BLOG – Pennsylvania Policy Center

Federal Child Care Funding Crackdown and CCDF Rule Rollback

After allegations of child care related fraud in Minnesota, the Trump administration, through the U.S.…

January 7, 2026

Marc Stier Receives National Recognition with Lifetime Achievement Award from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Dallas, TX—Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, last night was awarded the…

December 31, 2025

Statement on the Continuing Debate on Enhanced ACA Premium Tax Credits

Update December 24: After much delay, four Republicans have signed on to the discharge petition…

December 5, 2025

Statement on the 2025–2026 Pennsylvania State Budget

Pennsylvania schools, social service providers, and local governments are grateful today that the General Assembly…

November 12, 2025

SNAP at Risk: The Trump Administration Can Prevent a Food Crisis

The federal government shutdown continues as Republicans refuse to even consider compromising with Democrats about…

October 22, 2025

The Continuing Shutdown Fight to Save Health Care and Democracy

The federal shutdown, which began on October 1, 2025, continues. And the fundamental issues have…

October 22, 2025

Federal Shutdown Threatens Health Care for Nearly 1 million Pennsylvanians | Opinion

The dispute about health care is the central reason the federal government is shut down…

October 22, 2025

An Overview of the PA Health Care / Federal Budget Issue

Medicaid serves more than 3 million Pennsylvanians, including 2 million adults, 1.4 million children, and…

October 22, 2025

From Progress to Peril: OBBBA’s Threat to Health Care In Pennsylvania

With the state’s official health insurance marketplace, Pennie, Pennsylvania cut the rate of those without…

October 18, 2025

The Future of Harrisburg Transportation and Parking

Transit is, and will continue to be, a lifeline for residents, workers, and visitors throughout…

October 15, 2025

The Seinfeld Shutdown in PA

The Pennsylvania state budget is now 13 weeks—a quarter of the year—late. Yet it’s not…

October 10, 2025

Announcement: Our Executive Director Is Moving On

Dear Friends, This week, the Pennsylvania Policy Center is announcing a search to replace me…

October 3, 2025

The Big Lie and the Federal Budget Shutdown

Republicans are telling perhaps the most extreme lie about the budget shutdown. They are claiming…

October 1, 2025

The Potential Impacts of a Federal Government Shutdown in Pennsylvania

A government shutdown in Pennsylvania could lead to significant disruptions in both federal services and…

September 25, 2025

No Federal Budget Without Health Care & Democracy

September 19, 2025 By Marc Stier The federal government fiscal year ends on September 30th,…

September 19, 2025

Op-Ed: Reply to Senator Dush’s op-ed on Medicaid cuts

Health care is being stripped away to fund unprecedented tax cuts for the wealthy and…

September 14, 2025

Who Benefits from State Support of Public Transit? All Pennsylvanians!

The Pennsylvania Budget and the Public Transit Funding Controversy The Pennsylvania General Assembly has a…

August 27, 2025

Senate Budget Fails Pennsylvanians

“Six weeks after the budget deadline, Senate Republicans have voted today to flat-fund education and…

August 12, 2025

Agriculture and Immigration Raids in Pennsylvania

As soon as he became president again, Donald Trump launched an aggressive and deeply disruptive…

July 23, 2025

Statement on House Passage of HB 1330, a General Appropriations Bill

The Pennsylvania House today passed a general appropriations bill, HB 1330. While it was a…

July 14, 2025

STATEMENT: The Budget Reconciliation Bill — a Disaster for Human Decency and our Economy

The House of Representatives’ decision to agree to a morally and economically bankrupt budget reconciliation…

July 3, 2025

STATEMENT: The Senate Vote Is a Historic Failure

Today the Senate passed what, if also passed by the House, will go down as…

July 1, 2025

Live Blogging Senate Consideration of the Reconciliation Bill

As Senate consideration of the reconciliation bill begins today I'm going to be commenting on…

June 28, 2025

Jeff Yass Makes a Joke

It appears that my recent letter to the editor in the Inquirer, claiming that business…

June 19, 2025

Juneteenth in the Age of MAGA

Juneteenth is a day of celebration that marks the end of slavery in America. But…

June 19, 2025

Why We Must Protect All Immigrants

When they fully understand it, many Trump voters don’t support his round-up of undocumented immigrants.…

June 13, 2025

All the Reasons Philadelphia Shouldn’t Cut Business Taxes

The 2025 Tax Reform Commission (TRC) recently called on the City to eliminate the net…

June 12, 2025

Connecting Trump’s Dots

Let me connect some dots between what’s happening in Los Angeles and what’s happening in…

June 12, 2025

A Response to the Philadelphia Inquirer About Business Taxes

The Inquirer’s editorial endorsement of cuts to city business and wage taxes repeats three widely…

June 12, 2025

The Budget Pennsylvania Needs

We are almost at the middle of June, the time when the political leaders of…

June 12, 2025

House Republicans’ Extreme Budget Plan Fails Pennsylvania Families, Children, and Communities

House Republicans passed legislation that would raise costs on Pennsylvania families and take health coverage,…

June 6, 2025

Cutting Business Taxes Is the Wrong Strategy for Philadelphia

Sometime at the beginning of the next decade, the City of Philadelphia’s pension fund will…

June 4, 2025

Regional Grid Operator PJM Should End Long Backlog of Projects Waiting for Approval

Consumers across the region are about to be hit with increases in electric bills of…

May 28, 2025

The Republican Budget Plan Will Lead to the Largest Redistribution from the Working and Middle Class to the Ultra-Rich in US History

House Republicans are moving with a budget reconciliation bill that makes deep cuts to Medicaid…

May 16, 2025

The Energy and Commerce Medicaid Proposal in Context

Update: May 12, 2:00 pm Overnight, the US House Energy and Commerce Committee released the…

May 12, 2025

The Trump–Republican Threat to Fair Taxes and Fiscal Integrity

Medicaid, SNAP and other budget cuts are necessary to the Republicans in order to pay…

May 12, 2025

Projecting the Costs to the Pennsylvania Budget of Federal Safety Net Cuts

After a delay of a week, the Agriculture and Energy and Commerce Committees of the…

May 9, 2025

Why We Should Raise the Minimum Wage in PA to $15 Per Hour – 2025 Update

A $15 minimum wage would raise wages for 460,00 workers directly and 405,600 indirectly. Both…

May 7, 2025

Seven Myths About Raising the Minimum Wage—Debunked (2025 update)

Raising the minimum wage in Pennsylvania is long overdue. Yet even though the Pennsylvania House…

May 5, 2025

The Trump–Republican Threat to Medicaid

The Trump–Republican budget reconciliation process is a major threat to Medicaid and will potentially eliminate…

May 3, 2025

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Threat to Food Assistance in PA

The budget resolution passed by the House and Senate, which gives instructions to House and…

May 1, 2025

Penn Policy Center Statement on Billionaires—Tax Day 2025

Harrisburg, PA – This Tax Day, as last-minute filers send their returns to an Internal Revenue Services (IRS)…

April 16, 2025

Kicking the Can Down the Road: Statement on the House Budget Resolution Vote

As we predicted a few days ago, the US House of Representatives passed a budget…

April 10, 2025

Don’t Trust the Process: Where Trump’s Budget Bill Stands

I want to give you an update on the Trump–Republican budget process. I’m going to…

April 8, 2025

How the Federal Budget Process Works

The federal budget process was created by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of…

April 8, 2025

Statement on Senate Budget Resolution

At 2:30 this morning, Pennsylvania Republican senator Dave McCormick joined all but two Republicans to…

April 5, 2025

Don’t Cut Philadelphia Taxes: An Overview

The 2025 Tax Reform Commission (TRC) recently called on the City to eliminate the net…

April 5, 2025

The Trump–Republican Assault on Working People Is Moving Ahead on Three Tracks

On track one is the Senate budget resolution, which would advance the effort to take…

April 5, 2025

The SAVE Act: A Threat to Voter Rights and State Autonomy

The newly proposed “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” (SAVE) Act has emerged as a contentious piece…

April 1, 2025

Work Requirements and the Safety Net

All ten Pennsylvania Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the budget resolution that…

February 28, 2025

Statement on House Budget Resolution Vote: Pennsylvania’s Families Are At Risk

Harrisburg, PA — Today, the Pennsylvania Policy Center released this statement from Executive Director Marc…

February 26, 2025

Upcoming Actions to Stop Threats to Democracy, Medicaid, SNAP, and Fair Taxation

Here are some upcoming actions opposing the Trump administration's threat to democracy, Medicaid, SNAP and…

February 18, 2025

The Other Shoe Drops: Deep Cuts Coming for Medicaid and SNAP to Pay for Tax Giveaways to the Ultra-Rich

I’m sure many of you have been following the news over the last few weeks…

February 15, 2025

Federal Fightback Fact Sheet

Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress want to extend and expand the 2017 Tax…

February 12, 2025

PPC Statement on PA Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2025–2026 Budget

Today, Governor Shapiro proposed a reasonably progressive budget under the circumstances of constrained resources and…

February 10, 2025

Pennsylvania Organizations Opposed to Medicaid and SNAP Cuts, and Tax Cuts for the Ultra-Rich

As you know, the incoming Trump administration and the Republican congressional leaders plan to extend…

February 9, 2025

Connecting the Dots

This is roughly what our executive director, Marc Stier, said today at the "50/50/1" event…

February 9, 2025

The Policy Pulse – January 2025

As we settle into 2025, we have new ways to make our voices heard, and…

February 6, 2025

Statement: Trump’s Executive Order Freezing Federal Payments Is Harmful, Illegal and Unconstitutional

Late on Monday, the Trump administration issued an executive order halting payment of grants and…

January 29, 2025

Republicans Want to Reject Federal Climate Change Funding for Neglected PA Communities

The Biden administration made an historic investment in American infrastructure with the Infrastructure Investment and…

January 27, 2025

STATEMENT: Trump Priorities Pose Stark Contrast to MLK’s Vision of Equality and Opportunity for All People

Harrisburg, PA – As Donald Trump begins his second presidential term on Martin Luther King…

January 17, 2025

Comments Given at the PA Schools Work Press Event – January 2025

I’m here to call on the General Assembly to fill the remaining $4 billion gap…

January 16, 2025

PPC Testimony to the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission

PPC outreach and partnerships director Jeff Garis presented this testimony written by PPC Executive Director…

January 13, 2025

Policy Pulse Newsletter – December 2024

Many of us are still in shock, or worse, after the election. But here at…

December 31, 2024

Senator Bob Casey: An Appreciation

While our organization does not endorse candidates, we do have our favorite elected officials. Bob…

December 4, 2024

THE POLICY PULSE — November 2024

Welcome to the second edition of Pennsylvania Policy Center’s POLICY PULSE newsletter—and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we're glad…

November 22, 2024

What Happened. What We Must Do to Resist. And What We Must Do to Move Forward.

While we need to take some time to deal with the emotional upheaval created by…

November 15, 2024

The PA House—Our Ray of Electoral Sunshine

We have one ray of really good election news. Even in the face of a…

November 13, 2024

Immigrants Are a Vital Part of Pennsylvania’s Future

When immigrants move to Pennsylvania, the economy grows. That doesn’t mean fewer jobs, it means…

October 31, 2024

New Census Data Shows Failure and Success of Pennsylvania Public Policy

The annual release of census data is often a guide to policy success and failure…

October 31, 2024

What Project 2025 Means for Pennsylvania Taxpayers

If the federal government in Donald Trump’s potential second term were to adopt the tax…

October 31, 2024

Fascism Is Not a Threat. It’s Already Here.

I’ve been warning about the dangers of Donald Trump’s fascism since he announced his first…

October 29, 2024

The October Surprise Is a Booming Economy

Tomorrow, on October 30th, gross domestic product numbers for the third quarter were released today…

October 29, 2024

Fear Donald Trump — Not Immigrants

Demonizing and stoking fear of immigrants is at the center of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign…

October 23, 2024

Who Runs Pennsylvania Makes a Difference

This is the last week in which Pennsylvania’s 2023–24 General Assembly is likely to be…

October 23, 2024

OPINION: What Would a Second Trump Term Mean for Our Taxes?

Donald Trump doesn’t like to talk much about the public policies he would propose if…

October 17, 2024

The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) Is Critical to Climate Infrastructure in PA

The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) is an independent public financing authority with a mission to…

October 11, 2024

Penn Policy Statement on President Biden’s Withdrawal

Joe Biden’s truly selfless act today exemplifies the authentic leadership that has made him the…

July 21, 2024

Response to the 2024–25 PA State Budget — Education Funding

Governor Shapiro and the members of the General Assembly have had about 18 months to…

July 11, 2024

Op-Ed: A State Earned Income Tax Credit Should Be Part of a Budget Deal in 2024

The Pennsylvania state budget for fiscal year 2024–25 is now officially overdue, so we're still…

July 9, 2024

Statement: PPC Opposes Senate School Voucher Bill 1280

After failing to enact a state budget for FY 2024–25 by the deadline of July…

July 3, 2024

Statement: What We Are Looking for in a Budget Agreement

The Pennsylvania state budget is now officially late. By all reports, however, House and Senate negotiators, as well as the governor’s…

July 1, 2024

The Time Is Right for PA to Finally Raise its Minimum Wage | OPINION

House Bill 1500, co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Jason Dawkins of Philadelphia and Patty Kim of Dauphin County,…

June 30, 2024

Pennsylvania Policy Center Update on Pennsylvania Budget Negotiations

With $13 billion in accumulated surplus and a budget from the governor that proposed modest…

June 30, 2024

It’s Time for Combined Reporting

I thank you for your invitation to speak on two of the three bills before…

June 29, 2024

Ed. Bd. Memo: A State Earned Income Tax Credit Should Be Part of a Budget Deal in 2024

The Pennsylvania state budget is now officially late. By all reports, however, House and Senate negotiators, as well as the governor’s…

June 27, 2024

K–12 School Funding in PA Remains Inadequate and Inequitable

Year after year, our predecessor organization and many others have released research showing both that…

June 26, 2024

Testimony to the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission

Our executive director, Marc Stier, presented this testimony at the first public hearing of the…

June 21, 2024

Create a State Earned Income Tax Credit in 2024!

In our first post in this series, we argued that if the Pennsylvania General Assembly…

June 14, 2024

Should We Cut Taxes in 2024–25, and if so—How?

In response to a Senate vote in favor of a small reduction in the personal…

June 14, 2024

Speech by Marc Stier — Education Funding Rally at the Capitol

The data is clear. The Courts have ruled. The defendants in the case didn’t appeal…

May 8, 2024

Republicans Choose Tax Cuts for the Rich over Funding Education

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-41) introduced legislation to cut Pennsylvania’s personal income tax…

May 7, 2024

Join Us for Our Online Tax Justice Conversation!

At Pennsylvania Policy Center we are continuing our call to reverse our upside-down tax system,…

April 10, 2024

It’s Long Past Time to Raise the Minimum Wage

By Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center I took my first regular paid job…

April 1, 2024

End Local Minimum Wage Preemption

As I documented in a previous blog post, there is no question that the minimum…

April 1, 2024

The Minimum Wage, the Contemporary Economy, and Economic Justice

VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT, OR DOWNLOAD. https://pennpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Minimum-Wage-and-Economic-Justice.pdf

March 29, 2024

There’s a Crucial Need for OSHA Regulations in Safeguarding Public Sector Workers

In Pennsylvania, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations apply to most private sector…

March 22, 2024

STATEMENT: Celebrating the Landmark Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s 14 Years

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2024 CONTACT: Kirstin Snow, Communications Director snow@pennpolicy.org STATEMENT ON 14th ANNIVERSARY OF…

March 22, 2024

Syringe Services Programs Would Save the Lives of Thousands in PA

The Pennsylvania Legislature needs to pass HB 1245, legislation that would legalize syringe services programs…

February 14, 2024

A Pennsylvania Budget to Celebrate

Governor Shapiro took office a year ago at a time when there was a great…

February 6, 2024

Statement in Response to the Basic Education Funding Commission Report

The adoption of the Basic Education Funding Commission Report yesterday is a major step forward in…

January 12, 2024

ITEP Report: Tax Fairness in Pennsylvania

This year's report continues to tell the same story that we have seen for decades.…

January 10, 2024

Survey Results: Support for Higher Taxes on Profitable Corporations and Wealthy Individuals by PA Senate District

In November and December of 2022, Data for Progress conducted a survey of registered voters…

January 4, 2024

Pennsylvania Voters Believe Wealthy Individuals and Profitable Corporations Are Not Paying Their Fair Share

Income and wealth are highly concentrated at the top in Pennsylvania, a situation that has…

January 4, 2024

Education Funding and Education Achievement

A year ago, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer ruled that Pennsylvania violates its constitutional obligation to…

December 22, 2023

Education, Democracy, and Economic Growth

A year ago, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer ruled that Pennsylvania violates its constitutional obligation to…

December 22, 2023

We Can’t Fix Education By Shuffling The Deck

In February 2023, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer called for a new funding system in Pennsylvania…

December 22, 2023

Why Pennsylvanians Should Reject Vouchers

Susan Spicka, Education Voters PADiana Polson, Keystone Research CenterMarc Stier, Pennsylvania Policy Center Here…

December 15, 2023

Statement on Completion of PA State Budget

Six months after the general appropriation bill was passed by the Pennsylvania House and…

December 13, 2023

Pennsylvanians Together Releases Holiday Wish List!

As we enter the holiday season, our thoughts are turned to all the ways the…

December 10, 2023

PRESS STATEMENT: PA Will Lose $3.1 Billion to Corporate Tax Cuts by 2028

Harrisburg, PA — In recent years, policymakers in Harrisburg joined their counterparts in more than…

November 30, 2023

Making Our Votes Count for the Issues We Care About

Pennsylvanians continue to focus on critical issues that matter to our quality of life. In…

November 28, 2023

Editorial Board Memo on Education Funding in Pennsylvania

In February 2023, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer called for a new funding system in Pennsylvania…

November 22, 2023

PPC Statement on PA Court’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Decision

The Pennsylvania Policy Center (PPC) joins several of its partners in expressing concern about last…

November 9, 2023

The Contribution of K–12 Education to Economic Growth and Democracy

In the wake of last year’s decision in the school funding lawsuit, policymakers and advocates…

November 8, 2023

Shuffling the Deck Won’t Solve the Pennsylvania School Funding Crisis

In February 2023, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer called for a new funding system in Pennsylvania…

November 8, 2023

Parents Have Rights—But Not to Ban Books

The Senate is now considering SB 7, a bill proposed by Senator Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster),which…

October 19, 2023

Is Harrisburg Ready for Change?

Since Democrats finally took control in March, we have seen the House of Representatives pass…

October 13, 2023

What Would an Equitable Voucher System Look Like?

Pennsylvania's Republican legislators support a voucher program they say is meant to help a small…

September 18, 2023

Anti-Worker S.B. 803 Would Gut Worker Protections

Business interests in Pennsylvania are pushing a change in the law that would abandon the…

September 18, 2023

Senate Again Refuses to Fund State’s Most Dire School Districts

"The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate came back today for a rare August session. It took a…

August 30, 2023

Economic Opportunity, the Dignity of Work, and the Minimum Wage

Raising the minimum wage has always been about the dignity, as well as the wages,…

August 22, 2023

STATEMENT: The (First Part) of the Budget Standoff Is Over

After Governor Shapiro signed the General Appropriation bill today, the Pennsylvania Policy Center released the…

August 3, 2023

Saving Public Education in Pennsylvania, Where It Began

The budget stalemate in Harrisburg hasn't been primarily about whether some budget line items go…

July 5, 2023

Penn Policy Center Statement on PA Budget Passage

Governor Shapiro’s letter announcing that he would line-item veto the appropriation for vouchers in the…

July 5, 2023

Update on Pennsylvania Budget Negotiations

With $13 billion in accumulated surplus and a budget from the governor that proposed modest…

July 3, 2023

The Lifeline Scholarship Program Would Undermine Public Education

My name is Marc Stier. I’m the executive director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center. I’m…

June 28, 2023

We Need To Let Local Communities Set Their Own Minimum Wage

The state of Pennsylvania does not allow local governments—whether counties or municipalities—to set a higher…

June 23, 2023

Penn Policy Statement on House Passage of HB 1500, the Minimum Wage Bill

Marc Stier, executive director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, released the following statement after the…

June 20, 2023

Penn Policy Speaks in Support of House Budget on K–12 Education

In March, Governor Shapiro put forward a proposed budget that many of us said had…

June 15, 2023

PA House Passes Proposals to Reduce Taxes for Working People

Four Major Proposals Will Make Pennsylvania Taxes Fairer The Pennsylvania House today passed the…

June 13, 2023

The Real Cost of Opening a Window for Sexual Abuse Lawsuits in Pennsylvania

I was asked to testify about the claims made in a paper by the Susquehanna…

May 1, 2023

Why We Need a Property Tax Circuit Breaker in Pennsylvania

I’m very pleased to stand with Senator Jimmy Dillon and Representative Robert Freeman in support…

April 25, 2023

Pennsylvania Policy Center to Launch in Effort to Improve State Policies and Strengthen Communities

HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Policy Center, a nonprofit conducting policy research and analysis,…

April 19, 2023

A Personal Note About the New Pennsylvania Policy Center From our Executive Director

Last year, at about this time, I was thinking about retiring from the work I’d…

March 1, 2023