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  • Trump accuses Democratic vets in Congress of sedition ‘punishable by death,’ including two lawmakers from Pa.

    Trump accuses Democratic vets in Congress of sedition ‘punishable by death,’ including two lawmakers from Pa.

    U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan was in her Washington office when she saw attacks directed at her and other military veteran members of Congress from President Donald Trump, days after they urged members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”

    Trump called the Democrats “traitors” in a Thursday post on Truth Social and, in a second post, accused them of sedition that he said is “punishable by DEATH.”

    Houlahan, a Chester County Democrat and an Air Force veteran, was one of six Democratic members of Congress who released a video Tuesday contending that Trump’s administration is “pitting” service members and intelligence professionals against American citizens and urging them not to “give up the ship.”

    All six lawmakers are either veterans or members of the intelligence community.

    “The idea that the most powerful man on the planet, who wields the power of the United States military and should be emblematic of all the things we value in this republic, would call for the death and murder of six duly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Senate — I’m speechless and I’m devastated,” Houlahan told The Inquirer on Thursday afternoon.

    Houlahan said she had anticipated there might be a response from the president after Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, spent much of Wednesday railing against the lawmakers in the video. But Trump’s comments went beyond anything Houlahan imagined even from a president known for extreme and sometimes violent rhetoric.

    “I’ve been struggling with the right words for this,” she said. “‘I weep for our nation’ would be an understatement.”

    U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Navy veteran who was also featured in the video, called Thursday “a dark day in America” in an interview with The Inquirer.

    “It tells me who he is and it tells me exactly why we should be talking about the rule of law and the Constitution,” said Deluzio, an Allegheny County Democrat.

    In the video that set Trump off, the lawmakers, finishing one another’s sentences, reminded service members of their oath to the Constitution and instructed them to refuse to follow any order that would violate it.

    “Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad,” Deluzio says in the video.

    “But from right here at home,” adds U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D., Colo.) a former paratrooper and Army Ranger.

    The video was shared by U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.), a former CIA officer, and also included U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), a former Navy captain, and U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D., N.H.) a former intelligence officer.

    Houlahan said she considered the video “innocuous.”

    “It literally talked about the fact that you should follow only lawful orders, an obvious reminder that those of us who served have grown up on,” she said.

    On Thursday morning, Trump shared a Washington Examiner article about the video with the headline “Dem veterans in Congress urge service members to refuse unspecified unlawful orders,” saying their message “is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.”

    “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” the president wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.

    About an hour later, Trump added in his second post: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

    Sedition and treason cases in modern U.S. history are very rare.

    Democratic condemnations of Trump’s comments poured in from across the country Thursday. Republicans were more muted. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) defended Trump’s claim that the Democrats had engaged in “sedition,” describing the video as “wildly inappropriate.”

    “It is very dangerous. You have leading members of Congress telling troops to disobey orders,” he told CNN.

    Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican and U.S. Army veteran, who has called out political violence in the past, both after Charlie Kirk’s killing and an arson at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, defended the president’s verbal attacks on the lawmakers. “Not a single unlawful order is cited in this video — because there aren’t any,” he said in a statement.

    “The video is inappropriate and unwarranted, and I didn’t hear any of these calls to defy orders when Democrats were using lawfare against President Trump,” he added, “Giving outlandish pardons, or intimidating tech companies to stop free speech.”

    About an hour later McCormick’s spokesperson sent a second comment from him, adding: “President Trump can speak for himself, but as I’ve said repeatedly, there is no place in either party for violent rhetoric and everyone needs to dial it down a notch.”

    One of the few Republicans to offer any criticism of the president was U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, who said in a statement that in the FBI he saw “how inflamed rhetoric can stoke tensions and lead to unintended violence.”

    Fitzpatrick, a moderate from Bucks County who has butted heads with Trump in the past, did not name him in the statement but said the “exchange” was “part of a deeper issue of corrosive divisiveness that helps no one and puts our entire nation at risk. Such unnecessary incidents and incendiary rhetoric heighten volatility, erode public trust, and have no place in a constitutional republic, least of all in our great nation.”

    Houlahan and Deluzio respond

    Houlahan served three years on active duty as an Air Force engineer and an additional 13 years as a reserve, and reached the rank of captain. She has been outspoken against the Trump administration on military issues, particularly surrounding women serving in combat roles.

    The lawmakers did not refer to any specific orders from the president in their video, but they had numerous concerns in mind.

    Houlahan said it was sparked, in part, by military troops being deployed to U.S. cities and lethal strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.

    Trump has suggested that American cities should be “training grounds” for the military, and targeted Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, and Portland for National Guard deployments. His administration’s boat strikes, which have led to protests in Philadelphia, have come under scrutiny by experts who say they are illegal, per the New York Times, which found Trump’s claims justifying the attacks to be questionable.

    “What we were speaking to is the future, those who are currently serving, and making sure they remember who they serve and what they serve,” Houlahan said.

    She said the lawmakers felt “a responsibility to … make sure people understood there are people in Congress who have your back.”

    Deluzio pointed to reporting about concerns from military personnel who were deployed to U.S. cities. PBS reported this week that people in uniform have been seeking outside legal advice about some of the missions the Trump administration has assigned them.

    “This is a guy who’s been documented in a meeting with the secretary of defense talking about shooting unarmed civilians in the legs,” Deluzio said, citing an account from former Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

    Deluzio said he learned about the oath the first day of boot camp and trained sailors on it when he gained rank.

    “This is something that is fundamental to how our military works and the respect we show our service members,” he said.

    Deluzio served six years in the Navy including three deployments. He cofounded the Democratic Veterans Caucus in June, which was formed in opposition to the Trump administration.

    He said he has heard from people on both sides of the aisle and encouraged Republican colleagues to speak out publicly against the president’s remarks.

    “Republican officials should be stepping up loudly and clearly and saying the calling of death by hanging to members of Congress is out of bounds,” he said.

    James Markley, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, declined to comment on Trump’s remarks and said in a text that “the woke left continues to attempt to rip apart the fibers of our communities and our country.”

    “Our party will continue focusing on making our country safer, prosperous and more affordable,” he added.

    A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, an Army veteran who is running for governor next year with the state GOP’s endorsement, did not respond to a request for comment.

    Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has made a name for himself working across the aisle, said in a post on X that threatening members of Congress is “deeply wrong” without exception, regardless of political party.

    “I strongly reject this dangerous rhetoric,” he said.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro also quickly denounced Trump for calling for violence against Houlahan and Deluzio, describing them in a post on X as “two outstanding members of Congress from Pennsylvania who have fought for our country.”

    “There should be no place for this violent rhetoric from our political leaders, and it shouldn’t be hard to say that,” said Shapiro, who has consistently spoken out against the threat of political violence since a politically motivated arsonist firebombed the governor’s mansion while he and his family slept inside in April.

    Trump’s attack on Houlahan and other Democratic veterans marks the second time in two months Democratic lawmakers who served in the armed forces have been the subject of attacks from across the aisle.

    U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Trump ally who represents parts of central Pennsylvania, told a conservative radio station in October that Democrats in Congress “hate the military,” based on their voting records.

    Deluzio and Houlahan, both members of the House Armed Services Committee, also banded together then to push back on Perry’s comments, calling them “garbage.”

  • A new Pa. tax credit could put up to $805 in your pocket. Here’s what to know.

    A new Pa. tax credit could put up to $805 in your pocket. Here’s what to know.

    Nearly 1 million Pennsylvanians are expected to qualify for a new state tax credit that is meant to ease the burden of making ends meet.

    The new Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit will allow eligible low- and moderate-income filers to receive a state tax credit that is equal to 10% of what they qualify for through the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Like the EITC, the state credit will depend on income and number of children. The highest credit will be $805 and, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office, the average credit will be around $240.

    In Philadelphia alone, 175,393 people are estimated to benefit from the new state tax credit totaling $41.7 million, according to Shapiro’s office. Statewide, it is expected to provide a total of $193 million in tax relief to 940,000 Pennsylvanians.

    The policy had bipartisan support since 2023, and was led by State Rep. Christina Sappey, a Chester County Democrat. Sappey and a team of Democrats sponsored a bill that passed the Democratic-led House in May that would have allowed a 30% credit, but that figure was lowered to 10% as a result of budget negotiations with the Republican-led Senate and Shapiro.

    It’s one of the measures being hailed as a major win for Democrats in the $50.1 billion state budget deal, which was approved last week after a more than four-month impasse.

    Sappey said that she was approached by the United Way of Pennsylvania “several years ago” about the idea.

    “I think of all of the folks who are really just struggling right now to make ends meet — but they’re working,” Sappey told The Inquirer.

    “They get thrown a curveball, like an unexpected healthcare expense, get in a car accident, need a giant car repair, something like that,” she added. “They really get kind of knocked off the rails, and then they kind of spiral.”

    At a news conference on Tuesday, Shapiro listed examples of Pennsylvanians who will qualify for the tax credit.

    “That single mom who’s raising three kids whose making about $25,000 a year as a waitress, she can get $770 back on her state taxes on top of whatever relief she was going to get from the federal government,” Shapiro said.

    “This isn’t some giveaway … we’ve come together on a bipartisan basis to say, ‘If you’re working, if you’re doing everything right by the book, we’re going to put money back in your pockets,’” he added.

    Who is the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit for?

    The tax credit is designed for working Pennsylvanians with a total income up to $61,555 if filing alone, and up to $68,675 if filing jointly as a married couple, according to the IRS guidelines for the EITC.

    Eligibility for the state credit is based on the federal EITC, which is meant for low- to moderate-income workers. Workers with kids can qualify for a bigger credit that increases with the number of children up to three or more kids.

    Individuals must be employed and earn income to qualify.

    Households that can benefit from this program may earn too much to qualify for public assistance while not earning enough to be able to handle an unplanned financial emergency, according to the United Way. About 28% of Pennsylvanians fall into this group, according to testimony from the United Way of Pennsylvania president Kristen Rotz.

    How does the tax credit work, and how much is it for?

    Pennsylvania’s state credit will be 10% of the EITC amount a filer qualifies for. Filers will automatically qualify for the state credit.

    “This is probably one of the more easy tasks you’re going to have to deal with as you’re helping people fill out their taxes,” Shapiro told a group of Widener University students Tuesday.

    The program will begin for tax year 2025, so Pennsylvanians can use it this forthcoming tax season. The credit is refundable, so taxpayers will get money back if the credit exceeds how much they owe.

    The credit amount initially increases based on how much money the earner makes and then decreases after it reaches a certain amount, resembling a bell curve, said Montgomery County accountant David Caplan. That “tipping point” differs depending on the tax filer’s status and number of dependents, he said.

    The maximum state credit for filers with no kids is $65, and about 261,739 Pennsylvanians are expected to fall in that tier, according to the Office of state House Speaker Joanna McClinton, a Philadelphia Democrat.

    That maximum raises to $432 for households with one child, $715 for two children, and $805 for households with three or more kids. About 133,641 Pennsylvanians are expected to fall in that maximum credit tier, according to McClinton’s office.

    There were 802,000 claims for the federal EITC in Pennsylvania for the 2023 tax year, totaling $2.086 billion, according to the IRS. The average federal credit amount was $2,600. Under the new state credit, that would amount to $260.

    “While it’s not much, it’s certainly a help, and that’s something that’s tangible,” said State Rep. Tarik Khan, a Democrat who cosponsored the state tax credit bill and represents parts of Philadelphia.

    Do other states have a credit like this?

    According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 31 states, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and some municipalities have their own version of the EITC.

    Most of those states calculate their credit as a percentage of the federal program, ranging from 4% in Wisconsin to 125% in South Carolina, according to the group.

    Neighboring New Jersey offers a 40% credit and Delaware has 4.5% refundable and 20% nonrefundable credits.

    State Rep. Steve Samuelson, a Northampton County Democrat who chairs the House Finance Committee and cosponsored the tax credit bill, called the credit a “commonsense” measure. He pointed out how existing states have varying political leanings, from the redder Oklahoma, Indiana, and Kansas to bluer states like New York, Hawaii, and California.

    “Better now than never,” Samuelson said.

    Is a 10% tax credit the right amount?

    Sappey and other Democrats see the 10% credit as a starting point. They hope to increase the size of the credit in future years.

    “If this is a program that both sides can agree to, getting a program established is more important than, you know, how big it is at the beginning,” she said in an interview.

    Caplan, who chairs the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Local Tax Thought Leadership Committee, said he believes the 10% tax credit could be higher, but maybe not as high as the 30% initially approved by the House.

    “I don’t think the 10% is outrageously low that it’s kind of chintzy,” he said. “I think it’s just a nice thing to do.”

    Sen. Lynda Schlegel Culver, a Republican from Northumberland County who said she championed the policy, lauded the program for helping taxpayers who work.

    “This credit rewards work, strengthens household stability, and helps those doing everything right, working, paying their bills, and supporting their families,” she said in a statement. “This is a commonsense investment in both our workforce and the future of our Commonwealth.”

    Concerns from other Republicans about the program were related to the cost and its size.

    Sappey said “that’s legitimate” but contends that the program helps people “increase their earning power” and that the hope is, in turn, for them to no longer be eligible for the credit. And when they get it, she argues, “they are spending it in really good ways.”

    “We’re keeping people in the workforce, we’re generating revenue, and we’re keeping them out of social safety net programs,” she said.

    Rotz, of the United Way, said in her testimony that EITC recipients often spend their credit on grocery stores, vehicle and home repairs, paying off debt, and sometimes education.

    Khan lauded House Democratic leaders for holding onto the tax credit in negotiations — and compared their long-delayed negotiations to the Eagles’ season, which has seen the team rack up wins despite offensive struggles.

    “You love them, and then you watch the game, and you’re like, ‘Goddamn it. Why can’t you just play like a normal team?’ But then they win in the end, and you’re like, ‘You know what? That was a tough game, but damn it, I’m so happy right now,’ and so that’s how I feel with this.”

  • Delco GOP reports vandalism to Media police in second incident in 13 months

    Delco GOP reports vandalism to Media police in second incident in 13 months

    Staff members arrived at the Delaware County Republican Party headquarters in Media on Wednesday morning to find the building’s glass door shattered.

    The apparent vandalism appeared to have occurred overnight, said Frank Agovino, the party chair. The Media Police Department, he said, is investigating.

    The incident comes a year after the local party had to call police to the same office when protesters cornered two volunteers ahead of the presidential election.

    “It’s just a sign of the times, unfortunately,” Agovino said. “There’s some people who just refuse to be civil about political disagreements.”

    It was unclear who damaged the office or their motive. However, according to photos shared to Facebook by the Delaware County GOP, a sign identifying the office as a Republican office was posted on the door above the broken glass.

    The Media Police Department did not immediately comment on the incident.

    Political violence has become increasingly common across the United States in recent years, including the September killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

    Agovino called for state and federal officials to consider stricter penalties for the perpetrators of such violence.

    “People that are working in the political arena need to be protected,” he said.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Every Pa. lawmaker votes to release Jeffrey Epstein records as Congress passes bill after Trump’s reversal

    Every Pa. lawmaker votes to release Jeffrey Epstein records as Congress passes bill after Trump’s reversal

    WASHINGTON — Congress passed legislation Tuesday to require President Donald Trump’s administration to release troves of records related to notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein after months of pressure from Democrats and survivors on the issue.

    The U.S. House voted 427-1 to pass the bill on Tuesday, prompting lawmakers in the chamber to cheer. The legislation was then rapidly passed by the U.S. Senate through unanimous consent, a process that skips debate when no senator objects to a bill.

    Despite the overwhelming bipartisan consensus, Tuesday’s House vote followed months of pushing by Democrats to bring it the floor as Trump unsuccessfully lobbied to prevent it from receiving a debate.

    The president abruptly changed his stance on the bill this week after it became clear it had enough Republican support to pass against his objections. The veto-proof bill now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.

    U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a freshman Republican who represents Northeastern Pennsylvania, told The Inquirer after the vote that his office “had a lot of phone calls” about the bill.

    “We listened to our constituents… and I want to thank the people at home for bringing this to our attention,” he said outside the House chamber.

    U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican, was the sole no vote. Five House members did not vote.

    Trump said this week he would sign the bill into law, but he doesn’t actually need congressional approval to order the release of the files and could have already done so — a fact noted by U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans in the lead-up to the vote.

    “Let’s be clear — Donald Trump doesn’t have to wait until Congress votes on this resolution,” Evans, a retiring Philadelphia Democrat, said in a Monday post on X. “If he wanted to, he could tell the Justice Department to release the Epstein files TODAY.”

    The bill, called the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requires the Department of Justice to publish all unclassified files related to the prosecution and investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, a well-connected financier and convicted sex offender who was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 and determined to have died by suicide after being federally charged with sex trafficking underage girls. After his death, his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sexually exploiting and abusing girls with him over the course of a decade.

    The bill was led by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who grew up in Bucks County, and U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who frequently breaks with party leadership. U.S. Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon and Chris Deluzio, both Pennsylvania Democrats, were cosponsors.

    Trump suggested on the campaign trail that he would release files related to the Epstein investigation, but after his administration faced uproar over their lackluster release of information surrounding the investigation, he began discrediting the cause.

    Trump is mentioned numerous times in files that have already been released, including in an email in which Epstein claims Trump “spent hours at my house” with a young woman who later said she was a victim of Epstein, the New York Times reported last week. The president was neighbors with Epstein in Florida and was photographed with him at numerous social occasions in the 1990s and 2000s. He has called the efforts for more transparency a Democratic “hoax” that had fooled “stupid” Republicans who would be committing a “hostile act” by supporting the release.

    Bresnahan was hesitant to answer whether any of the mentions of the president concern him.

    “I saw some of the email threads; a lot of it was snippets. I don’t know where it came from,” said Bresnahan, who represents a swing district.

    “I want to look at the whole comprehensive picture,” he added.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) wasn’t going to allow the bill to be voted on the floor, so Khanna and Massie successfully forced the vote through a discharge petition, which was supported by all House Democrats and just three other Republicans — U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.

    Massie and Khanna started to gather signatures in September and got the 218th needed on Wednesday last week when U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D. Ariz.) was sworn into office after winning a special election in September.

    U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat, blamed the delay for Grijalva’s swearing in on Trump and Johnson‘s resistance to the bill getting to the floor.

    “There is a reason why Donald Trump has worked so hard to keep these Epstein files covered up,” he said in a video he shared on social media.

    The bill reaching the floor put Republicans in a new bind: their stance on the matter would be on the record. They had to choose whether their loyalty to Trump would outweigh pressure from constituents on the matter.

    Once it became clear the president wouldn’t prevail, Trump had a complete about-face Sunday night and called for lawmakers to support the bill.

    “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,” he posted on Truth Social.

    “I DON’T CARE!” he added in the post and claimed that the files are a “curse on the Democrats, not us.”

    Khanna said that almost 100 Republicans would have voted for the bill before Trump changed course in an interview with The New York Times.

    “Trump saw his MAGA coalition was splintering and the last thing he could have had is a hundred Republicans vote for a Democratic bill in defiance of what he wanted,” he said in the interview. “Obviously, he has enough political instincts to realize how much he was losing on this issue.”

    Once Trump signaled support for the bill, Khanna said he would “be surprised if it’s not close to unanimous.”

    A separate House Oversight Committee investigation has released thousands of files from Epstein’s estate that show his connections spanning from Trump to influential leaders on Wall Street and across the globe. The Wall Street Journal also revealed over the summer a sexually explicit birthday message that appeared to be from the president to Epstein.

    Trump has since called on the Justice Department to investigate ties between his political adversaries and Epstein, particularly the Clintons.

    Survivors of Epstein’s abuse rallied outside the Capitol in the cold Tuesday morning.

    Liz Stein, a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, said in a statement that she hopes “our elected leaders show the courage to stand with survivors.”

    “Those of us directly impacted and harmed by the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell deserve justice and for the world to know our story,” she said. “It’s time for real accountability and true transparency.”

    Where did Pa. Republicans stand prior to Tuesday’s vote?

    U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican and former FBI agent who represents a purple district, had been quiet on the issue.

    World Without Exploitation, an anti-human trafficking group that has called for the release of all Epstein files, put a billboard up in Fitzpatrick’s district that says: “Courage is Contagious: Release ALL The Epstein Files.”

    Fitzpatrick was also the subject of digital ads from the Democratic National Committee about the Epstein files over the summer that called him one of Trump’s “sycophantic enablers.”

    Even though no Pennsylvania Republicans signed onto the petition to allow a vote on the bill, some had previously indicated that they wanted the records released.

    Bresnahan said on FOX56 WOLF on Friday that he would vote to release the files while making sure victims are protected. He told The Inquirer after the vote that he made that decision “weeks ago.”

    When asked whether he was surprised at the near-unanimous support from his Republican peers, he said he “really wasn’t talking to a lot of my peers as to where they were going to be on it.”

    Other Republicans made statements over the summer after the Justice Department said it would not release any more files. Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested in February that she had Epstein’s “client list,” but the department released files that were long in the public eye before claiming in July that Epstein didn’t actually have a list of clients.

    U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a freshman Republican who represents the Lehigh Valley, said during a telephone town hall in July that he would support measures to release DOJ files on Epstein if Trump’s administration doesn’t do more, NPR reported. He echoed that position Monday night, according to news reports.

    “I know they have not released as much as I would like to see to date, but hopefully they’re going to be doing that,” he said in July. “And if not, then Congress should potentially step in and compel them to do that because again, the American people deserve to have full transparency and information about what is in those files, and ultimately, we’re going to get there.”

    U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Trump ally who represents parts of Central Pennsylvania, shared a letter to Bondi on July 18 expressing “serious concern” over how the Epstein case had been handled and said it “remains one of the most troubling examples of apparent failures within our justice system.”

    He said the Trump administration’s handling of the case at that point had “only heightened public distrust.” He cited how the administration’s February 2025 release of documents “contained little new information” and its pivot on a supposed client list.

    “The continued secrecy surrounding these records undermines public confidence in the Justice Department’s commitment to justice,” he said at the time, requesting a special prosecutor to investigate the handling of the case.

    Perry supported a Democratic motion in July to subpoena the Justice Department for the Epstein files in an effort led by U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a progressive Democrat from Pittsburgh. He also backed motions to subpoena former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton related to the case.

    Fitzpatrick, Perry, Mackenzie, and Bresnahan all represent districts that will be targeted by Democrats during next year’s midterms.

    Also in July, U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Luzerne) called for the release of “all the pertinent, credible Epstein files” but focused squarely on Clinton.

    Other Republicans in the state have been pretty quiet on the matter.

    Lee, the Pittsburgh Democrat who led the summer subpoena effort, said in a post on X after the vote that the Department of Justice has “slow-walked” the release of files for months and echoed that Trump hasn’t acted on his ability to compel the department to release the files.

    “No matter how wealthy or well-connected, every person who is complicit, enabled, or abused women and girls will be brought to justice,” she added.

    Protesters head to the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025 as a bill that would require the release of records relating to Jefrey Epstein comes to a vote.
  • The Trump administration will announce the dismantling of multiple parts of the Education Department

    The Trump administration will announce the dismantling of multiple parts of the Education Department

    The Education Department plans to announce Tuesday that it will move multiple parts of the agency to other federal departments, an unprecedented and unilateral effort to dismantle an agency created by Congress to ensure all Americans have equal access to educational opportunity and better coordinate federal programs.

    The move was described by three people informed of the plan ahead of the announcement. Two of these people said six offices within the department would be shifted elsewhere; the third person said it was at least two.

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March seeking to close the department and asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon to work with Congress to do so. The agency, which was created in 1979, has long been derided by conservatives as unnecessary and ineffective. But Congress has not acted on or seriously considered Trump’s request.

    From July: The Supreme Court is allowing Trump to cut U.S. Department of Education staff. What does it mean for Philly-area schools?

    McMahon has acknowledged that only Congress can eliminate the department but vowed to do everything in her power to dismantle it from within.

    Asked for comment, an Education Department spokeswoman suggested some information provided to The Post about the plan was inaccurate, but did not offer specifics.

    Supporters of the department say that the agency is effective in coordinating multiple aspects of education in one place and keeping priorities important to students, parents and schools high on the federal agenda.

    From March: The Department of Education just laid off half its staff. How will that affect local schools?

    Offices that could be moved out of the agency include the Office for Civil Rights, which investigates allegations of discrimination on the basis of race, sex and disability; the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which administers the $15 billion Individuals with Disabilities Act program; and the Indian Education program; the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers K-12 grant programs; and the Office of Postsecondary Education.

    Federal law directs that these programs be housed in the Education Department. The Trump administration is employing a work-around, the people briefed on the matter said, whereby other government agencies would run the Education programs under a contract with the Education Department. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the changes.

    From March: Federal education department office in Philadelphia is among seven to be shut nationally

    The Trump administration laid the groundwork for this change earlier this year when it signed an agreement to move career, technical and adult education grants out of the Education Department to the Labor Department. Under the arrangement, Education retains oversight and leadership while managing the programs alongside Labor, a way of sidestepping the federal statute.

    “We believe that other department functions would benefit from similar collaborations,” McMahon wrote in an op-ed essay published Monday in USA Today.

    More broadly, McMahon has argued that the recently ended government shutdown showed how unnecessary her agency is.

    “Students kept going to class. Teachers continued to get paid. There were no disruptions in sports seasons or bus routes,” she wrote. “The shutdown proved an argument that conservatives have been making for 45 years: The U.S. Department of Education is mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states.”

  • Gov. Josh Shapiro says national Democrats folded in the federal shutdown, while he stayed ‘at the table’ for Pa.’s late budget deal

    Gov. Josh Shapiro says national Democrats folded in the federal shutdown, while he stayed ‘at the table’ for Pa.’s late budget deal

    The turning point in Pennsylvania’s budget impasse, by Gov. Josh Shapiro’s telling, came just before Halloween, when he and leaders in Harrisburg gathered in his stately, wood-paneled office to meet twice daily to hash out a deal to end the bitter, monthslong stalemate.

    The long grind eventually led to compromises 135 days in, and a deal Shapiro said he thinks is far better than what national Democrats, hoping to extend healthcare subsidies, got in Washington at the end of the federal shutdown.

    “Sometimes you’ve got to show that you’re willing to stay at the table and fight and bring people together in order to deliver,” Shapiro told The Inquirer in an interview Friday, touting the state budget agreement finally signed that week.

    “I think it’s a stark contrast, frankly, with what happened in D.C., where they didn’t stay at the table, they didn’t fight, and they got nothing,” he said.

    The winners and losers in Pennsylvania’s new $50.1 billion budget

    Washington is controlled by Republicans, while in Pennsylvania, Democrats control the state House and governorship, and Republicans hold a majority in the Senate.

    Both state and federal budgets were signed the same day, offering Pennsylvanians relief from more than a month of government dysfunction at two levels. But for Shapiro — an exceedingly popular Democratic governor facing reelection in 2026 as whispers swirl over his potential 2028 presidential ambitions — the moment was bigger than a procedural win. In the end, Shapiro, preaching his oft-used slogan of “getting things done,” cast the outcome as proof he can muscle through gridlock of a divided legislature, cut deals under pressure, and hold firm where others cave.

    So what if it took almost five months? Shapiro argues. At least he didn’t fold.

    “I would have hoped to have gotten this budget done, you know, 100 or so days earlier,” Shapiro said, putting pen to paper in the state Capitol building’s baroque reception room last week. “But I think what you also saw was the result of having the courage to stay at the table and keep fighting for what you believe in. And we got a lot more than we gave in this budget.”

    Gov. Josh Shapiro signs the fiscal year 2025-26 budget surrounded by General Assembly members on Nov. 12 at the Capitol in Harrisburg. The state budget had been due June 30, and Pennsylvania the final state in the country to approve a funding deal.

    As Shapiro portrays the outcome of Pennsylvania’s 2025 state budget as an across-the-board victory, the path to get there was harder and messier than he would have liked: a nearly five-month slog that strained his dealmaker image and forced concessions to get the deal across the line — including no new money for mass transit. The absence of a new funding stream in the budget marked a final blow in the saga to Southeastern Pennsylvania commuters who rely on SEPTA — and who are likely to be reminded of the beleaguered agency’s funding woes as delays, staffing issues, and needed repairs persist.

    Critics are quick to note it took the self-proclaimed dealmaker so long to get a deal. Counties, school districts, and nonprofits struggled through four months without state payments while officials remained at loggerheads. Pennsylvania was the last state in the nation to pass a spending plan for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

    “He’s five months late. He’s the governor of the fifth-biggest state in the country and the last state to get a budget done,” GOP consultant Vince Galko said. “It’s not a failing grade because it got done, but it’s still a D.”

    ‘A tremendous cost’

    The $50.1 billion budget includes several key priorities for Shapiro and Democrats: significant increases in public education funding, a new tax credit for lower- and middle-income residents, continuation of a popular student-teacher stipend, and other economic and workforce development initiatives.

    Pa.’s public schools are getting $665 million in new money with the state budget deal

    House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) heaped praise on Shapiro during a Monday news conference celebrating the budget’s new Working Pennsylvanians tax credit. “I am grateful that here in Harrisburg we have a hero among us for working families, and his name is Josh Shapiro.”

    State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) is on the rostrum in the House chamber on Jan. 7 after she was reelected speaker of the House despite an initial 101-101 tie vote along party lines.

    But the spending plan also fails to find a long-term revenue source for mass transit — a top Democratic priority that dominated debate in Harrisburg for weeks during the budget impasse and kicked up the state’s rural-urban divide. Shapiro ultimately removed mass transit from the negotiating table in September and approved his third short-term fix to keep SEPTA afloat. SEPTA and transit agencies across the state say they are still floundering.

    Why there was no deal for SEPTA in Harrisburg after all

    Shapiro last week called funding mass transit “unfinished business,” and top House Democrats maintain it’s a top priority for them heading into America’s 250th anniversary in 2026. Senate Republicans, for their part, were proud to not give in to a mass transit deal they didn’t like, even when advocates and Democrats unleashed intense political pressure on them to buckle, the two top Senate GOP leaders said in interviews.

    State Sen. Nikil Saval, a progressive lawmaker who represents part of Philadelphia, was one of a handful of Democrats to vote against the bipartisan Pennsylvania budget bill that was largely lauded by Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg and beyond. Saval applauded the school funding, anti-violence grant funding, and childcare support but slammed the absence of transit funding and Democrats’ agreement to end their pursuit to join a key climate program.

    “Unfortunately, it comes at this tremendous cost,” he said. And ultimately, Saval said, the finished product didn’t seem to justify the time it took to get there.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro visits SEPTA headquarters on Aug. 10 to discuss funding for the transit agency. To his right, from left, are state Democratic legislators Sen. Anthony H. Williams; Sen. Nikil Saval; Rep. Ed Neilson; and Rep. Jordan Harris.

    It was not just transit funding that took a back seat to get the budget deal over the line. To the delight of Republicans — and the chagrin of some progressive Democrats and the climate-conscious — the deal also pulled the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cooperative among states to reduce carbon emissions.

    Pa. budget deal kills major program to control greenhouse gases

    For Shapiro, ending the state’s effort to join RGGI, a program of which he has long been skeptical, was hardly a political loss. It mirrored the path of other blue-state governors who are prioritizing economic headwinds over President Joe Biden-era climate and clean energy policies. In remarks made before signing the budget deal Wednesday, Shapiro said it also removed a hurdle in negotiations.

    “For years, the Republicans who have led the Senate have used RGGI as an excuse to stall substantive conversations about energy,” Shapiro said. “Today, that excuse is gone.”

    The powerful Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council had lobbied heavily for lawmakers to walk away from the initiative, and it was a top win for state Republicans, who have long said the state should not join the multistate cap-and-trade emissions program they see as hamstringing Pennsylvania’s energy industry from accessing the state’s plentiful natural resources.

    ‘Two-a-days’

    Shapiro said he spent months “running back and forth” to broker a deal between Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery). The three met on-and-off in private talks, attempting to hammer out a compromise between the Democratic House and Republican-controlled Senate. But the week of Oct. 27, more than four months into the stalemate, Shapiro said a “breakthrough” finally came when he broadened the talks to include McClinton and Ward.

    Minority leaders Rep. Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) and Sen. Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) also joined the group, as it became clear that neither of the tightly controlled chambers would have the votes needed to pass a final budget deal.

    The group met twice daily in a conference room in Shapiro’s office. Shapiro, always a fan of the sports metaphor, called the meetings “two-a-days.”

    “We would come in the morning, go over the issues. We’d have our homework for a few hours, then come back in the afternoon and talk about, you know, the progress that we made,” Shapiro said. Coming out of that week, the governor said, leaders “had a clear direction on where we were going to go.”

    Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and Gov. Josh Shapiro show a budget document moments after it was signed Nov. 12 while surrounded by legislators at the state Capitol. A deal struck Nov. 12 ended a budget delay that lasted more than four months.

    At the negotiating table, Shapiro served as “referee and facilitator” between House Democrats and Senate Republicans, McClinton said in an interview Monday.

    “The man is nothing if not dogged and determined,” Bradford said of Shapiro last week.

    Two officials in the closed-door talks said Topper’s presence, as the House minority leader who understands House Democrats and Senate Republicans, helped change the dynamic and got leaders on track toward a deal. Other officials in negotiations noted that once the state’s two top leaders — McClinton and Ward, who are both the first women to serve in their roles — the breakthrough deal swiftly came together.

    Topper, for his part, didn’t try to take credit for striking the final budget deal, calling himself “a neutral arbiter” and “someone all sides can trust to have an honest dialogue.”

    There were other signs of tensions easing as the legislators worked through the fall. Ward, a top critic of Shapiro since he reneged on a promise he made over school vouchers during his first budget negotiations, joined the conversations. The two had not met in person since 2023, and had barely communicated. Suddenly, they were sitting across from one another.

    Kim Ward, president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, talks with her chief of staff Rob Ritson in her office Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, before heading out to preside over the swearing-in of Lt. Gov. Austin Davis in the Senate chambers.

    Ward said her criticisms of Shapiro still stand — she wants him to be more transparent, among other disagreements. But she described the conversations as “very cordial, very professional.” And there were moments of levity that helped, said the top Republican leader in the Senate, who is known for her wry humor.

    “He did leave me a sugar sprinkle heart [cookie] one day at my seat, and I told him, ‘You know, I’m too old for you, and we’re both married,’” she joked.

    Compromise, ‘in this day and age’

    As Shapiro looks toward reelection in 2026, his likely opponent — the GOP’s endorsed candidate, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity — is already throwing barbs at the handling of the budget.

    “I can’t understand why all these legislators think they did a great job,” she said on The Conservative Voice radio program, breaking with GOP leaders, like Ward and Pittman, who lauded the deal. “… Next year, they’re going to have to dip into the Rainy Day Fund to plug a budget, and then taxes are going to go up.”

    Because of how long this budget took to finalize, Shapiro will already need to introduce his next budget in just three months, and in proximity to the 2026 midterms and Pennsylvania governor’s election. But it’s unclear whether those negotiations will be as fraught, given budgets tend to get resolved faster in election years with both parties eager to focus on the campaign trail.

    And polling shows Pennsylvania’s governors throughout history have rarely been blamed for budget impasses.

    “In this day and age, I would not downplay the fact that there was compromise,” said Berwood Yost, a pollster with Franklin and Marshall College. “People want their problems solved. They want politicians to do things that help their everyday lives and that, for most people, means some kind of compromise. Getting this problem solved fits with his narrative.”

    Yost thinks Shapiro’s bigger challenge will be answering rumors about his national ambitions as he tries to run for reelection in Pennsylvania.

    Galko, the GOP consultant, looked further ahead to a potential 2028 presidential election. The budget impasse, he said, could provide material for Democratic rivals on the national stage. The possible field is filled with other governors, several from blue states, like Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, where in-state dealmaking is easier among a uniform legislature.

    “If he’s unable to negotiate with the Pennsylvania Senate, what’s he gonna do when he goes up against China or Russia?” Galko asked, previewing the possible attack.

    Ultimately, history suggests Shapiro’s political success is likely to hinge less on the nuts and bolts of a budget only some Pennsylvanians — and even fewer outside Pennsylvania — are familiar with, and more on his ability to bolster his image as a bipartisan governor in a purple state.

    On Friday morning in South Philadelphia, Shapiro sported a bomber jacket while posing for selfies with Eagles fans, nodding along to a rock band’s cover of “Santeria” in a tent outside the Xfinity Mobile Arena at an event hosted by radio station WMMR.

    Casually, almost as a throwaway line, Shapiro mentioned to radio hosts Preston and Steve during an interview that he planned to bring Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — a fellow swing-state governor seen, too, as a possible 2028 Democratic contender — as his guest to the Eagles-Lions game at the Linc that Sunday.

    “She actually said, ‘Is it OK if I wear Lions stuff?’” Shapiro told the kelly green-clad crowd in Philadelphia, riffing on the friendly football rivalry — the undercurrents of national politics left unspoken. “And I’m like, ‘No problem. You’re on your own in the parking lot. I can’t protect you.’”

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field.

    The event was a food drive but also served as a tribute to the station’s beloved late host, Pierre Robert. Shapiro brought along a commendation from the governor’s office for the occasion.

    “He created community, created joy, brought people together,” Shapiro said of Robert. “You think about just how divided we are as a world, there’s a few things that still bring us together, right?”

    “By the way, I’ve learned those lessons. That’s what I try and do governing with a, you know, divided legislature.”

    Music and sports, the governor mused before the crowd of Philadelphia fans, are two things that bridge the gap. “Go Birds,” he added with a grin.

    Staff writer Katie Bernard contributed to this article.

  • Pennsylvania’s Working Families Party pledges to support a primary challenger against Sen. John Fetterman

    Pennsylvania’s Working Families Party pledges to support a primary challenger against Sen. John Fetterman

    Pennsylvania’s Working Families Party is recruiting candidates to run against Pennsylvania’s Democratic senator, John Fetterman.

    Fetterman has not announced whether he will run for reelection in 2028, but the progressive party put out a public declaration Tuesday pledging to endorse — and, if necessary, recruit and train — a challenger.

    The announcement, first reported by The Inquirer, is a remarkable step for the left-leaning organization to take more than two years before an election and speaks to the degree of frustration with Fetterman among progressives.

    “At a time when Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to make life harder for working people, we need real leaders in the Senate who are willing to fight for the working class,” Shoshanna Israel, Mid-Atlantic political director for the Working Families Party, said in a statement.

    “Senator Fetterman has sold us out, and that’s why the Pennsylvania Working Families Party is committed to recruiting and supporting a primary challenge to him in 2028.”

    Fetterman did not immediately return a request for comment about the Working Families Party’s announcement.

    The Working Families Party is a progressive, grassroots political party that is independent from the Democratic Party, but it often endorses and supports Democratic candidates.

    Israel noted in her statement that Fetterman voted last week in support of the Republican plan to end the government shutdown — along with seven other Senate Democratic caucus members who crossed the aisle.

    Democratic lawmakers in the House, including several from Pennsylvania’s delegation, railed against the decision as caving to the GOP and President Donald Trump without any substantive wins on healthcare, rendering a 35-day shutdown pointless.

    Though he supports extending federal healthcare subsidies, Fetterman has long said he is against government shutdowns as a negotiating tactic and will always vote to get federal coffers flowing and federal employees paid.

    “I’m sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven’t been paid in weeks,” Fetterman said in a post on X after the vote. “It should’ve never come to this. This was a failure.”

    Already one of the most well-known and scrutinized senators in Washington, Fetterman was back in the spotlight this week as he returns to work following a hospitalization after a fall near his home in Braddock. His staff said he suffered a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up” and hit his face, sustaining “minor injuries.”

    Ventricular fibrillation is the most severe form of arrhythmia — an abnormal heart rhythm — and the most common cause of sudden cardiac death.

    It’s the latest in a string of serious health incidents that have marked the Democratic senator’s time in the public eye. The fall comes three years after he recovered from a near-fatal stroke just days before he won the 2022 Senate primary, which was caused by a blood clot that had blocked a major artery in his brain.

    He spent Thursday and Friday in the hospital and was released Saturday, saying he was feeling good and grateful for his care with plans to be back in the Senate this week.

    Working Families on the offensive

    Israel said in addition to the online portal, the party will hold a number of recruitment events across Pennsylvania in the coming months to train candidates and campaign staff on the basics of running for office and managing a campaign with hopes of finding quality candidates for a variety of races ahead of 2028.

    The party is also pledging a robust ground game and fundraising for a potential challenger it supports.

    It wouldn’t be the first time the Working Families Party has opposed Fetterman. In the 2022 Democratic Senate primary, WFP endorsed State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) over Fetterman, who was lieutenant governor at the time.

    The Working Families Party has grown its influence in the region since then. In 2023, WFP became the minority party on Philadelphia’s City Council, defeating Republicans in seats the party had held for over 70 years by electing Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke.

    Fetterman has been promoting his book, Unfettered, recounting his stroke during the 2022 Senate run, subsequent struggles with depression, and adjustment to life in the U.S. Senate.

    The book makes no mention of a reelection bid but laments the ugly politics he experienced in both the Democratic primary and his general election race against Mehmet Oz.

    Fetterman said in the book that Oz’s attacks during his rehabilitation from his stroke became so mentally crushing he felt he should have quit the race.

    And he grapples with criticism he faced during the primary surrounding a 2013 incident in which he wielded a shotgun and apprehended a Black jogger he suspected of a shooting. Fetterman calls the backlash an early trigger of his depression.

    Fetterman has said he will remain a Democrat even as Republicans have lauded his independent streak and willingness to work with the GOP.

    Earlier this year, Fetterman was the first Senate Democrat to support the Laken Riley Act, a Republican immigration bill that requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and take into custody individuals who have been charged with theft-related offenses, even without a conviction. Critics of the law say it severely cracks down on due process for immigrants.

    Fetterman was the sole Senate Democrat to vote to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was one of Trump’s attorneys when he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    And he has been the Senate’s most outspoken defender of Israel during its war in Gaza, sponsoring a resolution with Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) against antisemitism and appearing for the first time since his fall at an event hosted by the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington on Monday.

    He also received recognition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called him the country’s “best friend” and gifted him a silver pager inspired by Israel’s attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon that exploded pagers.

    “He has repeatedly shown disregard for the rights of Palestinians,” the Working Families Party release said. “Refusing to support a two-state solution and breaking with the rest of the Democratic caucus on Israel’s illegal annexation of the West Bank.”

    Staff writer Aliya Schneider contributed to this article.

  • Pa. lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro have approved a $50.1 billion state budget, officially ending monthslong impasse

    Pa. lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro have approved a $50.1 billion state budget, officially ending monthslong impasse

    HARRISBURG — The contentious — and, at times, bitter — Pennsylvania budget stalemate has finally ended.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the nearly $50.1 billion state budget Wednesday, as part of a breakthrough bipartisan deal that ends a key climate initiative and increases public school funding. Schools, counties, and social service providers will soon receive four months of withheld state payments, lapsed after the budget deadline passed at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, providing the much-needed relief that some say will come too late.

    The long-awaited budget deal involving Shapiro, House Democrats, and Senate Republicans marks the first time Pennsylvania’s state budget has topped $50 billion. State spending and revenue earnings have skyrocketed in the post-COVID-19 years due to federal cash infusions. The budget is a 4.7% increase in spending over the prior fiscal year and includes no new tax increases. Lawmakers and Shapiro agreed to tap into underutilized special funds and use the state’s surplus to address a budget shortfall, as Pennsylvania is on track to spend more than it brings in this fiscal year and in the future.

    Democrats (left) stand to applaud a tax cut proposal while Republicans (right) remain seated as Gov. Josh Shapiro delivers his third budget address to a joint session in the House chambers at the State Capitol Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Shapiro, a Democrat, will need to negotiate with a split legislature.

    Both Republican and Democratic leaders celebrated the budget’s passage as a “true compromise,” noting that neither party got everything it wanted in the final deal. The spending plan includes significant energy and permitting changes cheered by Republicans and an earned-income tax credit and revisions to cyber charter funding long sought by Democrats, among other policy wins revealed Wednesday.

    “Today is a good day,” Shapiro said, opening his remarks before signing the budget bills into law in the Capitol building, flanked by Democratic lawmakers.

    “I would have loved to have stood here in this room with all of you on June 30, but as you know, Pennsylvania is just one of only three states in the country with a divided legislature,” Shapiro, a Democrat, said. “It requires all of us to compromise, to have tough conversations, and, ultimately, to find common ground.”

    Several leaders said the budget deal approved Wednesday would not have been possible months ago, as debate had devolved into partisan finger-pointing over who was responsible for the budget deadlock and who might benefit politically from it.

    Big GOP win: An end for RGGI

    Among the top wins for Senate Republicans is the end of the state’s efforts to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf entered without legislative approval in 2019 and has been tied up in litigation ever since. The program has drawn the ire of Republicans, and in floor remarks Wednesday, House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) called it the “No. 1 issue holding Pennsylvania back from economic growth.” The 12-state program, known as RGGI, is an interstate cap-and-trade initiative that charges power plants for the amount of carbon emissions they release into the air.

    House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) speaks on Jan. 7, 2025, on the first day of the 2025-2026 legislative session.

    Ahead of a final budget deal, some Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups spoke out against ending Pennsylvania’s involvement in RGGI as a threat to the environment. In the end, most Democratic lawmakers voted in favor of the omnibus budget bill that ended the state’s pursuit to join the initiative.

    House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery), a top negotiator of the budget deal, told The Inquirer on Wednesday that Democrats’ agreement to leave RGGI was part of a broader compromise to end the impasse.

    “I’m one who believes there should be a price on carbon, but I recognize the reality of the situation and compromise is required,” Bradford added.

    House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) speaks on the first day of the 2025-2026 legislative session.

    Shapiro and Democratic leaders were able to persuade Republicans, in turn, to spend more than they had wanted to this fiscal year. That additional spending allowed Democrats to invest more in public education, a new earned-income tax credit targeted toward working Pennsylvanians, and more.

    “It’s much more money than we want to spend, and it took a lot longer than we wanted, but I think it was worth the wait,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) in floor remarks Wednesday. “I am actually excited to vote for this budget.”

    Dems win new funding for schools, but not mass transit

    The budget deal includes more than $665 million in new funding for public schools, approximately $562 million of which would be funneled through the state’s adequacy and tax equity formulas as part of an effort to close what experts call a $4 billion “adequacy gap.“ These formulas were created last year in response to a 2023 court ruling that found Pennsylvania’s public education funding system unconstitutionally deprives students from poorer districts of an adequate and equitable education.

    Senate Minority Appropriations Chair Vince Hughes (D., Philadelphia) applauded the budget agreement for its investments in public school funding, gun violence prevention, and the student-teacher stipend, among other things.

    “This budget has good work in it that helps address … the issue of affordability, which sang loud and clear in the most recent election as a predominant issue that Pennsylvanians want us to address,” Hughes said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

    In addition, the budget includes changes long sought by Democrats to how Pennsylvania funds and oversees its cyber charter schools. Cyber charter school leaders warned that the changes might lead to closures and mass layoffs for the virtual schools, which often serve the state’s most vulnerable populations, but they were resoundingly celebrated by Democrats and public education experts.

    “We finally reformed our cyber charter school system,” Shapiro said to boisterous applause. “If a parent wants to send their child to a cyber school, that’s fine. That’s their prerogative. But we shouldn’t be overfunding them at the expense of Pennsylvania’s public schools.”

    The deal, however, does not include any additional funding for mass transit, another major Democratic priority. Democrats removed mass transit from the budget negotiation table in September, after a lawsuit required SEPTA to undo its service cuts and Senate Republicans appeared unwilling to make a long-term investment in mass transit. Instead, Shapiro approved SEPTA’s use of its capital funds to help fill the budget deficit of the state’s largest mass transit agency for the next two years.

    Bradford told reporters that securing a long-term revenue stream for transit agencies remains a top priority for his caucus in future budgets.

    Why there was no deal for SEPTA in Harrisburg after all

    Inflamed, in part, by the mass transit debate, negotiations over the budget had been stalled for months until the end of October, when Shapiro convened top legislative leaders to return to talks. The renewed budget negotiations included House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) and Ward, who are the highest-ranking officials in their respective chambers but had usually stayed out of the budget talks led by Bradford and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana).

    Counties are still hurting from the late budget

    Unlike the federal government, Pennsylvania’s state government does not entirely shut down when a budget has not been approved. Lawmakers and state employees continued to be paid throughout the 135-day impasse. But the late budget had significant impacts on school districts, counties, and social service providers — all of which are awaiting billions in expected state payments that should begin flowing again soon.

    The lack of state funding has required schools, counties, and service providers to cut jobs, take out expensive loans, or stop services altogether.

    Loans and layoffs: Missing $3 billion in state payments, Pa.’s public schools implore lawmakers to end budget impasse

    Over the course of the more than four-month impasse, Pennsylvania’s counties spent millions to make up for the loss of state dollars. In Montgomery County, officials estimated the county had spent between $40 million and $50 million from budget reserves to maintain services. Chester County officials estimated they spent $40 million in reserves, while Delaware County officials spent $12 million each month until October, when they had to reduce payments on some of their bills in the absence of state funding. Counties expect to be reimbursed for those expenses, but it is unclear when the reimbursements will come.

    “Counties are at the breaking point, financially speaking,” said Kyle Kopko, the executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. If reimbursements are not delivered swiftly, Kopko added, it could force additional nonprofits that provide social services to shutter.

    Delco homeless shelter system to close two shelters amid Harrisburg budget impasse

    Even as county leaders were grateful for an end to the impasse, some expressed frustration over the contents of the final budget deal. The agreement, Kopko said, included a 2% cut to mental health services statewide, though he said the cut likely would not affect payments to counties. And it left other funds counties rely on to pay their bills — like 911 fees — stagnant, despite inflation.

    Counties in Pennsylvania can increase their revenue only by raising property taxes. By failing to provide additional funds for social services, county officials argued Wednesday, lawmakers had created a situation in which counties would immediately or eventually have to raise property taxes.

    The combination of the cuts and the failure to increase funds for public transit and other needs, Delaware County Councilmember Christine Reuther said, meant the state had essentially passed the buck to the counties.

    “They’re not solving problems. They’re not saving people from tax increases,” she said. “They’re just making somebody else do their dirty work.”

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • After big wins Tuesday, Democrats think they can oust Brian Fitzpatrick. But the Bucks Republican is resilient.

    After big wins Tuesday, Democrats think they can oust Brian Fitzpatrick. But the Bucks Republican is resilient.

    Should last week’s election results make Brian Fitzpatrick nervous?

    Bucks County Democrats think so.

    The Republican lawmaker has been like Teflon in the 1st Congressional District, which includes all of Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County. He persistently outperforms the rest of his party and has survived blue wave after blue wave. First elected in 2016, he has remained the last Republican representing the Philadelphia suburbs in the U.S. House.

    But Democrats pulled something off this year that they hadn’t done in recent memory. They won each countywide office by around 10 percentage points — the largest win margin in a decade — and for the first time installed a Democrat, Joe Khan, as the county’s next top prosecutor.

    Now they are looking to next year, hopeful that County Commissioner Bob Harvie, the likely Democratic nominee, succeeds where Fitzpatrick’s past challengers have failed.

    “This year was unprecedented, and sitting here a year before the midterm, you have to believe that next year is going to be unprecedented as well,” State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, who is also the county party’s chair, said Wednesday.

    Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, predicted a “perfect storm brewing for Democrats” to beat Fitzpatrick. “He and Trump’s Republican Party are deeply underwater with Bucks County voters; he has failed to do anything to address rising costs, and we will have a political juggernaut in Gov. Josh Shapiro at the top of the ticket,” Cousin said.

    There are several reasons Democrats may be exhibiting some premature confidence: Despite a spike in turnout for an off-year election, far fewer voters turn out in such elections than do in midterms. Fitzpatrick is extremely well-known in Bucks, where his late brother served before he was elected to the seat. He has won each of his last three elections by double digits.

    Just last year, President Donald Trump narrowly won Bucks County, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to do so since the 1980s, and Republicans overtook Democrats in voter registrations last year.

    But Tuesday was a sizable pendulum swing in the bellwether. Some of the communities, like Bensalem, that drove Trump’s victory flipped back to blue.

    The last time Democrats had won a sheriff’s race in the county was 2017, a year after Trump was elected the first time. That year, Democrats won by smaller margins, and a Republican incumbent easily won reelection as district attorney. The following year, Fitzpatrick came the closest he has yet to losing a race, but still won his seat by 3 percentage points.

    This year’s landslide, Democrats say, is a warning sign.

    “There were Democratic surges in every place that there’s a competitive congressional seat, and that should be scaring the s— out of national Republicans,” said Democratic strategist Brendan McPhilips, who managed Democratic Sen. John Fetterman’s campaign in the state and worked on both of the last Democratic presidential campaigns here.

    “The Bucks County seat has always been the toughest, but it’s certainly on the table, and there’s a lot there for Bob Harvie to harness and take advantage of.”

    Bucks County Democratic Commissioner Bob Harvie speaks during an Oct. 5 rally outside the Middletown Township Police Department and Administrative Offices in Langhorne.

    Harvie, a high school teacher-turned-politician, leapt on the results of the election hours after races were called, putting out a statement saying, “There is undeniable hunger for change in Bucks County.”

    “The mood of the country certainly is different,” Harvie said in an interview with The Inquirer on Thursday. “What you’re seeing is definitely a referendum.”

    Lack of GOP concern

    But Republicans don’t appear worried.

    Jim Worthington, a Trump megadonor who is deeply involved in Bucks County politics, attributes GOP losses this year to a failure in mail and in-person turnout. Fitzpatrick, he said, has a track record of running robust mail voting campaigns and separating himself from the county party apparatus.

    “He’s not vulnerable,” Worthington said. “No matter who they run against him, they’re going to have their hands full.”

    Heather Roberts, a spokesperson for Fitzpatrick’s campaign, noted that the lawmaker won his last election by 13 points with strong support from independent voters in 2024 — a year after Democrats performed well in the county in another off-year election. She dismissed the notion that Harvie would present a serious challenge, contending the commissioner “has no money and no message” for his campaign.

    Fitzpatrick is also a prolific fundraiser. He brought in $886,049 last quarter, a large amount even for an incumbent, leading Harvie, who raised $217,745.

    “Bob Harvie’s not going to win this race,” said Chris Pack, spokesperson for the Defending America PAC, which is supporting Fitzpatrick. “He has no money. He’s had two dismal fundraising quarters in a row. That’s problematic.”

    Pack noted Harvie’s own internal poll, reviewed by The Inquirer, showed 57% of voters were unsure how they felt about him.

    “An off-off-year election is not the same as a midterm election,” Pack said, adding he thinks Fitzpatrick’s ranking as the most bipartisan member of Congress will continue to serve him well in Bucks County.

    “He’s obviously had well-documented breaks on policy with the Republican caucus in D.C., so for Bob Harvie to try to say Brian Fitzpatrick is super far right, no one’s gonna buy it,” Pack said. “They haven’t bought it every single election.”

    On fundraising, Harvie said he had brought in big fundraising hauls for both of his commissioner races, and said he would have the money he needed to compete.

    Of the four GOP-held House districts Democrats are targeting next year in the state, Fitzpatrick’s seat is by far the safest. That raises the question: How much money and attention are Democrats willing to invest in Pennsylvania?

    “Who’s the most vulnerable?” asked Chris Nicholas, a GOP consultant who grew up in Bucks County. The other three — U.S. Rep. Scott Perry and freshman U.S. Reps. Rob Bresnahan, in the Northeast, and Ryan Mackenzie, in the Lehigh Valley — won by extremely narrow margins last year. “If you’re ranking the four races, you have Rob Bresnahan at the top and Fitzpatrick at the bottom,” Nicholas said.

    National Democrats seldom invest as much to try to beat Fitzpatrick as they say they will, Nicholas said. And he pointed to 2018, a huge year for Democrats, when they had a candidate in Scott Wallace who was very well-funded, albeit far less known than Harvie, and still came up short.

    Democrats see Harvie as the best shot they have had — a twice-elected commissioner, with name ID from Lower Bucks County, home to many of the district’s swing voters. And the 1st District is one of just three in the country that is held by a Republican member of Congress where Vice President Kamala Harris won last year.

    And then there’s Shapiro, who Democrats think will give a boost to candidates like Harvie as he runs for reelection next year. Shapiro won the district by 20 points in 2022.

    Following the playbook used by successful candidates this year, Democrats are likely to argue to voters that Fitzpatrick has done little to push back on Trump — while placing cost-of-living concerns at the feet of the Republican Party.

    “A lot of people are, you know, upset with where we are as a nation,” Harvie said. “They grew up expecting that if you worked hard and played by the rules, you’d be able to have all the things you needed and have a good life. And that’s not happening for them.”

    The Trump effect

    Democrats won races in Bucks County, and across the country, this year by tying their opponents to Trump — a tactic that was especially effective in ousting Republican Sheriff Fred Harran, who partnered his office with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In recent cycles, that strategy has not worked against Fitzpatrick.

    “The big thing Democrats throw against Republicans is you’re part and parcel of Trump and MAGA, and Fitzpatrick voted against Trump,” Nicholas said.

    Over nearly 10 years in Congress, Fitzpatrick has been a rare Republican who pushes back on Trump, though often subtly. Fitzpatrick, who cochairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, was the lone Pennsylvania Republican to confirm former President Joe Biden’s electoral victory in 2020. A former FBI agent who spent a stint stationed in Ukraine, he is among the strongest voices of support for Ukraine in Congress, consistently pushing the administration to do more to aid the country as it resists a yearslong Russian invasion.

    Fitzpatrick was also one of just two House Republicans to vote against Trump’s signature domestic policy package, which passed in July. He voted for an earlier version that passed the House by just one vote, which Democrats often bring up to claim Fitzpatrick defies his party only when it has no detrimental impact.

    “He’s good at principled stances that ultimately do nothing,” said Tim Persico, an adviser with the Harvie campaign. “That is what has allowed him to defy gravity in the previous cycles. … Now the economy is doing badly. … People feel worse about everything, and Fitzpatrick isn’t doing anything to help with that. I think it makes it harder to defy gravity.”

    Trump has endorsed every Republican running for reelection in Pennsylvania next year except Fitzpatrick. While the Bucks County lawmaker has avoided direct criticism of the president, in an appearance in Pittsburgh over the summer, Trump characterized the “no” vote on the domestic bill as a betrayal.

    Fitzpatrick has faced more conservative primary challengers in the past, but no names have surfaced so far this cycle, a sign that even the more MAGA-aligned may see him as their best chance to hold onto the purple district.

    Keeping his distance from Trump, and limiting Democrats’ opportunities to tie the two together, may remain Fitzpatrick’s best path forward.

    “Anybody who wants to align themselves with an agenda of chaos and corruption and cruelty ought to be worried,” said Khan, Bucks County’s new district attorney-elect.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Party soul-searching, the Latino vote, and a South Jersey strategy: Takeaways from Tuesday’s election

    Party soul-searching, the Latino vote, and a South Jersey strategy: Takeaways from Tuesday’s election

    A Navy pilot in New Jersey. A democratic socialist in New York City. Three Pennsylvania jurists who never wanted to hit the campaign trail in the first place.

    The Democrats who scored big wins in Tuesday’s elections came from across the political spectrum and succeeded in disparate campaign environments.

    Blue wave? Democrats build momentum with a sweep of high-profile races in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia.

    The results were momentous for a party hungry for wins in President Donald Trump’s second term. But they are also likely to revive longstanding debates on how the party should present itself to the American people going into the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential race.

    Should Democrats embrace a bold vision and tack left? Are left-of-center candidates with bipartisan appeal still the way to win statewide races? Or could the party simply embrace the reality of being a big-tent party?

    Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s elections, including the state of play for both parties’ soul-searching exercises.

    Democrats gained momentum, but received no clear signs about the future of the party

    The energy is clearly there.

    Turnout soared on Tuesday, despite being an off-year election, and Democrats won by surprisingly large margins up and down the ballot.

    Even Montgomery County, where there were no competitive elections for county offices, saw its highest-ever off-year turnout at 50.7% of registered voters, and Democrats flipped every contested school board race.

    Turnout is brisk in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as voters sound off on Trump, crime, and taxes

    At the top of the ticket, New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill and Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger, both U.S. representatives with national security backgrounds, ran up the scores in their gubernatorial races while portraying themselves as pragmatists.

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    Zohran Mamdani, meanwhile, handily defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayor’s race by promising radical change and progressive policy solutions.

    So where does that leave Democrats as they try to find a recipe for success in next year’s congressional races?

    For Philadelphia’s progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner, who won a third term Tuesday, the answer is clear.

    “There’s a new politics,” Krasner said Wednesday. “It’s pretty clear that the American people, Philadelphians, are tired of insiders who promise them things they don’t do. They’re tired of political dynasties.”

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    Democratic strategist Brendan McPhillips, who has worked for progressive candidates as well as Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’ campaigns in Pennsylvania, said the party should embrace the ideological diversity of its constituencies.

    “People have tried to ask this question of who represents the soul of the party, and I just think it’s a bad question,” he said. “The party is a huge tent, and last night proves you can run for Democratic office in New York City and New Jersey and Bucks County and Erie, Pa., and each of those races can look entirely different.”

    Democrats made gains with Latino voters

    One of the more worrying signs for Democrats in the Trump era has been the president’s increasing popularity among Latino voters.

    They flipped that narrative Tuesday.

    After 10 months of aggressive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids under Trump that are seen by many in the Latino community as indiscriminate and cruel, Democrats appear to have undone some of Trump’s gains in what has long been a blue constituency.

    In New Jersey, the two counties where Sherrill made the biggest gains compared with Harris in the 2024 presidential election were Passaic and Hudson, both of which are more than 40% Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census.

    Mikie Sherrill was underestimated. So was the extent of anti-Trump sentiment in New Jersey.

    Sherrill won Hudson by 50 percentage points, which represents a 22-point swing from Harris. And she won Passaic by 15 percentage points after Trump surprisingly carried the county with a 3-point margin in 2024.

    In Philadelphia, Krasner won eight wards that the more conservative Patrick Dugan — Krasner’s opponent in both the general election and the Democratic primary — had won in their first round in May.

    All were in or near the Lower Northeast, and the biggest swing came in the heavily Latino 7th Ward, which includes parts of Fairhill and Kensington. Krasner’s share of the vote there grew from 46% in the primary to 86% in the general.

    It’s really hard to unseat Pennsylvania judges

    Only one Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice since 1968 has failed to win a retention election, in which voters face a yes-or-no decision on whether to give incumbents new 10-year terms, rather than a choice between candidates.

    Tuesday’s results will be discouraging for anyone hoping to increase that number soon.

    All three Pa. Supreme Court justices are retained following a historically expensive race

    Hoping to break liberals’ 5-2 majority on the state’s highest court, Republicans spent big in an attempt to oust three justices who were originally elected as Democrats. Democratic groups then poured in their own money to defend the incumbents.

    In the end, Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht all won by more than 25 percentage points.

    Ciattarelli’s South Jersey strategy failed

    In his third attempt to become governor, Republican Jack Ciattarelli bet big on South Jersey, the more conservative but less populous part of the Garden State.

    It didn’t work.

    In his 2021 campaign against Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, Ciattarelli carried Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties with a combined 56.8% of the vote. Trump then went on to sweep all five counties last year.

    But on Tuesday, Ciattarelli performed 8 percentage points worse in the region, giving Sherrill a narrow lead in South Jersey, where she won three of the five counties south of Camden.

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    Republicans now face their own soul-searching question: How to win without Trump?

    In 2024, Trump’s coattails helped Republicans win control of Congress and other elected offices across the country — including in two Pennsylvania swing districts.

    With the president in his second and final term, how will the GOP win without him on the ballot?

    For Jim Worthington, the Trump megadonor and owner of the Newtown Athletic Club in Bucks County, Tuesday’s results show that the GOP needs to do more work on the ground if it wants to succeed without the man who has dominated Republican politics since 2015.

    Elections, he said, are “not about the policies as much they’re just turnout. Red team, blue team.”

    Democrats sweep Bucks County law enforcement races, ousting a sheriff who sought controversial ICE partnership

    The blue team won Tuesday, he said, because the red team didn’t do enough of the legwork needed to get its voters to cast mail ballots and to drive in-person turnout on Election Day. Worthington said the results left him concerned about Republican Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s chances of unseating Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro next year.

    “If we don’t get a robust vote-by-mail, paid-for program, it’s going to be very difficult, very difficult, if not impossible for Stacy Garrity to win,” Worthington said. “During this whole 2025 year when we could have been building this toward 2026, we lost a year because we didn’t do it.”

    Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.