HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's budget is almost four months late.
For counties, school districts, nonprofits, and contractors, the cost of inaction is piling up. But for the commonwealth’s legislators, it's been business as usual.
State lawmakers have held at least 133 fundraisers in the 115 days since the June 30 deadline, with another 39 planned for next week, according to a calendar maintained by a Harrisburg lobby shop. These range from a few hours at a coffee shop or bar near the Capitol to a day of shooting pheasants or hitting golf balls, and they’re a prime opportunity for donors to get lawmakers’ ears and push their priorities.
Public officials have also taken at least two international trips during the impasse. A bipartisan group of lawmakers and staffers went to Ireland for a trade mission capped off by a Steelers game, while Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to Quebec for a conference of regional officials.
Lawmakers who spoke to Spotlight PA, including a top Republican in the state Senate, defended the fundraisers and trips, saying that legislating and politicking are unrelated and can coexist.
But two good-government watchdogs said they represent the dysfunction that has contributed to the state’s inability to pass a spending plan.
Michael Pollack, executive director of March on Harrisburg, said the fundraisers show that “even when the gears of the government grind to a halt, the machinery of institutional corruption continues.”
“If only they would turn toward the people and legislate as if they loved the people, they wouldn't need the campaign cash anyway,” he added.
Eric Epstein, a longtime state government watchdog, said, “if legislators spent as much time on a budget as they do on golf courses, drinking beer in Ireland, and throwing parties for themselves, we would be running a surplus.”
He added that the body “lacks adult supervision” and shouldn't be paid during an impasse. (A handful of lawmakers don’t take pay, as Spotlight PA previously reported.)
It’s up to Pennsylvania’s governor and full-time legislature to pass a budget. The Democratic-controlled state House has held 48 voting session days this year, while the GOP-run state Senate has held 35.
Both chambers have passed their own budget bills, as well as legislation that represents their priorities. The state House has advanced proposals to raise the state’s minimum wage and implement background checks on long guns, while the state Senate has voted to ban trans girls from playing school sports and require local authorities to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
However, a budget deal has remained out of reach as disagreements over spending continue.
During an impasse, Pennsylvania state government continues to operate. Jails and parks remain open. State employees, including lawmakers, the governor, and their staff, get paychecks. Benefits like Medicaid and unemployment keep running.
But the state is unable to make billions in payments to local governments, schools, nonprofits, and private contractors who provide services to residents, causing deep financial pain.
Both rank-and-file lawmakers and leadership hold fundraisers to raise cash to help themselves and their party win increasingly expensive campaigns. While every vote counts in the closely divided chambers, only a handful of top legislators and their staff actually hammer out budget deals.
State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) held a clay pigeon shoot and two golf outings in August as Philadelphia’s public transit system moved forward with system cuts it blamed on legislative inaction. He became a frequent target of criticism on social media among supporters of the transit system and some Democratic elected officials.
However, Pittman brushed off the critique, noting he was not alone.
“My understanding is all of my colleagues have fundraisers on a very continual basis. Some of our statewide elected officials have fundraisers outside the commonwealth,” Pittman told Spotlight PA in September. “So I don't think me having those types of events scheduled months in advance has any bearing or impact on the conversations that occur in this building.”
Shapiro, a frequent flyer for fundraising, has gone out of state for campaign fundraisers at least twice during the impasse, to the Jersey Shore and Nantucket.
State House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) hosted a fundraiser at Citizens Bank Park during a Phillies game in August. Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) and other top state House Republicans headlined a $30,000-a-pop national fundraiser at a South Carolina golf resort in October, according to an invitation viewed by Spotlight PA.
Partisans from both sides of the aisle have used these fundraisers to criticize each other.
“They're fundraising to keep the jobs they refuse to do,” state Senate Democrats’ campaign committee posted in October, noting that its counterpart was planning a country club fundraiser. “Shameful!”
“Your attempts at gaslighting on the budget are embarrassing,” the state Senate Republicans’ campaign committee replied, noting a past Democratic fundraiser at a golf club. “Shameful!”
Even lobbyists are frustrated that lawmakers are continuing to hold fundraisers they are expected to pay to attend, yet haven’t finished the budget. One, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said lawmakers are promising that lobbyist priorities will get addressed “after the budget.”
“If State Street collectively had a set of balls, every fundraising solicitation would be met with ‘after the budget,’” the lobbyist added, referring to the Harrisburg street where many lobby shops are headquartered.
As with fundraisers, both top lawmakers and rank-and-file ones have traveled during the impasse.
At least six legislative Republicans, including state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, four legislative Democrats, and members of Shapiro’s administration, including Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, went to Ireland in September.
State Rep. Tim Brennan (D., Bucks), an attendee, told Spotlight PA that the trade mission gave lawmakers a chance to ask their legislative brethren in Ireland about their struggles to find common ground. He also said the extra time with his fellow legislators, regardless of party or chamber, could help bridge divides back in Harrisburg.
“We should be working to form consensus,” Brennan said. “Some of the senators I spoke to more over there than I do here.”
State Rep. Jake Banta (R., Erie) wrote in an email that Spotlight PA’s questions about the trip sounded “like you are looking for a story to disparage a State Representative.”
“You don’t have to thank me but I’m certain the trip helped our future relations with Ireland in developing trade and economic prosperity,” Banta said.
Asked by reporters about the Ireland trip earlier this month, Shapiro said, “I'm not in charge of their schedules, but if I were these lawmakers, and the governor had introduced a budget 241 days ago, I'd sure as heck be in Harrisburg doing my job.”
Shapiro’s main GOP rival for governor, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, falsely said he attended the Ireland trip in a campaign email: “While Josh Shapiro is too busy watching the Steelers play in Ireland to fund our 3-month late state budget, I am home fighting for you so we can have a better future for all Pennsylvanians.”
The Garrity campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Shapiro did, however, travel to Quebec for a summit held at the historic five-star Fairmont Le Château Frontenac that featured other U.S. governors and Canadian provincial premiers from the Great Lakes region. He was elected chair of the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers during the conference.
Spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky said the trip was paid for with taxpayer money, as Shapiro attended “in his official capacity in order to strengthen ties between Pennsylvania and the 11 states and provinces that are members.”
The Shapiro administration privately told staff to avoid all unnecessary travel during the budget impasse, according to emails viewed by Spotlight PA. However, it offered an exception for higher-level staff if canceling would cost more than not attending.