Raining on Shapiro’s Rainy Day Fund Raid

  • Common Sense Weekly
  • September 20, 2025

Here’s the Commonwealth Foundation’s weekly news roundup of policy issues debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania. Can the ‘Rainy Day Fund’ Balance the Budget? ​​​​Pennsylvania’s emergency savings account, contrary to…

Blog

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State Budget

The Shapiro Stalemate Enters Year Three

  • September 12, 2025

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…

Blog

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Education

Governor Shapiro’s 2025 Budget Proposal: An Extreme Spending Binge

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 4, 2025

Overview Gov. Josh Shapiro’s radical overspending exacerbates what is already a massive budget deficit. His plan imposes new taxes this year and will force extreme tax hikes on working families…

Fact Sheet

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State Budget

The Rainy Day Fund

  • January 14, 2025

Summary The Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, commonly referred to as the Rainy Day Fund, is Pennsylvania’s largest budgetary reserve fund. Pennsylvania law dictates that lawmakers may only draw from the…

Fact Sheet

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Education

Key Takeaways from Governor’s 2024 Budget Proposal

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 7, 2024

Key Points Gov. Josh Shapiro’s startling spending increases and myriad of new initiatives would explode the budget deficit and invite massive tax hikes on working families in the coming years.

Backgrounder

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Energy

Assessing Gov. Tom Wolf’s Tenure

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 12, 2023

Key Points During Gov. Tom Wolf’s eight years in office, Pennsylvania ranked below the national average in income growth, job growth, and population growth.State government spending increased significantly under Wolf,…

Backgrounder

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