{"id":321761,"date":"2026-11-05T15:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T15:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/321761\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T15:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T15:44:26","slug":"philadelphia-stands-to-reap-the-benefits-of-a-united-pennsylvania-general-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/321761\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia stands to reap the benefits of a united Pennsylvania General Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Philadelphia could be in for some help from Harrisburg, now that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.audacy.com\/kywnewsradio\/news\/local\/democrats-control-pa-senate-trifecta-harrisburg\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Democrats are in control of both the General Assembly and the governor\u2019s seat<\/a> for the first time in three decades.<\/p>\n<p>City Councilmember Mike Driscoll said needs that Philadelphia has seen bottled up for 30 years will finally come uncorked: reliable funding for SEPTA and the school district, and the ability to pass its own laws without preemption by the state.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s one measure at or near the top of everyone\u2019s wish list, including City Council President Kenyatta Johnson: \u201cFirst and foremost, we should see a bill immediately increasing the minimum wage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Pennsylvania House has passed a $15 minimum wage three times since Democrats took the majority three years ago. Every bill died in the GOP-led Senate. <\/p>\n<p>Now, Johnson is likely to get his wish. Minimum wage is also a top priority for the governor and Democratic legislative leaders; they said they plan to present their full agenda in the next few days. <\/p>\n<p>Overall, City Council members say they\u2019re daring to believe they can count on Harrisburg for the first time in decades to help solve Philadelphia\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n<p>Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson said Philadelphia could also benefit directly from a budget cycle that is not marked by delays and cuts to the governor\u2019s proposals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA budget that will fully fund public education, public transit, giving us opportunities to help folks with their housing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Councilmember Jamie Gauthier added that just breaking the logjam in Harrisburg will bring benefits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am just so excited for everything we\u2019ll be able to do for our city that will, in turn, make a much stronger state,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Philadelphia could be in for some help from Harrisburg, now that Democrats are in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[37933,28,30,29,5648],"class_list":["post-321761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-minimum-wage","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-philadelphia-city-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}