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What We’re Hearing
“The truth is there was a deal regardless of what Gov. Shapiro says publicly and he knows there was a deal.” – Sen. Kim Ward

What’s Happening Today
The PA House will convene at 10a.

Happy Birthday
Cake and candles for Reps. Rich Irvin and Martina White. Early wishes for Sen. Elder Vogel (Sun.)

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Top Story

1. Shapiro Calls On Legislature To Finalize Budget Plan

Gov. Josh Shapiro punched back at detractors and called on the Republican-controlled state Senate to return to Harrisburg and finalize a state spending plan.

Shapiro has been accused by GOP partisans of going back on his word on the agreed-upon $45.5 billion budget.

“I acknowledge the realities of a divided government,” he said at a press conference on Thursday. (PoliticsPA)

• What They’re Saying About The Budget Bill. (PoliticsPA)

Related

Shapiro Blames GOP For Budget Standoff As Top Senate Republican Strikes Back. “A day after Republicans accused Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of betraying their trust in negotiations toward an overdue state budget, Mr. Shapiro on Thursday pinned the blame for the still-unfinished process squarely on Senate Republicans.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Shapiro Calls On Divided Legislature To Finalize Budget Past Deadline. “He disputed Republican accusations that he went back on his word about the $45 billion spending plan. Rather, Shapiro said it was a failure of the Senate and Democratic-controlled House to reach a deal on the final budget, and he blamed Senate Republicans for sending the other chamber a bill that they knew might fail.” (AP)

Shapiro, Senate GOP Blame Each Other For Budget That Remains Only Half-Finished. “Gov. Josh Shapiro is blaming Senate Republicans for the dilemma in which Pennsylvania now finds itself with essentially a half-finished state budget that he intends to let the politically divided legislature figure out how to resolve.” (PennLive)

School Choice Veto May Not End PA Budget Impasse. “Thanks to the complexities of the legislative process, the state’s annual spending plan requires multiple enabling pieces of legislation — commonly referred to as “code bills” — to become effective.” (Broad + Liberty)

State

2. How The Clash Over School Vouchers Left The PA Budget In A Standstill

“Pennsylvania’s budget was approved late Wednesday, with no celebratory bill signing or brouhaha.

Instead, the state will likely stay in a budget standstill for the summer – and could eventually fail to pay its bills, depending on how long the stalemate lasts.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Related

PA House Again Rejected $650M For In-State Tuition Discounts At Pitt, Penn State and Temple. “For a second time this year, House Republicans blocked on Thursday the state from sending hundreds of millions of dollars to the state’s four state-related universities, in hopes that they can acquire greater oversight of each school’s tuition increases, public records, and more.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• State-Related University Funding Bill Fails Yet Again As PA Budget Discord Continues. (PennLive)
• Funding Totaling $642 Million For PSU, Pitt, Temple, Lincoln Fails To Clear State House. (CNHI News)

Republicans Are Mad and Democrats Are Confused After Gov. Shapiro’s School-Voucher Budget Gambit. “Reporting Harrisburg budget news from Pittsburgh is like trying to describe the behavior of an angry and distant star: By the time you’re able to describe the light that reaches your eye, conditions may well have changed.” (WESA)

• Republicans Denounce Shapiro’s ‘Broken Promise’ On Scholarship Program. (DV Journal)
• Lancaster Republicans Blast Shapiro For Reversal On Private School Vouchers In Budget Bill. (LNP)

Josh Shapiro’s School-Voucher About-Face Echoes Back To His 2022 Campaign For Governor. “Clout hears echoes of last year’s election for governor in this week’s Pennsylvania state budget bickering, which concluded Wednesday with Democratic sighs of relief and Republican cries of betrayal.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Potential GOP Senate Candidates In PA Would All Threaten Reproductive Rights. “A year after Republicans in Pennsylvania lost a seat they had held in the U.S. Senate, in large part due to their nominee’s anti-abortion rights stance, they seem poised to run a candidate with similar views in 2024.” (The American Independent)

Around The Commonwealth

3. How PA Voted For US Senators

As the Keystone State prepares for the 2024 U.S. Senate race between three-term Democrat Bob Casey Jr. and a yet-to-be-determined Republican challenger, PoliticsPA took a look at the last three Senate elections in the Commonwealth. (PoliticsPA)

Related

Ups and Downs. The state budget. The Senate has approved it. The House has approved it. The Senate is mad at Gov. Josh Shapiro and has no plans to return to session to sign the bill. The fun continues at the state capitol. Here are our Ups and Downs. (PoliticsPA)

Mayor Ed Gainey Is Tightening His Grip On How Pittsburghers Hear From City Government. “Mayor Ed Gainey’s office took control of Pittsburgh’s 311 call center. The same with the city’s public access cable TV channel. It has added new public relations positions to the mayor’s office and moved existing ones there from other departments. ” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

A Case For Ranked Choice Voting In PA. “Ranked choice voting, or RCV, is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference on their ballots. The system kicks in if no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes. ” (The Center Square)

Cognetti, Cabinet Members Strike Positive Tone In State Of Scranton Remarks. “It was largely a story of numbers, as the mayor and her department heads pointed to the practical impact of what they described as a more efficient, fiscally sound and cohesive city government.” (Times-Tribune)

Easton’s City Administrator In Critical Condition After He Collapsed While Jogging. “Luis Campos collapsed while he was running Wednesday evening in his neighborhood in College Hill, according to Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. The mayor said Campos is “stabilized and breathing on his own.” (LehighValleyLive)

Editorial

4. What They’re Saying

• Josh Shapiro’s School-Choice Sellout. (Wall Street Journal)
• Josh Shapiro’s Shameful Betrayal On School Choice. (National Review)
• A Tear In Superman’s Cape. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• For Shapiro, Lawmakers A Budget Season Full Of Surprises. (Fletcher McClellan)
• State Passes On Fairly Funded Districts. (Times-Tribune)
• Property Taxes Funding Cyber Excess. (Susan Spicka)
• Philly Democrats Are Not The Party I Signed On To In 1973, So I’m Leaving. (Larry Miller)
• 303 Creative: A Fake Case With Real Consequences. (Laura K. Chapin)
• Legacy Admissions Don’t Work The Way You Think They Do. (Shamus Khan)
• 7 Ways To End Gun Violence. (Philadelphia Citizen)

1 Thing

5. You Scream For Ice Cream

“You could say they’re legen-dairy.

Three ice cream joints in Pennsylvania have recently been ranked by Yelp among the country’s top 100.

Yelp released its “Top 100 US Ice Cream Shops 2023″ list just in time for things to heat up temperature-wise (and also to observe National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, July 26).”

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