The Shapiro Stalemate Enters Year Three

Gov. Josh Shapiro wants Pennsylvanians to believe that he wasn’t responsible for this year’s budget impasse—just like he wasn’t for last year’s stalemate or the year before that. For three consecutive years, the governor has failed to deliver an on-time budget while also refusing to address Pennsylvania’s impending structural deficit.  

Shapiro kicked off this entire process by overpromising and underdelivering with his own budget plans. The governor continues to propose deficit spending that will not only wipe out the General Fund but also drain Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day Fund.  

Moreover, he has devoted more energy toward seeking higher office, using taxpayer-funded resources to amplify his presidential ambitions, than facilitating good-faith, bipartisan budget negotiations. Moreover,  

Ultimately, when reviewing the course of events that led Pennsylvania to this moment, the buck clearly stops with the governor.  

Here’s a timeline of events that have brought us to this moment.

• November 22, 2024 — Gov. Josh Shapiro diverts $153 million federal highway funding to SEPTA as a “one-time” bailout.  

• February 4, 2025 — Shapiro delivers his annual budget spending plan, proposing $51.5 billion in spending, which includes more than $5 billion in deficit spending and raiding the Rainy Day Fund. 

• March 4, 2025 — Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) publishes its analysis of Shapiro’s budget proposal. The IFO report concludes that the governor’s proposal—specifically, tax revenue from skill games, legalized recreational cannabis, and combined reporting for corporate income—overestimates revenue projections by $796 million. 

• March 14, 2025 — Shapiro flies to Los Angeles to appear on Real Time With Bill Maher. Despite promoting billions in deficit spending, the governor said, “I live in the real world, where we have to balance budgets.” 

• April 10, 2025 — SEPTA announces that if state lawmakers cannot cover its $213 million budget shortfall, service cuts will go into effect on July 1. 

• June 24, 2025 — Shapiro claims that Senate Republicans have been “dragging their feet.” 

• June 30, 2025 — Shapiro claims a budget deal will occur “very, very soon.” 

• July 1, 2025 — Pennsylvania lawmakers fail to meet the state’s budget deadline. SEPTA doesn’t implement service cuts. For his third consecutive year as governor, Shapiro fails to deliver an on-time budget.   

• July 14, 2025 — The Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania House passes House Bill (HB) 1330—its version of a state budget. HB 1330 also proposes allocating about $300 million in statewide funding for transit. However, just like Shapiro’s reckless spending plan, the House’s wildly unserious plan proposes spending $5.3 billion more than its projected revenue. 

• July 19, 2025 — Shapiro leaves budget negotiations to fly to Nantucket, Massachusetts, for a campaign fundraiser.  

• July 24, 2025 — Still with an unfinished budget, Shapiro flies to New York to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During the show, he criticized President Donald Trump’s leadership, saying, “He talks a good game. And then when he gets to govern, he does the exact opposite.”  

• August 6, 2025 —North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signs a “mini-budget” into law as a short-term solution to the state’s own legislative stalemate, leaving Pennsylvania the only state without some form of finalized budget. 

• August 6, 2025 — SEPTA announces a new deadline—August 14th—for state lawmakers to provide funding or else the agency would begin to cut services. 

• August 11, 2025 — The Pennsylvania House passes a transit-funding bill, with members citing this as their fifth legislative attempt to do so. 

• August 12, 2025 — Republican-led Pennsylvania Senate passes a short-term budget that keeps overall spending flat but also proposes using state transportation trust funds to cover SEPTA’s budget deficit. A Pennsylvania House committee quickly votes down the measure. 

• August 15, 2025 — SEPTA announces its intention to move forward with service cuts. 

• August 24, 2025 — SEPTA officially implements service cuts. 

• August 25, 2025 — Fifty-six days late on the budget, Shapiro says, “We’re all going to have to compromise.” 

• August 25, 2025 — Shapiro says, “I think we are close,” when asked about budget negotiations. 

• August 25, 2025 — Philadelphia lawyer George Bochetto, on behalf of several aggrieved SEPTA riders, sues the agency, citing that the agency’s “draconian” service cuts severely and disproportionately affect “racial and ethnic minorities and low-income citizens.” The lawsuit also highlights how SEPTA has the money it needs in its own stabilization fund. 

• August 26, 2025 — Shapiro blames Senate Republicans for the budget delay, claiming they are “trying to slow down the state budget for the purposes of seemingly gaining some political advantage.” 

• August 27, 2025 — Shapiro privately pitches a $49.9 billion budget as a “compromise.” The deal goes nowhere. 

• August 28, 2025 — City of Philadelphia announces its plan to use $135 million from its existing transit funding to restore SEPTA service lines that predominantly serve students.  

• August 29, 2025 — A Philadelphia judge issues a temporary injunction, pressuring SEPTA to reverse its service cuts. 

• September 3, 2025 — New polling reveals that a majority of Pennsylvanians blame Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Democrats for the budget stalemate. 

• September 3, 2025 — FanDuel spends $80,000 to restore service to SEPTA’s Broad Street Line, which provides free rides to and from Lincoln Financial Field.  

• September 4, 2025 — A Common Pleas Court judge orders SEPTA to “reverse all service cuts and halt any future cuts the authority has planned to cope with its funding crisis.” 

• September 5, 2025 — SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer sends a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), requesting to use $394 million in statewide reserves for capital improvements. 

• September 8, 2025 — Shapiro directs PennDOT to approve Sauer’s request. Their response, penned by Transportation Secretary Michael Carroll, lambasts the “clear problems” of the Senate Republicans’ plan. Carroll cites how their proposal would divert $419 million of statewide transit reserves to road-paving projects. “We do not believe utilizing mass transit funding for such purposes is sound public policy,” he writes. Yet, Carroll also signed off on diverting federal highway funding to bail out SEPTA the previous year.