Welcome to Wednesday

The PoliticsPA Playbook is compiled by Steve Ulrich. To read in your browser, click here. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe for free.

Your Morning Pick-Me-Up. If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free, Sting

PA Weather
Girard | Partly Sunny, 44
Glen Rock | Decreasing Clouds, 59
Green Lane | Mostly Cloudy, 56

PA Sports
Flyers (27-31-8) | Ottawa 2-5 | Thu vs. Tampa Bay
Penguins (26-31-10) | Vegas 3-2 (OT) | Thu vs. St. Louis
Sixers (22-42) | Wed vs. Toronto

What We’re Seeing. “Protect Our Care is launching new ads featuring a lifelong Republican voter and Trump and MAGA supporter who is a certified nurse practitioner who is against any cuts to Medicaid. The new $2 million ad buy targets 10 House Republicans, including Reps. Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) and Rob Bresnahan (PA-08), and will run on television, radio, and digital platforms.”

Happy Birthday. Cake and candles for Sen. Wayne Fontana.

Social Media. Join us on Twitter and Bluesky at @PoliticsPA

Top Story

1. Education Department Lays Off Nearly Half of Staff

“The Education Department laid off “nearly 50 percent” of its more than 4,100 employees Tuesday evening, according to four sources inside the agency who were told about the plans and an agency news release.

Congressional Democrats quickly condemned the massive personnel cuts – the largest in the department’s history – while Republicans and conservative groups said they were long overdue. The union representing department staffers pledged to fight the reductions.

It’s not yet clear what specific departments or positions were affected.” (Inside Higher Ed)

Elsewhere

Three Things That Usually Happen in Midterms. “The 2026 midterm is still more than a year and a half away. Yet there are a few things we can already predict about it with at least a reasonable amount of confidence.” (Sabato’s Crystal Ball)

Sen. Dave McCormick Introduces First Bill to Fight Fentanyl Trafficking. “The bill, cosponsored by Democratic Sens. John Fetterman and Chris Coons, would designate a centralized group made up of representatives from a dozen government agencies to jointly “disrupt trafficking networks, enforce sanctions,” and address China’s role in the opioid crisis.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Congressional Panel Debates the Future of School Choice Programs, Vouchers. “As school choice continues to take heat across the country, the debate surrounding these programs came to the forefront Tuesday at a hearing in a U.S. House education panel.” (Penn Capital-Star)

• Lawmaker Proposes a Moratorium On New Cyber Charter Schools. (The Keystone)

Four With Pennsylvania Ties Nominated For Federal Positions. “The White House sent nominations to the U.S. Senate to fill open positions on Tuesday, including four nominees with ties to the Keystone State.” (PoliticsPA)

Perry Co-Sponsors Bill to Abolish the Federal Reserve. “A bill in the U.S. House to repeal the 112-year-old Federal Reserve Act and abolish the nation’s central bank has attracted several co-sponsors, including York County Republican Rep. Scott Perry.” (PennLive)

State

2. PA’s Fiscal Office In Crosshairs Amid Debate Over Accuracy of Shapiro’s Budget Numbers

“Are Josh Shapiro’s revenue projections full of a certain substance that starts with the letter “s” and which the governor often references in his favorite slogan, the G-rated version of which is “get stuff done”?

As suggested by the last several weeks of state budget hearings, the answer to this most likely depends on your party affiliation.” (PennLive)

Elsewhere

Shapiro Calls For PA Lawmakers to Act On His Energy Proposals. “In a massive manufacturing facility in York County on Tuesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Democratic lawmakers would soon file bills seeking to launch his six-part energy plan intended to address rising prices, increasing demand and diminished supply.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Shapiro’s Office Deleted Emails Relevant to Sexual Misconduct Complaint. “The Shapiro administration’s handling of a sexual misconduct complaint against a cabinet member, and one reporter’s request to know more about the investigation behind it, may cost taxpayers a lot of money.” (The Center Square)

U.S. Agency Has Stopped Supporting States on Election Security, Official Confirms. “The federal government has halted election security activities and ended funding for the system that alerts state officials of election security threats across state lines, a representative of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told state election officials last week.” (PoliticsPA)

Around The Commonwealth

3. Extra Funding For 100s of PA Districts In Question. See If Yours Could Be Affected

“Top Republican lawmakers who can make or break a budget deal appear skeptical about sending roughly half a million dollars to some Pennsylvania school districts this year as part of an effort to close the “adequacy gap.”

“Fairness is in the eye of the beholder,” Sen. Joe Pittman said during a February budget hearing with the state Department of Education. “And frankly, I think the more we review this adequacy funding formula and the way it treats all the school districts, that there is inherent unfairness within this formula.”” (Spotlight PA)

Elsewhere

Cognetti Faces Crowded Field In Bid For Reelection As Scranton Mayor. “Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti faces multiple potential challengers in her bid for re-election this year, but only one of them is from her own party. In a surprise twist, former Scranton Councilman Gene Barrett switched to independent Tuesday, leaving Democrat Cognetti with only one primary election opponent.” (WVIA)

Kelly Hasn’t Held An In-Person Town Hall in Erie in Years. Citizens Seek Answers. “When it comes to U.S. House Republicans opting out of in-person town halls, as they’ve been urged to do recently by GOP leaders, Rep. Mike Kelly has been ahead of the curve.” (Erie Times-News)

Josh Parsons Absent From Forum With PA Senate Special Election Candidates James Andrew Malone, Zachary Moore. “Parsons, a Lancaster County commissioner, did not respond to repeated invitations from the League of Women Voters of Lancaster County, organizers said. An empty chair with a name tag for Parsons sat next to Malone and Moore for the entirety of the forum.” (LNP)

Parker Is Asking Philly’s ‘Eds and Meds’ to Help Fill Holes In the City Budget, Sources Say. “Mayor Cherelle L. Parker last month convened representatives from Philadelphia’s major educational and medical institutions with a simple message: The city needs your help.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Editorial

4. Speak Your Mind

• How Do You Like The Trade War Now? (Wall Street Journal)
• Why Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Work. (Ezra Klein)
• Health Insurers Deny Too Many Claims. The State Should Step In. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Nippon Steel Should Be Allowed to Buy U.S. Steel. (James K. Glassman)
• Pennsylvania Democrats Don’t Need National Direction. Look Local. (Bucks County Beacon)
• With Disinformation On the Rise, Open Government Laws Are a Vital Way to Preserve the Public’s Access to the Truth. (Michael Berry)
• It’s Time For White Male Leaders to Open Their Eyes—And Open Doors. (Yolanda Edrington and George Fernandez)
• We Don’t Need to Break the Bank to Fix Our Education Crisis. (Beth Ann Rosica)

1 Thing

5. At Southwest Airlines, Checked Bags Will No Longer Fly For Free

“Southwest Airlines will begin charging customers a fee to check bags, abandoning a decades-long practice that executives had described last fall as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals.

Southwest, which built years of advertising campaigns around its policy of letting passengers check up to two bags for free, said Tuesday that people who haven’t either reached the upper tiers of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program, bought a business class ticket or hold the airline’s credit card will have to pay for checked bags.” (AP)

Thank you for starting your morning with us.
And reading the PoliticsPA Playbook