Senate Republicans move to alleviate financial pressures during budget impasse
(September 30) — With the state budget impasse now at 92 days with no end in sight, Senate Republicans are making a move to alleviate pressures felt by those denied funding.
Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana/Armstrong/Jefferson/Westmoreland) and Appropriations Chair Scott Martin (R-Lancaster/Berks) announced their intention to introduce legislation forgiving the interest on loans following the announcement by State Treasurer Stacy Garrity to help Head Start providers and counties during the state budget impasse.
Last week, Garrity announced up to $500 million in available loans offered at a 4.5 percent interest rate to help qualifying entities cover necessary expenses in the absence of a state budget.
Ward, Pittman and Martin continue to state that they are negotiating with Democrats in good faith in search of “a responsible bottom line to complete this year’s spending plan.” They were critical of Gov. Josh Shapiro and House Democratic leaders, saying they “continue to advocate for plans that spend beyond taxpayers’ means, setting Pennsylvania on a course of fiscal uncertainty and tax increases.”
“Last week Treasurer Garrity made a bold and important move to help keep monies flowing to counties by giving them the ability to borrow from the Treasury at the lowest rate possible during this budget impasse,” said Ward in a statement. “The law requires the Treasurer to charge interest on lending despite money continuing to flow into the Treasury and not being dispersed but collecting interest. As such, we plan to offer legislation to provide forgiveness on the interest for those loans to ensure services don’t suffer while we continue to finalize a state budget.”
“In August, the Senate passed legislation to enact last year’s spending plan, to prevent the very impacts the Treasurer is addressing now. While work to complete a 2025-26 budget agreement continues, the steps taken by Treasury are a way to provide immediate relief, and our legislation will mitigate further negative effects by forgiving interest accrued,” said Pittman. “We remain focused on effectuating a final spending plan that respects taxpayers, while allowing Pennsylvania to grow.”
“As a former County Commissioner who served during a prolonged state budget impasse in 2015, I understand the challenges presented by a delayed budget. It’s very much why I am hopeful those challenges, including the need for accrued interest costs, could be minimized by the House passage of the plan the Senate approved in mid-August to get state and federal funding out the door without further delay,” said Martin. “I appreciate Treasurer Garrity taking action to prevent any disruption of services, and this complimentary action will ensure more state dollars can be put to good use in serving people in need, as we work on this bill to minimize cost impact to our partners even more.”
The Shapiro administration quickly fired back, noting the absence of senators in the chamber and business since February.
“The way to fund critical services like our schools, counties, and nonprofits is for State Senate Republicans to come back to work, find agreement with the State House, and send a budget to the Governor’s desk,” said Press Secretary Rosie Lapowsky. “The Governor introduced his budget plan 232 days ago, and Senate Republicans have been in session just 29 days since then – it’s past time for them to do their jobs and send a budget to the Governor’s desk for signature.”
Steve Ulrich is the managing editor of PoliticsPA.
