🥞  Happy Thursday!  

PA Weather
Meadville | Increasing Clouds, 89
Lewistown | Mostly Sunny, 90
Easton | Mostly Sunny, 90

PA Sports
Phillies (46-39) | Tampa Bay 8-4 | Th vs. Tampa Bay
Pirates (40-46) | LA Dodgers 4-6 | Th vs. LA Dodgers

What We’re Hearing
“Today’s vote ultimately will leave students and families, who want nothing more than the opportunity for a better education and a better future, out in the cold merely for political convenience.” – Rep. Bryan Cutler

What’s Happening Today
The PA House will convene at 11a.

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Top Story

1. PA House OKs $45.5B Spending Plan, As Shapiro Plans To Veto His Own School Voucher Proposal

“The Pennsylvania House approved a $45.5 billion state budget Wednesday night, following a five-day impasse over a controversial school voucher program that Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro helped create and now plans to kill.

House Democrats and about 15 Republicans approved the budget Wednesday night by a 117-86 vote, after Shapiro announced he’d veto the $100 million voucher line item that the Republican-led state Senate approved last week. Instead, Shapiro said, legislative leaders will work to add a school voucher program or add to existing tax credit programs in the future.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Related

PA’s $45.5 Budget Bill Gets House OK But Could Have Long Wait To Get To Governor. “The pain the governor hoped to spare Pennsylvanians from a budget impasse may not be avoided. The Senate is currently not scheduled to reconvene until late September and the budget bill requires Lt. Gov. Austin Davis to sign it in the presence of the chamber before it can go to the governor.” (PennLive)

Voucher Veto Promise Spurs Republicans To Question Trust In Governor. “Pennsylvania has its new budget and a barrel of bad blood to go with it. A late-night vote Wednesday saw the state House pass a $45.5 billion spending plan for fiscal 2024. It included the disputed $100 million for private school vouchers and with it, a pledge from Gov. Josh Shapiro to veto the allocation when he signs the budget into law.” (CNHI News)

• House Sends $45.5B Budget To Shapiro – Who Vows To Abandon Senate GOP Backed School Vouchers. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
• After Shapiro Reverses Position On School Vouchers, PA House Passes A Budget And Senate Cries Foul. (Spotlight PA)

PA Lawmakers, Advocates React To State Budget Passage. “In a statement following Wednesday’s vote, Gov. Josh Shapiro said he was proud of the final budget, calling it a “statement of our priorities.”” (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

State

2. Early 2024 Congressional Vulnerability Ratings

Nationally, the number of competitive U.S. House seats has been declining. But Pennsylvania still has a decent number of congressional seats that will be targeted by one party or the other during the 2024 election cycle.

For the eighth election cycle dating back to 2010, PoliticsPA will be publishing congressional vulnerability rankings for Pennsylvania’s delegation.

Here, in our first attempt to handicap the 2024 Pennsylvania congressional races, some of the most vulnerable seats will be familiar to regular readers. (PoliticsPA)

Related

Why Biden World Thinks The I-95 Bridge Repair Holds The Key To Reelection. “President Joe Biden’s infrastructure coordinator – Mitch Landrieu – was calling to talk about how the reopening of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, just 12 days after a deadly bridge collapse, provided evidence of “Bidenomics” success, a tangible improvement people can see and feel that will be a centerpiece of the president’s 2024 campaign.” (POLITICO)

Casey Is Breaking More Often With Biden As He Runs For Reelection. “Republicans regularly knock U.S. Sen. Bob Casey for supporting President Joe Biden almost all the time in Congress. But he’s cast a few more votes against the unpopular president as he gears up for what’s expected to be an expensive and competitive 2024 reelection campaign.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

McCormick’s PAC Receives $1M Donation From Yass. The political action committee started by Republican David McCormick  – Pennsylvania Rising – received a $1 million donation in June from Jeff Yass, known to be the richest person in the Commonwealth and a GOP mega donor. (PoliticsPA)

Conservatives Go To Red States And Liberals Go To Blue As The Country Grows More Polarized. “Americans are segregating by their politics at a rapid clip, helping fuel the greatest divide between the states in modern history.” (AP)

Around The Commonwealth

3. With Lawsuit Dismissed, PA Republicans File Appeal To Try And Overturn Mail-In Voting Law

“Unhappy with their latest legal setback in trying to have Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law thrown out, Republicans are now appealing to the state Supreme Court.

On June 27, a state Commonwealth Court judge denied the request of 14 current and former GOP legislators to invalidate Act 77, which 11 of them supported when it passed in 2019.” (PennLive)

Related

Judge Rejects Request For Forensic Audit Of 2020 Election In Lycoming County. “County Judge Eric R. Linhardt on Wednesday dismissed the complaint in which Richard Houser and Catherine Burns contended there was evidence of fraud, irregularities and violations of the Election Code.” (PennLive)

Republican Lawmakers Say They Couldn’t Walk In Canonsburg 4th Of July Parade, Organizers Respond. “The Canonsburg Fourth of July parade is now at the center of a political disagreement. Republican leaders claim they could not walk in the parade for political reasons.” (WPXI)

Why A Federal Judge Wants A Trial After Allegations Of Political Patronage In Bucks County. “A federal jury could now decide whether alleged political patronage played a role in the termination of an employee after an election win put a Republican in charge of the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds office.” (Bucks County Courier Times)

Editorial

4. What They’re Saying

• Politics In PA And Nation Reflect New Poll Findings: We’re Still Deeply Divided. (John Baer)
• Is Leaving PA The Way To Find Lower Taxes And Cost Of Living? (Tribune-Review)
• The Supreme Court’s ‘303 Creative’ Decision Benefits Progressives And Conservatives Alike. (Randall Wenger) 
• The Supreme Court’s Decision In ‘303 Creative’ Will Embolden Anti-LGBTQ Hate In PA. (Kevin M. Levy, Andrew M. Slom)
• These PA College Presidents Seem Far Wiser Than Some Justices On The Supreme Court. (Joyce M. Davis)
• PA ‘Penman’ Set Forth Great Principle Of American Revolution, But Also Manifested Its Paradox. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• How To Read Polls Without Terror. (Mona Charen)
• Shapiro Caves On School Funding, Trust Drops In Harrisburg. (Broad + Liberty)
• Philly Needs More ‘Moms For Liberty.’ (Dom Giordano)
• PA Makes Failure Budgetary Norm. (Times-Tribune)

1 Thing

5. Say Hello To Threads

“Instagram’s Threads app, a text-based social media platform poised to become Twitter’s latest competitor, is now available to users in more than 100 countries.

The app, which was released Wednesday evening, a day ahead of its scheduled debut, enables users to sign up straight from their Instagram accounts. That means that once it is launched worldwide, more than 2 billion monthly active users may import their accounts into Threads.

Within just seven hours of its launch, Threads had attracted at least 10 million sign ups.” (NBC News)

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