billion surplus by the end of Fiscal Year 2024-25. This is on top of the fact that the governor’s vision maintains a balanced budget and does not raise taxes.”

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With the U.S. southern border in chaos, Pennsylvania Republicans are supporting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in his efforts to prevent waves of illegal immigrants from crossing into the U.S. And they want Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) to step up, too.

In December, Customs and Border Patrol reported a record 302,000 migrant encounters at the U.S./Mexico border. More than 7 million illegal immigrants have crossed into the country since President Joe Biden took office three years ago, according to the House Homeland Security Committee.

One of Biden’s first acts was to stop construction work on the border wall initiated by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-39), Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-41), Appropriations Committee Chair Scott Martin (R-13), and Majority Whip Ryan P. Aument (R-36) circulated a co-sponsor memo Wednesday for a resolution affirming Abbott is lawfully exercising his constitutional authority to defend his state and its citizens.

It comes in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas forces deployed along the Rio Grande in an attempt to prevent illegal border crossings.

The Senate resolution also calls on Shapiro to join 25 GOP governors across the country publicly endorsing Abbott’s actions. The resolution also calls on the Biden administration to stop fighting Texas’ efforts and instead commit resources to support the Lone Star State in securing the border.

“Many of us are hearing from our constituents who are concerned with this troubling crisis and who have expressed a desire for us to help take a stand against the Biden administration’s disastrous border policies. This resolution reflects our duty to uphold our oath to support, obey, and defend the Constitution of the United States and ensure the safety of its citizens,” the lawmakers said.

“State and local officials across this country have sounded the alarm regarding the straining of their resources, the scourge of fentanyl deaths, the tragedy of human trafficking, including children smuggled across the border, and the flow of illegal firearms and dangerous gang members; all exasperated by the disastrous enforcement at our borders by the Biden administration.”

The resolution will likely go before the full Senate for a vote next week.

Similarly, the letter penned by Rep. Michael Cabell (R-Lackawanna/Luzerne/Wyoming) and signed by dozens of representatives calls on Shapiro and Attorney General Michelle Henry to support Texas’ Operation Lone Star.

“While Operation Lone Star should be credited for, in a relatively short span of time, apprehending approximately 500,000 undocumented immigrants and seizing enough Mexican fentanyl to kill the entire population of the United States, additional manpower and resources are urgently needed to stem the tides of unlawful migration, human trafficking, and deadly narcotics trafficking,” the letter to Shapiro reads.

“At a time when the federal government has demonstrated an unmistakable aversion to countering this ever-increasing surge in illegal immigration, we encourage you to honor your commitment to ensuring that Pennsylvania ‘does not leave any state with an oversized responsibility’ in addressing the crisis at our southern border. Indeed, like you, we believe that all states, including Pennsylvania, share an obligation to fight this crisis to safeguard our communities and uphold the rule of law.”

Delaware Valley Reps. John Lawrence (R-West Grove), Donna Scheuren (R-Gilbertsville), and Milou Mackenzie (R-Bethlehem) signed the letters.

Also, Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), who ran against Shapiro for governor in 2022, called on Shapiro to send Pennsylvania National Guard troops to help Texas.

“Reckless federal government policies have created a crisis at our nation’s southern border,” Mastriano said. “Every state is now a border state. Pennsylvania has a compelling interest in helping secure the southern border of the United States. Fentanyl has flooded communities throughout our commonwealth, school districts are increasingly burdened, and strained social safety net funds are being diverted.”

Asked to comment, Shapiro’s spokesperson Manuel Bonder said, “Gov. Shapiro has been clear that our country needs a secure border and Congress needs to pass comprehensive reform to fix our broken immigration system. This issue requires leaders from both parties to step up and deliver real, comprehensive solutions — not the failed talking points and political grandstanding that have brought us decades without immigration reform.”

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Twenty-four Pennsylvania legislators filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday against President Joe Biden, Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, asking for an injunction to stop changes to voter registration that they claim are unconstitutional.

The Republican lawmakers claim Shapiro and Biden usurped the role of the state legislature to make laws concerning voting.

Last September, Shapiro announced people would automatically be registered to vote when they get their driver’s licenses or state government ID. However, because he did not go to the legislature to ask them to pass a law first, they said his action was unconstitutional.

“The citizens of Pennsylvania have been victimized by the extraordinary overreach of executive officials who have made changes to election laws with no authority to do so. If we don’t take action to stop this, there is no limit to the changes they might make to further erode Pennsylvania’s election system in 2024 and beyond,” said Rep. Dawn Keefer (R-York).

On March 7, 2021, Biden signed Executive Order 14019, requiring all federal agencies to develop a plan to increase voter registration and increase voter participation or get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts, the suit said.

The legislators claim that the action was unconstitutional.

In response to EO 14019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced federal health centers located across the country, including Pennsylvania, get involved in voter registration activities. The Department of Education “dear colleague” letter to universities, including those located in Pennsylvania, directing them to use Federal Work Study funds “to support voter registration activities,” whether they occur “on or off-campus.”

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development likewise instructed more than 3,000 public housing authorities, which manage approximately 1.2 million public housing units across the country, including Pennsylvania, to run voter registration drives in those units, the suit said.

Other agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture and the General Services Administration, began similar initiatives, the suit said. The GSA, which administers federally-owned buildings, including those located in Pennsylvania, is now available for voter registration drives by third-party organizations, regardless of whether the agency or agencies that own or operate out of those buildings have received an NVRA designation.

While Keefer chairs the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus, not all of the legislators involved are members. Also, the group of lawmakers are not using taxpayer funds to pay for the lawsuit, which was filed by Attorney Erick Kaardal, a partner of Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, along with the nonprofit Election Research Institute.

“Over the past few years, we have seen nonlegislative officials in various states taking it upon themselves to set election rules,” said Karen DiSalvo, attorney and vice president of the Election Research Institute. “This is not the function of the executive branch. This case is an attempt to put an end to that practice in Pennsylvania.”

Keefer said the group chose Erickson because of his track record in the field.

“We talked to a lot of attorneys,” she said. They wanted to bring a federal rather than state lawsuit because of the nature of Pennsylvania courts. The state Supreme Court is majority Democrat. And by waiting until 2024, the legislators have standing since their names will be on the ballot this year.

Keefer is running for state Senate.

“It is abundantly clear that Gov. Shapiro’s commonsense action to securely streamline voter registration and enhance election security is within the administration’s authority. Any suggestion that the administration lacks the authority to implement automatic voter registration is frivolous. This administration looks forward to once again defending our democracy in court against those advancing extreme, undemocratic legal theories,” said Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Shapiro.

“Gov. Shapiro remains focused on protecting our democracy and ensuring our elections are free, fair, safe, and secure.”

Amy Gulli, spokeswoman for the Department of State, said, “State law grants the Secretaries of the Commonwealth and Transportation broad authority to determine the form of Pennsylvania’s combined driver’s license and voter registration form. Contentions that the changes to the voter registration process through the Department of Transportation in September 2023 – which have resulted in a 44 percent increase in new voter registrations over the same time period two years ago – violate federal or state law are groundless. Those changes are, in fact, consistent with both the National Voter Registration Act and Pennsylvania law.

“With respect to the Department’s HAVA-Matching Directive issued in 2018, that too is fully consistent with applicable law and remains active,” she said.

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After his plane touched down at Valley Forge National Park, President Joe Biden figuratively wrapped himself in George Washington’s mantle during his first campaign speech in 2024 at Montgomery County Community College.

Biden drew contrasts with likely Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, saying if elected again, Trump would be a dictator. Biden pledged he would defend democracy.

“Is democracy still America’s sacred cause?” Biden asked, calling it “the most important question of our time.”

A day before the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, Biden blamed Trump for bringing “a mob” to Capitol Hill and for failing to stop the violence of what he labeled an “insurrection.”

“Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob storm the United States Capitol,” said Biden. “For the first time in our history, insurrectionists have come to stop the peaceful transfer of power in America…smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking police. Outside, the MAGA crowd chanted, ‘Hang Mike Pence.’ Inside, ‘Where’s Nancy?’”

He claimed police officers died “because Donald Trump’s lies brought a mob to Washington.”

“The whole world watched in disbelief [while] Trump did nothing. Members of his family, Republican leaders who were under attack at that very moment, pled with him, ‘Act,’” Biden said.

“It is among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history.”

Biden said his campaign was about democracy, which he claimed would be lost if Trump regained power. He portrayed Trump as a monster and compared his rhetoric to Hitler’s.

“In this election year, we must be clear: Democracy is on the ballot,” said Biden. “Your freedom is on the ballot…The freedom to vote and to have your vote counted. The freedom of choice. The freedom of a fair shot. Freedom from fear…The alternative to democracy is dictatorship.”

The speech echoed remarks he made during the height of the 2022 midterm elections when he said Trump’s MAGA supporters embraced “semi-fascism” and the dark, foreboding speech he gave days later in Philadelphia in which he accused Trump voters of practicing “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

After Biden’s latest speech accusing Trump backers of endangering democracy, Republicans pushed back. They noted it was Biden’s supporters in Colorado and Maine who took Trump’s name off the ballot, short-circuiting the democratic process. (Those rulings have been suspended pending review). And several other Democrat-run states are in the process of doing the same. And, they note, Democratic parties in at least two states — Florida and North Carolina– refuse to allow Biden challengers Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson to appear on the ballot in their primary.

And Biden stripped Iowa and New Hampshire of their places at the front of the primary calendar, allowing him to avoid high-profile early contests in two states he lost badly in 2020.

As a result, Republican critics say, it’s Biden who’s undermining democracy and fanning the flames of division.

Christian Nascimento, chair of the Montgomery County Republicans, said, “The president is using divisive events in our history to try and divide us further and take attention away from the fact that under his presidency, inflation is worse in the world is less safe.”

Delaware County GOP Chair Frank Agovino said, “Residents of Delaware County do not trust President Biden with very much. That is clear. The more he personally attacks former President Trump, the more people become uncertain of all the allegations surrounding him. Ultimately, the American people will decide Trump’s guilt or innocence and will care very little about President Biden’s speech on Jan. 6 or any other day.”

And Christine Flowers, a Philadelphia conservative pundit who writes for DVJournal, said, “To me, Joe Biden is the one who needs a few lessons in the history of democracy because his constant hysterical attacks on those who disagree with him are not conducive to that unity that he seems to treasure.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said on MSNBC, “Democracy and freedom are very much central to the question of who the next president should be. And clearly, it is on the ballot and has been for the last couple of cycles.”

“Pennsylvanians have a unique role with democracy and freedom, that is seeds being planted by William Penn that were insured and grown at that field in Valley Forge where Washington and his band of patriots made sure that that dream of freedom and democracy could continue on with (Benjamin) Franklin, and (civil rights activist) Cecil B. Moore and others who have stepped up at times when we’ve been tested…”

Charlotte Valyo, chair of the Chester County Democrats, called the speech “stirring and powerful.”

“Biden accurately described former president Trump and his ‘MAGA’ movement as anti-democratic when he refused to concede the 2020 election and led the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington D.C. Biden contrasted that event with the peaceful turnover of presidential powers that began with George Washington after his two terms and continued over two hundred years until Trump’s refusal to do so. Biden stressed the importance of defending the Constitution and the rule of law, comparing that with Trump’s refusal to end the attack and his promise to pardon insurrectionists who brutally attacked the Capitol.

“Finally, I am pleased that the country’s economy has recovered quickly from the disaster that Trump left, that Biden has built America back better, and that he is on the campaign trail talking clearly about the threats that a second Trump presidency would bring,” Valyo said.

Joe Foster, a Democratic state committeeman and former Montgomery County Democratic chairman, said, “The speech was precisely what the people needed to hear. That we are living in dangerous times (if) led by a dangerous man…I also believed it was well delivered, and I trust it will end the nonsense questioning his willingness and ability to continue to serve as president.”

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also weighed in.

“The soul of America has been crushed under the weight of Joe Biden’s failures. While families can’t pay their bills, children are dying from fentanyl overdoses, terror suspects are crossing the open southern border, and Americans are still being held hostage by Hamas, Biden wants to further divide Americans with polarizing rhetoric to distract from his catastrophic policies. Biden has done enough damage – no one can take four more years.”

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According to a Commonwealth Foundation poll released Tuesday, Pennsylvania voters don’t want Gov. Josh Shapiro to push the state into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Shapiro appealed a court ruling last month, finding previous Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2022 executive order putting Pennsylvania in the RGGI multi-state carbon credit program created an “invalid tax.” Shapiro appears dead set on appealing the ruling, with his spokesperson saying the administration “must appeal in order to protect that important authority for this administration and all future governors.”

The Commonwealth Foundation poll found that 71 percent of the 800 registered Pennsylvania voters surveyed opposed giving the governor power to “unilaterally impose new taxes” without the state legislature first approving it.

However, the survey also found that 72 percent hadn’t read, seen, or heard about RGGI. That wasn’t a shock to Commonwealth Foundation Media and Public Relations Director Christian Stellakis.

“RGGI lacks transparency, so it’s no surprise that many Pennsylvanians aren’t familiar with it,” Stellakis told DVJournal while mentioning that the RGGI program itself is hard to understand. “But voters overwhelmingly oppose a new energy tax leading to a 30 percent increase in their home utility bills—which is precisely what RGGI would create.”

EnergySage said Pennsylvania residents spend around $2,592 annually on electricity – 24 percent higher than the national average. That grows to $3,369 with the RGGI 30 percent increase factored in.

Commonwealth Foundation reported that 63 percent of those surveyed don’t want the state to be part of the carbon cap and invest program if new taxes on energy are imposed. A total of 60 percent said they were less likely to support RGGI if it meant Pennsylvania’s economy would suffer more than 22,000 job losses along with a $7.7 billion yearly economic loss.

“Voters don’t want an energy tax,” said Nate Benefield, senior vice president of the Commonwealth Foundation. “In fact, voters agreed with candidate Shapiro, who campaigned saying he was concerned about RGGI and the implications that it would have on the costs imposed by RGGI.”

Wolf made the RGGI pact a top priority for his administration. He ordered the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to assemble an RGGI package instead of going through the legislative process. He also vetoed a bill that would have required the legislature’s approval to enter RGGI.

Those efforts were stymied last year by the Commonwealth Court after an injunction. A bipartisan group of judges struck down RGGI last month. They argued that the only way for RGGI to “pass constitutional muster, the Commonwealth’s participation in RGGI may only be achieved through legislation duly enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.”

Pennsylvania ran into other headaches regarding RGGI. Business groups filed lawsuits over the planned regulations. A working panel put together by Shapiro’s administration did not endorse RGGI as a solution in September.

Republican Leader in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Rep. Bryan Cutler, wrote in DVJournal that the Commonwealth Court made the right move regarding the state’s entry into RGGI because it expanded executive authority too much. He added that Pennsylvanians also understand there is a process the state needs to go through before policy becomes law. “These efforts also led to the largest reassertion of legislative authority in recent history when we put before voters constitutional amendments that were ultimately approved limiting the governor’s unilateral authority during emergencies.”

Click here to read the full poll.

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Having heard witnesses say America’s largest power grid remains unreliable nearly a year after a close call with blackouts last Christmas, Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw called the testimony “a little scary.”

Glen Thomas, a former Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission chairman who consults on grid issues, testified during a joint hearing of Pennsylvania and Ohio legislators. “Reliability challenges are likely to get worse, not better,” he said.

Other witnesses were no more encouraging.

“We cannot operate a system with 100 percent renewables,” said Asim Haque, a senior vice president of the PJM Interconnection, which serves 65 million people in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Haque’s statement contradicts what many “green” energy proponents claim about wind and solar power—technologies that account for most new energy sources proposed for PJM because subsidies and regulations have made more reliable sources uneconomical.

Without grid reliability in Pennsylvania (the nation’s largest electricity exporter), there is none in PJM. And reliability has often taken a back seat to the politics of energy policy. That puts Pennsylvania policymakers at the heart of the matter.

Repeated—even urgent—warnings abound that the power grid is increasingly prone to failure. Some of these warnings come straight from grid overseers, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

In PJM and neighboring regions, severe cold “can lead to energy emergencies as operators face sharp increases in generator forced outages and electricity demand,” according to a recent NERC assessment. “Forecasted peak demand has risen while resources have changed little in these areas since Winter Storm Elliot (December 2022) caused energy emergencies across the area.”

The bottom line is Pennsylvanians are in dire danger of life-threatening winter blackouts. Let’s not forget the 2012 cold snap in Texas that killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in economic damages.

The reason is painfully clear: States and utilities are shutting down reliable power plants, especially coal-fired and nuclear facilities. They are replacing these reliable sources with unreliable sources, such as wind and solar generators, which do not work on cold, windless nights.

Since its present program clearly is not working, PJM has proposed significant changes to how it secures reliable power plants. Commendable as PJM’s effort is, it has been a long time coming.

Grid reliability wilted for years under conflicting state and federal policies that favored wind and solar at the expense of more reliable fossil fuel and nuclear plants. In addition, ever more stringent federal environmental policies have forced the closure of some of the world’s cleanest coal-fired plants, increasing dependence on other less reliable or more vulnerable sources during cold weather.

For more than a decade in Pennsylvania, subsidies for so-called alternative energy sources have worked against grid reliability. In 2019, then-Gov. Tom Wolf tried to impose a carbon tax on electricity generation by joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Wolf’s proposal not only discouraged the construction of new natural gas-fired plants but also hastened the July closure of the state’s largest coal-fired plant at Homer City. Meanwhile, developers canceled plans in 2023 for two gas-fired power plants after failing to get approvals from a state regulatory regime described by some industry sources as the nation’s most hostile.

Although a court ruling killed the carbon tax, Gov. Josh Shapiro has decided to appeal RGGI’s dismissal to the state Supreme Court. Separately, he has proposed increasing alternative energy subsidies. Both actions go in exactly the wrong direction.

Instead, here are some things for Pennsylvania policymakers to consider as a course correction:

• Focus first on cold winter nights with no wind or solar power. Obvious solutions are adequately winterized gas-supply systems and coal and nuclear plants with on-site fuel supplies that protect against the vulnerabilities of just-in-time pipeline deliveries.
• Stop claiming wind and solar can replace coal, gas, and nuclear. They can’t.
• Allow construction of pipelines to supply fuel to gas plants. More than two-thirds of voters support such infrastructure development, according to a poll by the Commonwealth Foundation.
• Resist federal regulations that undermine reliability and change state policy that does likewise.

Grid reliability can be complicated, but it should not be scary.

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Better late than never.

The state legislature on Wednesday passed the final “code” parts of the $44.4 billion 2023-2024 budget due June 30. Gov. Josh Shapiro signed it around 11 p.m.

Shapiro called his first budget “commonsense.”

The bills that make the spending work were delayed after Shapiro first signed the overall budget, and then used his line-item veto to block a $100 million plan to provide school choice vouchers to students in failing school districts—something he had promised to support while campaigning for governor.

The budget bills did include a $130 million increase in the private school tax credit program, bringing it to $470 million. That program allows businesses to help pay the tuition of needy students.

“I’m proud to stand here with leaders from both chambers and both parties to celebrate the investments we’re making together in repairs to school buildings, mental health resources for students, childcare, the first-ever statewide funding for indigent defense, and more. Today, we’re showing that when we come together, we can get stuff done for the good people of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.

Some highlights include $175 million for environmental repairs and upgrades in Pennsylvania schools, $100 million for student mental health, and $10 million for student-teacher stipends.

Other items are $7.5 million for public defenders, extending the 911 surcharge, and increasing the amount per line to $1.95. It includes budget deposits of $898 million into the Rainy Day Fund, bringing the balance to over $6.1 billion by the end of fiscal year 2024.

“Today, the General Assembly took the necessary final steps to conclude this year’s state budget and moved several bipartisan bills to help Pennsylvanians. We were able to increase the childcare tax credit and secure funding for community colleges while maintaining the fiscal solvency of the Commonwealth. We must all continue to work better together to ensure that Pennsylvanians have the certainty to chart a prosperous path forward,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland).

House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia/Delaware) thanked her colleagues and staff members.

The budget is “most importantly a pathway forward to all the things that we can achieve next year,” said McClinton. “It’s not lost on me, as the first woman to be speaker of the Pennsylvania House, that every single day and every single bill, I’m writing a legacy for all of the women to come.”

She pointed to additional public school funding in the wake of the 10-year funding case. Money for law enforcement and public defenders “means both public safety and changing the way justice is sought and served in our commonwealth.”

“Public schools constantly balance their obligation to provide a high-quality education to students with their responsibility to be financial stewards of local tax dollars,” said Pennsylvania School Boards Association CEO Nathan Mains. “The investments in education made in this year’s budget can reduce districts’ reliance on local property taxes and direct more resources into classrooms, rather than to costly charter school tuition and pensions.”

Americans for Prosperity-PA Deputy Director Emily Greene said, “Six months late, just before the House chamber’s two-and-a-half-month break, we’re encouraged to see that both chambers, alongside the governor, have come to an agreement on how the 2023-24 general appropriations will be spent.

“The budget included a $150 million increase in the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, which signals a step in the right direction toward much-needed school choice right here in the commonwealth,” Greene said. “However, it’s going to take swift and transformational action to bring Pennsylvania’s students the choice and freedom they so deserve, which is why we continue to urge the legislature to consider universal school choice measures when both chambers finally return to Harrisburg in mid-March.”

Matt Brouillette, CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, said, “House Democrats single-handedly blocked the state budget for five-and-a-half months over their refusal to rescue kids from failing and violent schools. They knew they were  wrong, which is why they flip-flopped and joined Republicans in supporting a historic expansion of tax credit scholarships. Now, with 2024-2025 budget season almost here, I hope Democrats will stop their partisan games at kids’ expense and join Republicans in supporting universal educational opportunity for all Pennsylvania students.”

Separately from the main budget bill, a $33 million bill for the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school failed to get the two-thirds vote it needed to pass the House.

House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) said he opposed releasing those funds because of “concerns about the way that institutional culture is.”

Even though Penn’s former president, Elizabeth Magill, resigned over her handling of antisemitism on campus and her testimony to Congress about it, “the fact that she has returned to tenured faculty actually speaks to the fact that it’s a culture problem. You can rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s still got issues, and they need to fix them.”

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