As the government shutdown reaches its third week with no end in sight, most states are feeling the pain of losing all federal funding. Pennsylvania residents, however, are in a double crisis, as the state government is four months into a budget impasse. Essentially, Pennsylvania is in its own government shutdown alongside the federal shutdown, an exceedingly rare situation that has harsh ripple effects for every Pennsylvanian.
The federal government shutdown began on Oct. 1, when Republican and Democratic senators were unable to agree on how to fund the government. Democrats in the Senate demanded a reversal to recent health care cuts and an extension of financial assistance subsidies from the Affordable Care Act, before they would vote to reopen the government. Republicans are refusing to negotiate, however, and there is no apparent urgency from either side to end the shutdown.
A government shutdown has many ramifications, but its most direct impact is on the federal workers who are missing paychecks. Pennsylvania has the eighth-highest number of federal workers of any state at around 66,000. Many are still forced to work during the shutdown, among them TSA officials and air traffic controllers at airports, Veterans’ Affairs staffers and Social Security Administration officials. If the government shutdown lasts until November, health insurance costs are expected to increase dramatically for Americans, as well.
The budget crisis in Harrisburg is reaching 100 days long, for the state budget was due on July 1. While it has become customary for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass their budget late, with the budget being late eight of the last 10 years, it is rarer for an impasse to last this long. The Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives are controlled by Republicans and Democrats, respectively, and the two parties have disagreed on how much money to permit the state to spend in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Since July 1, Pennsylvania counties and school districts have lost funding. Just like with federal employees, state and county employees in Pennsylvania are being furloughed and asked not to return to work. School districts are being forced to take out loans and freeze hiring of new teachers and staff. State-supported social programs, like those dedicated to aiding assault survivors and people struggling with their mental health, are also seeing money run dry.
In 2023, the Pennsylvania state budget was not passed until Dec. 14. Legislators in Harrisburg still have approximately two months before that mark is reached, but the differences in each party’s demands are much more extreme this year. The federal government shutdown compounds all matters, leaving few citizens safe from the effects of lapsed government funds.
Pennsylvania lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg are dug in on their stances during these crises. Both of Pennsylvania’s Senators have voted to pass the funding bill in the Senate and reopen the government. All Republican Senators, including Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick, support the Senate bill, except for Kentucky’s Rand Paul. Pennsylvania’s senior Senator John Fetterman is one of three Democrats or Democratic-aligned Senators voting against party lines to reopen the government, alongside Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Angus King, an independent from Maine.
The House of Representatives in Washington D.C. is staying out of session for the duration of the shutdown, according to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Pennsylvania’s 17 Representatives voted on party lines on the funding bill being debated in the Senate, with Republicans for and Democrats against.
The General Assembly in Harrisburg is still in session, but without any meaningful action being taken to fix the budget impasse, intense criticism is being levied on the body, with even some legislators blasting the body’s alleged lack of accountability. Calls for Pennsylvania state legislators to go without pay during the budget crisis have gone unheard.
Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians are going without pay in this double crisis. It is anyone’s guess as to how long this will last.