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In this update:

• Governor Shapiro Blows up Bipartisan Budget Compromise
• Should Able-Bodied People on Government Assistance be Required to Work?
• Bills to Expand College, Job Training Opportunities Passes Senate
• Increasing Funding to Fix our Roads and Bridges
• Welcoming German and American State Legislators to our Region and the Capitol
• Preventing PA Taxpayer Dollars from Supporting Russian War Criminals

Governor Shapiro Blows up Bipartisan Budget Compromise

Only a few days after the Senate passed our bipartisan state budget, Gov. Josh Shapiro went back on one of his priority campaign commitments to support a key school choice initiative. He now says he will veto that provision—the same provision he had supported on national television last week.

Every child in Pennsylvania deserves the opportunity for a quality education, which is why the budget plan passed by the Senate last week expanded educational programs and fully funded the governor’s requested amount for basic education for school districts at historic levels.

All of this leaves us without a state budget one week after our June 30 deadline. Stay tuned, this will NOT be easily resolved.

Should Able-Bodied People on Government Assistance be Required to Work?

Here’s a key issue, now under debate at the state capitol in Harrisburg AND the national capitol in Washington: Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is currently at its lowest point on record. Now is the time to get more able-bodied people off government assistance and into the workforce!!

There is a massive demand for employees in Schuylkill, Carbon, and Luzerne Counites and across Pennsylvania. Yet we are still spending millions in taxpayer dollars a year on benefits for people who could be participating in the workforce.

We’re NOT talking about making grandma go to work in the coal mines—we’re focused on able-bodied people of traditional working ages. By pushing for this reform, the recipients and their families will make MORE money, while ensuring taxpayer dollars go to those who truly need it.

Bills to Expand College, Job Training Opportunities Passes Senate

Each year, billions in available student financial aid goes unclaimed. The Senate approved a bill to help more state residents make informed decisions about pursuing college and job training programs.

Senate Bill 750 would require high school seniors to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which determines eligibility for federal, state and school financial aid programs. Families who choose not to complete the application could opt out on a form provided to parents or guardians.

This important measure will help to train more young Pennsylvanians for family-sustaining careers that will help them get their start right here.  When they put their roots down here, our state will benefit economically and attract more employers drawn by the skilled workforce.

Increasing Funding to Fix our Roads and Bridges

PennDOT MUST do more to fix our roads and bridges.

At the request of so many of my constituents unhappy with the state of our roads and bridges, I joined a strong bipartisan majority of 41-9 in the Senate, approving more dollars to fund those much-needed repairs.

We approved Senate Bill 656, to require electric vehicle owners to pay their fair share for road and bridge repairs across PA, by establishing for the first time a flat fee paid by all electric vehicle owners when they register their vehicle.

These fees will provide $15-20 million (which is expected to grow) each year for much-needed improvements across PA.

Welcoming German and American State Legislators to our Region and the Capitol

I welcomed some very special guests to Pennsylvania recently – a delegation of 14 German and American state legislators, from six different political parties, from Berlin to Oklahoma and New Mexico. We’ve been participating in a program to learn new strategies from each other to breathe new life into older communities.

In Harrisburg, we spent the day in the Capitol, meeting with Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton, and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford. We also held a roundtable discussion with Don Cunningham of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation and met with the Department of Community and Economic Development.

The next day, we travelled to Philadelphia to tour Independence Hall and meet with Comcast about expanding broadband access.

For their final day here, we travelled to Schuylkill and Carbon Counties. We toured the 1874 Tamaqua Railroad Station, a polluted creek, Panther Creek Power Plant, and active open pit mine of Lehigh Anthracite, the No.9 Coal Mine & Museum, which now hosts thousands of visitors each year and visited Jim Thorpe to discuss their ongoing revitalization efforts.

Preventing PA Taxpayer Dollars from Supporting Russian War Criminals

My bill to prevent Pennsylvania taxpayer dollars from being used by companies who do business with Russian war criminals was approved by the Senate State Government Committee.

I represent some of the most concentrated communities of Ukrainian Americans in the United States. They’ve been telling me since the Russians first began their unprovoked and devastating invasion that they do not want our state government supporting these war criminals.

According to the 2020 census, Cass Township has the highest percentage of people with Ukrainian ancestry in the United States. Carbon County is also home to the Ukrainian Homestead of ODWU, Inc., an organization dedicated to the celebration of Ukrainian heritage and culture.

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