(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro delivers his budget address for the 2025-26 fiscal year to a joint session of the state House and Senate at the Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) According to a release from Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Jesse Topper’s office, Topper expressed this statement in Harrisburg yesterday regarding the Pennsylvania state budget impasse: 

“It is sad to say the state budget is now 42 days late and the continued piecemeal approach taken in the House regarding SEPTA funding and the lack of authentic negotiation has put an agreement further off than it has been before.

“The solutions to the incredible challenges we face as a Commonwealth will only be found when all parties engage in meaningful ways and acknowledge the serious problems confronting us in resolving this budget: SEPTA is in crisis. Our state’s education system, in many respects, is in crisis. Our state’s economic outlook is in crisis.

“There is a path to agreement on all these fronts. I have seen it. But if we continue down the path of showmanship instead of showing up to find real solutions to these very serious problems, this budget impasse will only continue to deepen, and the Commonwealth will not find itself in a better place.”