Common Sense Weekly
Welcome to Common Sense Weekly! This is the Commonwealth Foundation's weekly news roundup of policy issues being debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania.
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Shapiro's Broken Promises are Breaking Pennsylvania
Everyone knows that politicians break promises. But Gov. Josh Shapiro’s promise-breaking is so sweeping it’s breathtaking.
That’s all I could think after governor’s budget address on February 4th. His biggest speech of the year was notable not only for what he said but what he didn’t say.
He didn’t say a word about Lifeline Scholarships—his signature promise from his gubernatorial campaign and something he claimed to support the past two years. His silence is astounding because the need for this school-choice program is massive and growing.
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Pennsylvania's Governor Puts 'Green' Messaging Ahead of Realistic Solutions
Leading Democrats still haven’t learned the lesson of their defeat to Donald Trump. Their party is stuck in the political wilderness because they spent four years trying to favorably “message” around their policy failures instead of promoting real solutions to Americans’ problems. Now, one of the governors who wants to lead Democrats out of the wilderness — Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro — is making the same mistake.
On January 28, Shapiro tried to make a bombshell announcement. He said that PJM Interconnection — a heavily regulated company that manages the electric grid in much of the mid-Atlantic — settled a lawsuit the governor had filed the previous month. According to Shapiro, the company would stop “unnecessary price hikes” and “save consumers over $21 billion on utility bills.” Clearly, the governor wants to suggest that he’s providing Americans relief from the cost-of-living crisis.
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Dem Governors Complain About Energy Costs They Created
It’s no secret that energy prices are on the rise. High demand for electricity and tight supplies—exacerbated by early retirements of coal-fired power plants—strain grid capacity nationwide. But rather than take accountability for destructive policies that produced these conditions, Democrat governors play the blame game.
In October, electric grid operator PJM Interconnection received a joint letter from five Democrat governors—Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, Illinois’ JB Pritzker, New Jersey’s Phil Murphy, Maryland’s Wes Moore, and Delaware’s John Carney. According to them, PJM, which supplies electricity to 13 states and the District of Columbia, has gouged customers with its annual capacity auctions.
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Shapiro's Business Tax Cut Proposal Comes with Costly Strings
As part of his newest budget proposal, Gov. Josh Shapiro suggested accelerating an ongoing reduction of Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax. While that sounds like a good idea for the state’s economy, it appears to come with some strings attached – ones that likely won’t sit well with many of the state’s businesses.
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