HARRISBURG – Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-24), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the Senate will carefully review Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget plan during the next several months to help reduce the risk of tax hikes and fiscal instability.
“I’m very concerned that Gov. Shapiro’s budget would spend down reserves and expose Pennsylvanians to the last thing they can afford, future tax hikes or drastic funding cuts to vital programs,” Pennycuick said. “This spending plan needs a lot of work.”
The $51.5 billion budget plan Shapiro presented to the legislature today would increase state spending by $3.6 billion, an increase of 7.5% over the current year’s budget.
The governor’s overly optimistic future revenue projections and unrealistic future expenditure assumptions could eliminate the state’s emergency savings (also known as the Rainy Day Fund) and create the need for a multi-billion-dollar tax increase on Pennsylvania families within a year and a half.
During the next five years, using realistic spending and revenue estimates, Shapiro’s spending plans would leave a $27.3 billion hole in the state’s finances.
The bulk of the new spending – about $2 billion – is proposed for human services programs. The budget also proposes to increase funding for Basic Education Funding by $75 million and the Ready-to-Learn Block Grant Program by $526 million.
The plan also includes level funding of $25 million for the Grow PA program championed by Senate Republicans in last year’s budget to help more young people attend college and complete job training programs to meet the needs of Pennsylvania’s workforce.
For the third consecutive year, Shapiro failed to include funding for Lifeline Scholarships or the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success program to give children in underperforming schools the opportunity to explore different educational options in an environment that better suits their needs.
The governor’s budget plan also did not include any new revenues or expenditures related to his new “Lightning” energy plan, leaving Pennsylvanians in the dark about how it would impact their household budgets, grid reliability or the state’s finances.
Shapiro’s budget address is only the first step in the process. In the weeks ahead, the Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a series of hearings to closely examine the spending plan to determine how it can be improved. The hearings will begin Feb. 18 and run through March 6.
“My Appropriations Committee colleagues and I will do our due diligence on behalf of taxpayers , and make sure everyday Pennsylvanians aren’t left footing the bill for short-sighted fiscal planning,” Pennycuick said.
CONTACT: Lidia Di Fiore (215) 541-2388