Do-nothing Dems in the Pa. House hold bipartisan reforms hostage

In the last two years, tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians have fled the state. This trend is not new. For 12 of the past 13 years, more residents have moved out of the commonwealth than have moved in. We now have the ignominy of having the fourth-highest population loss in the country. At this rate, analysts anticipate Pennsylvania losing another congressional seat by 2030.

We’re losing the people, the communities, and the businesses that define us.

Things have been going so badly that the then-governor of Arkansas roasted Pennsylvania when his state landed a $3 billion, 900-job economic expansion project from U.S. Steel in 2022. Asa Hutchinson crowed he’d have that plant built and operational “before you could ever get a permit to even start construction in Pennsylvania.”

Galling? Yes. But Hutchinson was right.

U.S. Steel is a heritage business and product for us — a proud legacy that we essentially gave away to Arkansas thanks to our excessive and stifling regulatory environment.

We rarely think about the role of Pennsylvania’s crippling economic policies when people decide to give up on our state and relocate. Pennsylvania’s economics just aren’t working for too many people. Bad policy is hurting all of us, and it’s contributing to an epidemic of loneliness.

This makes the refusal by Democrats in the state’s House of Representatives to resume their legislative work until March a shameful dereliction of duty that adds another layer of burden to suffering people waiting on them to act.

Taxpayers pony up an awful lot to make sure our lawmakers are incentivized to do their jobs. Pennsylvania is one of but a few states with a full-time legislature. Our lawmakers are the second-highest paid in the nation (six-plus figures, which — counting salaries and benefits — puts Pennsylvania just behind New York). Not that there was much to show for it: House Democrats only convened for 48 voting sessions in 2023.

That’s 48 more days than the Democratic House has come to work so far this year.

You may recall before the ball had dropped on 2023, Democratic House Speaker Joanna McClinton was declaring the House closed for business for the winter because the chamber roof had sprung a leak. You could hear the eye-rolling everywhere at the House Democrat’s anemic excuse that generated scorching critique and skepticism.

House Democrats are work-shy and moisture-adverse this year for the same reason they were last year: Another vacancy in the House Democratic caucus has imperiled their one-seat control of the chamber.

Pennsylvania cannot afford to lose another legacy business deal to a better-run state. During his campaign for governor, Josh Shapiro promised to reduce the corporate net income tax from 9.99% to 4% by 2025 and create “a tax environment that is going to be among the best in the nation.” But he has been unable to get his Democratic-led House to get it done.

House Democrats should be doing their jobs, and not just on economic issues. Shapiro has been promising to expand telehealth services and increase access to providers in underserved areas. Philadelphia has 14 of those areas — locations that do not have enough providers to meet the intense demand.

Shapiro’s budget agreement with Senate Republicans — cutting the corporate tax to bring businesses and jobs back to the state and expanding access to health care — enjoys strong bipartisan support in the legislature and broad popular support among Pennsylvanians. Polling by my colleagues at the Commonwealth Foundation shows that 83% of Pennsylvanians support expanding access to telehealth, and 77% support lowering the corporate tax rate.

Lawmakers should remember their duty under the state constitution, that government “is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the people, nation or community; and not for the particular emolument or advantage of any single man, family, or soft of men, who are a part only of that community.”

McClinton and the Democrats should put people before their own power. Dealing with a leaky roof is certainly an inconvenience. It would be good for House Democrats to remember that many Pennsylvanians are dealing with far worse.