After a 135-day impasse, Pennsylvania got a $50.1 billion state budget that lacked a dedicated funding mechanism for SEPTA, ended the state’s participation in a climate program to curb carbon pollution, and failed to resolve the skill-game funding debate.
Meanwhile as school districts, nonprofits, and counties are recovering from months of trying to make ends meet without a state budget, legislators got their 3.25% raises with neither a delay nor a vote, increasing their base salaries to $113,575. So what did Harrisburg learn from this and is this going to happen again next budget cycle?
State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, whose district covers parts of West, South, and Southwest Philly as well as sections of Delaware Country, sat down with City Cast Philly host Trenae Nuri to share what legislators could have done differently and how he really feels about U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.
I recently heard you on WURD Radio talk about an idea to have legislators not getting paid when there is a budget impasse. Do you think that would incentivize [lawmakers] so that we didn't have 135 days where we're just all waiting for money?
“ I think everybody knows if you don't get a paycheck, it moves you to a different place, right? Think about a person who goes on strike. They will say, ‘I'm for organizing,’ et cetera, until they’re like, ‘Wait a minute, I can't afford to not pay my mortgage.’ We're no different. We're not immune to that.
“The general assembly runs [for re-election] next spring. In that primary, you should ask the person who's running, ‘Will you support the legislation that says this next budget cycle, if you don't pass the budget, you do not get paid on July the first?’ ... I would expect if the public begins to pick that up, one, that'll become law. Two, we will not spend that much time passing a budget.”
[Over the summer] we saw so many signs in our neighborhoods, like, "Hey, this bus is not gonna be available soon." Children were late to school. Sometimes people ... had to find all sorts of ways just to get to work. They felt like maybe they were screwed, basically screwed over. So I wanna talk about that.
“ We failed…we have a Band-Aid that we put on it for a year, but I do believe there's promise. Next year's budget will be addressing that issue along with a few others.
”The public is not gonna have any of it. We just went through an election cycle that made a very big statement about how people felt about all these issues, and both parties are gonna respond to that. I know for a fact we're not gonna go through what we just went through.”
Are you interested in maybe a higher office?
“ I'm never gonna stop being involved in politics. I'll always raise money. I will be behind the scenes supporting candidates … but actually holding onto a seat, I don't think that that's what we should be doing. I think we should be preparing, training, and developing other folks of another generation who speak a little bit differently than we do, see things a little bit differently. They do have the right to serve our communities.
“I don't think I should be running for any advanced office now. I will make one exception … There is a U.S. Senate seat held by a Democrat from Pennsylvania. If somebody said, ‘I'll give you a hundred billion dollars to challenge that person,' I would do it."
And what person is that, senator?
"I'll say his last name starts with a ‘F,’ I'll put it like that … I feel like that person has not come to my community — being the African American community, which supported him significantly because they thought he was a breath of fresh air. He’s not done anything on DEI or the removal of us from the record books, or a variety of other spaces he could raise his voice on. Instead, he's going to Mar-a-Lago sitting down with Donald Trump.”
