{"id":125852,"date":"2026-02-28T06:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125852\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T06:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T06:28:20","slug":"appropriations-hearings-in-pennsylvania-continue-to-dig-into-the-2026-27-proposed-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/125852\/","title":{"rendered":"Appropriations hearings in Pennsylvania continue to dig into the 2026-27 proposed budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CHAMBERSBURG \u2013 In Pennsylvania, after the governor announces his plans for the new budget, that\u2019s when lawmakers get to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They hold what are called appropriations hearings and they bring in heads of different departments to dig into what they\u2019re asking for, what\u2019s realistic, what should be cut and where there might be waste.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since Governor Josh Shapiro unveiled his 2026-27 budget to the tune of $53.2 billion in spending, the PA House of Representatives has been talking financial figures with a number of different groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PA Representative Jesse Topper said, \u201cThere is value to this in terms of, we have the opportunity as members to directly question cabinet secretaries, kind of put them on the record, which I think is always important. We use these hearings during our budget negotiations. And sometimes you can also get people to, quite frankly, tell the truth as to where the money\u2019s going and I think that\u2019s very important. I respect our appropriations team that\u2019s going to be there for three weeks doing this, a lot of work, but I appreciate what they\u2019re doing, because we understand what we\u2019re facing in terms of the budget. Once again, not just this year, but in the future, things have to change. We have to root out some of the, well, I\u2019ll say inefficiencies in best case scenario, and I\u2019ll say fraud and abuse in worst case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michele Jansen of News Talk 103.7FM pointed out, \u201cOne thing that was talked about the DHH, the Department of Health and Human Services, biggest budget is my understanding of the different departments, of course, has a lot to do with health care, and we know that\u2019s exploding. The Medicaid spend in Pennsylvania and whether or not there is waste, fraud and abuse going on there. Now, I heard the Secretary say, something about, oh, our numbers show that we\u2019re doing better and there\u2019s less of waste and fraud. However, I\u2019m hearing national reports talking about the amount of increase in Medicaid spending since and of course, part of this is because of Obamacare and the state\u2019s version Pennie of that. And many, many, many more people being put on Medicaid. And then there\u2019s the state share in the federal share. But I\u2019m a little worried about that huge increase since then, they say it seems to be disproportionate, and how much of that might be fraud? The secretary said providers are responsible for most of the fraud, but then, it\u2019s my understanding, they\u2019re not being held accountable by the state very well. I know there were some reforms you all tried to put into place last year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Topper said, \u201cSure, because at some point people are just guessing and with some of those reforms, I\u2019ll give you the first one, it required the Department of Human Services to actually check death certificates with the Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics against the receipts of medical assistance and SNAP. We weren\u2019t doing that, at least there was no indication that that was being done on a regular basis. I mean, it\u2019s as simple as trying to figure out if the people who are receiving benefits for the family are still alive, requiring the Department of Human Services to check income and employment records with the Department of Labor and Industry. We have these departments that these bureaucracies that have gotten so big they\u2019re not even talking to each other on some of these very basic issues that we were having people who were deceased or who were no longer in the income bracket, still receiving benefits. Whether that\u2019s intentional or not, that\u2019s fraud and abuse of the system. We had several of those reports that we\u2019re requiring now from the Department of Human Services, they have to report how lottery winnings, the value of of automobiles, actually reflect into a recipient and eligibility, so that we don\u2019t have people out there driving BMWs and pulling into a local food bank to use benefits. These are the things that are common sense, but are not being done, and we\u2019re hoping that that will lead to more steps of accountability in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about the fact that a lot of people are getting out of the Affordable Care Act?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Topper said, \u201cThe other side is going to point to people walking away from it as some kind of a failure, but in reality, it\u2019s what we knew was going to happen. I mean, the numbers have been so bloated since Obamacare. Look, none of this was unforeseen. The reason why many of us fought against Obamacare so vociferously was that we saw that this was going to be what happened to the market. Anytime the government intervenes into a private market and starts trying to manipulate benefits and who\u2019s going to be on, these are the things that will happen. It\u2019s over subscribed. There are going to be people leaving. This is what we saw years ago, and that\u2019s why we fought against it. This is the old saying, the chickens are coming home to roost in that particular market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jansen said, \u201cThere\u2019s a political story, and it\u2019s admittedly political of the Pennsylvania State Police and their involvement with the security updates of the governor\u2019s mansion, the public and then his private home, and whether or not money was taken appropriately, or was going to be, I guess they underwrote it, and now they\u2019re getting paid back for it. But it\u2019s where that money is coming from and questions about, wait a minute, this is for public use, public security. Why are we using it for the governor\u2019s private residence? Of course then there\u2019s the whole dust up with his neighbors, which we don\u2019t need to necessarily get into, but your take on that whole political issue and real issue in terms of using taxpayer money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Topper said, \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s political when public dollars are being used. I was absolutely critical of the amount of information or lack of that was coming out following the arson of the governor\u2019s residence, which is, of course, public property, but also, we had seen millions of dollars being spent in terms of upgrading security, and yet, essentially there was very little security that was there that night and and the equipment was out of date and just things that we saw that obviously now they\u2019re being rectified. But where is this money going? How\u2019s it being spent? Look, I understand questions about security. There are certain things that should not be public. Certainly, when it comes to how the governor\u2019s family is protected, we don\u2019t want those things out there in a public setting. But when it comes to how the resources are being spent, that\u2019s always a legitimate question, because at the end of the day, those are taxpayer dollars. So I have no problem with looking into that and finding out how the money was used, what it was used on, and even if some of those things have to be private in terms of briefings, elected leaders should still know about them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jansen added, \u201cWe had some interesting polling that came out, Quinnipiac poll, and I want to just make a broad generalized statement about as we head to the midterms, there is favorability that Josh Shapiro is seeing, although some numbers have come down. Do you think this is more a comparison of who or the other people people are looking at in the Democratic Party that may seem a little out of whack, compared to Josh Shapiro? When they say he\u2019s gotten stuff done, and he should be the rising star of the Democrat party, I keep asking, well, please, can you give me the itemized list of exactly what he\u2019s gotten done? The Republican Party should be very concerned about the turnout at the midterm, and Pennsylvanians should be concerned about where we\u2019re going to go depending upon where majorities end up after November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Topper said, \u201cAll of his true legislative accomplishments that have helped move Pennsylvania forward have only been forced upon him by Republicans in the General Assembly. So we have to do a better job of getting out there and talking about it, and, quite frankly, taking credit, and not credit in the sense that, oh, look at what I\u2019ve done, or look at what we\u2019ve done, credit in the sense that look at the kind of policy, imagine what would happen if the Republicans actually had control fully of the legislature and the governor\u2019s mansion, and look at the things we could stop as well. Because there\u2019s a lot of stuff that\u2019s happened legislatively that has not been good, and in terms of him fixing I-95 or some of the other things, that was the private sector coming in and helping to make it happen. But, I will say this about the governor. He does a tremendous job of branding, and he does what I\u2019ve encouraged many of our members to do, go out and talk to people about what you have done to make you successful. Essentially go out and take credit for some of the stuff. That\u2019s what he\u2019s doing. We have a joke with the governor. I mean, he\u2019s taking credit for the color of the sky, like, if it\u2019s out there, he\u2019s going to be talking about it and he does it very well. When it comes to actually governing, that\u2019s a different story. But when it comes to being on brand, he\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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