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State Budget
PA House Democrats Pass Unbalanced, Reckless Spending Bill
Harrisburg, Pa., July 14, 2025 — Today, Pennsylvania House Democrats passed the General Appropriations Act (HB 1330), their version of a budget bill, which includes a $2.9 billion spending increase.
Read More: PA House Democrats Pass Unbalanced, Reckless Spending Bill
Education
OBBB Delivers Historic Expansion of Educational Choice, Sweeping Reforms
Read More: OBBB Delivers Historic Expansion of Educational Choice, Sweeping Reforms
State Budget
WATCH: Megan Martin on PCN Discussing State Budget, Mass Transit Bail-out, and More
Read More: WATCH: Megan Martin on PCN Discussing State Budget, Mass Transit Bail-out, and More
State Budget
Shapiro, House Democrats Miss the Budget Deadline Again, With No Deal in Sight
Read More: Shapiro, House Democrats Miss the Budget Deadline Again, With No Deal in SightRegulation
Hockey Arenas Do Not Revitalize Cities
After faltering on there “no new taxes pledge“ Senate…
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Read More: Hockey Arenas Do Not Revitalize CitiesRegulation
PA Senate Votes to Raise Taxes Now and In the Future
The Pennsylvania Senate this afternoon gave their approval to the municipal pension “reform” bill, even after the House stripped out almost all of the weak reforms. The legislation was…
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Read More: PA Senate Votes to Raise Taxes Now and In the FutureTaxes & Economy
Death Tax Increase Would Cost Thousand of PA Jobs
Pennsylvania Family Institute joins the Family Research Council and the American Family Business Foundation in releasing a new report today analyzing the effects of the estate tax (“death tax”) on…
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Read More: Death Tax Increase Would Cost Thousand of PA JobsTaxes & Economy
Stimulus Didn’t Stimulate
Interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal by three economists on the effects of the federal “stimulus” to date. The authors find, not suprisingly, that the stimulus has not…
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Read More: Stimulus Didn’t StimulateState Budget
ACORN Got $200,000 from PA Taxpayers
Given all the recent scandals surrounding ACORN, the vote to defund them in the US Senate, and the Census severing ties with ACORN, it raises an interesting…
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Read More: ACORN Got $200,000 from PA TaxpayersEducation
America’s Troubling College Graduation Rate
A recent study from AEI compares graduation and drop-out rates among American colleges and finds a disturbing trend. Colleges are graduating less than 60% of their student…
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Read More: America’s Troubling College Graduation RatePublic Union Democracy
Is “Card Check” Racist?
A new study on the Employee Free Choice Act finds that the ill-named legislation would deliberately harm minorities (HT: The Union Label) This proposal would likely expand labor hierarchy, labor market…
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Read More: Is “Card Check” Racist?State Budget
Enacting an Irresponsible Budget
Way back on July 1, 2009, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi penned an excellent commentary, “Enacting a Responsible Budget,” urging “the Governor and the House Democratic leaders to support a…
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Read More: Enacting an Irresponsible BudgetState Budget
Braveheart and the PA State Budget
I’ve compared Pennsylvania policy-making to Braveheart before, but the move from a public conference committee to secret,…
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Read More: Braveheart and the PA State BudgetHealth Care
Ten More “You Lie” Opportunities
John Hawkins has a list of 10 more lies, mistruths, or inaccurate claims put out by President Obama on health care: The President is working with Republicans. Republicans haven’t…
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Read More: Ten More “You Lie” OpportunitiesTaxes & Economy
Are Tea Party Protesters Nut Jobs?
Reason TV interviews a number of attendees of the 9/12 Tea Party in DC in a new video asking whether they are “small group of radical freakazoids or a…
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Read More: Are Tea Party Protesters Nut Jobs?Education
State-Run Preschool Doesn’t Make the Grade
Cato has a new policy report, as well as a recent blog post which sums up the arguments, on why large-scale government preschool programs are not what…
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Read More: State-Run Preschool Doesn’t Make the GradeRegulation
Smoking Ban Puts Damper on PA Taverns
A recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette highlights the burden the statewide smoking ban has on Pennsylvania bars and taverns. According to the Pennsylvania Tavern Association, there were…
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Read More: Smoking Ban Puts Damper on PA TavernsState Budget
Bad Budget for Business
Lowman Henry calls out the PA Senate GOP for its budget deal, from many of the same reasons we did – it…
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Read More: Bad Budget for BusinessRegulation
If You Don’t Like Pork, Don’t Vote for It
State Rep. James Casorio issued a news release today criticizing a taxpayer-funded loan to what he terms a “puppy mill”. The loan came from the Renewable Energy Program of…
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Read More: If You Don’t Like Pork, Don’t Vote for ItTaxes & Economy
Saving is Good for the Economy
The Freeman, the monthly publication of the Foundation for Economic Education, has a good article on the ridiculous economic argument that savings is bad for the economy. This…
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Read More: Saving is Good for the EconomyRegulation
Constitutionality of PA Dog Law Upheld
A federal court ruled last week that Pennsylvania’s new “dog law”, enacted last year does not violated Constitutional protections against unwarranted search and seizure: U.S. District Judge Sylvia…
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Read More: Constitutionality of PA Dog Law UpheldGovernment Accountability
Recaps of 9/12 March on DC
Here is some coverage of 9/12 protest in Washington DC from Pennsylvania (and some national) bloggers and attendeed: PA WaterCooler has a photo essay from John Lewandowski, who went…
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Read More: Recaps of 9/12 March on DCGovernment Accountability
CF Blog Roundup
Here are some of the most recent Commonwealth Foundation citations from Pennsylvania blogs: Capitol Ideas gives us some linkage on health care reform and on flying cars. GrassrootsPA…
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Read More: CF Blog Roundup
Budget plan gets chilly reception from governor
Media Hit
Read More: Budget plan gets chilly reception from governor