Feb. 04, 2025

HARRISBURG – The $51.47 billion 2025-26 PA budget proposal presented by Gov. Josh Shapiro today would not only spend a whopping 7.5 percent more than the current fiscal year, but it also fails to consider how Pennsylvania families and small business owners are hurting due to exorbitant inflation, overregulation, and lack of pro-growth policies, according to Rep. Perry Stambaugh (R-Perry/Juniata).

“The governor’s spending plan isn’t rooted in reality,” Stambaugh said. “No reasonable person thinks that level of spending could possibly be healthy for Pennsylvania’s future.”

Stambaugh questions why the governor avoided tackling the 800-pound gorilla in the room — the Commonwealth’s exploding structural deficit — or explaining why PA policies for which he advocates don’t stack up well against neighboring states like Ohio and West Virginia, which are seen as the Commonwealth’s main competitors. 

The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) forecasts state financial red ink for the current 2024-25 state budget year to roll in at $3.675 billion. Unless checked, that shortfall will rise to $4.667 billion in 2025-26, $5.440 billion in 2026-27, $6.169 billion in 2027-28, and $6.5 billion each year after.

To close the spending gap, the General Fund surplus — which stood at roughly $8 billion in January 2023 when Shapiro took office — will continue to be siphoned and completely disappear by 2026. After that, by applying questionable budget gimmicks, the governor and legislative leaders will tap the $7 billion Rainy Day Fund. IFO projects the state savings account (currently equivalent to 54 days of spending) will be depleted by the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year.

Add to this the nearly $70 billion in unfunded obligations from the state’s two main pension funds (state employees and retired teachers), and ultimately billions more could be tacked on annually to expenses.

“What’s next after that?,” Stambaugh warned. “Tax increases, of course!”

“When it comes to the 2025-26 PA budget, I am always hopeful our impending fiscal crisis will force a long-overdue, concerted effort by all parties to change the Commonwealth’s economic trajectory,” Stambaugh said.

Shapiro addressed the General Assembly to share his 2025-26 spending wish list. State House and Senate budget hearings will soon begin for the fiscal year that starts July 1.


Representative Perry Stambaugh
86th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Media Contact: Jennifer Fitch
717.260.6335
jfitch@pahousegop.com
Repperrystambaugh.com / facebook.com/RepPerryStambaugh

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