HARRISBURG, PA – November 12, 2025 – Today, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a budget deal, ending a four-month budget impasse, unlocking critical investments that will move Pennsylvania’s schools, families, and workforce forward.
Senator Tim Kearney (D-Delaware) made the following statement in response to the budget deal:
“After four difficult months without a budget, cooler heads finally prevailed to deliver an agreement that moves Pennsylvania forward. While a legislative compromise like this in a divided government will always include disappointing trade-offs, this budget ultimately advances progress for our communities that Democrats have been fighting for and delivering on in recent years.
“This budget takes another step towards a fair education system for all, providing $671M in new funding for public schools, and creating $175M in cost savings by finally making meaningful reforms to our broken cyber charter funding law. We also preserved $125M in investment in school building repair programs and the Solar for Schools program so that more schools can save taxpayers money on utility costs. Our overburdened childcare centers will get a $25M boost to recruiting and retaining more workers to help expand capacity, and student-teachers will have access to $30M in stipends to help them through otherwise unpaid service in our public schools.
“Notably, this budget also delivers savings to working Pennsylvanians being crushed by rising inflation and tariff costs under the Trump Administration. My Senate Democratic colleagues and I helped win a new Working Pennsylvanian Tax Creditthat will provide $193M in tax refunds to one million Pennsylvanians who fight everyday against poverty. At the same time that Trump is starving Americans, building a ballroom, and throwing away billions of dollars on the economy of Argentina, Pennsylvania Democrats are actually putting working people first.
“Defending our Medicaid and healthcare needs is another reason I’m supporting this budget. I was able to secure $6M in funding for Delco healthcare providers who are working overtime in the wake of Crozer closing. $21M in new funding will also be dedicated to increase the number of home care workers to support our loved ones statewide.
“PA Senate Republicans have held this budget up for months with nonsensical demands, unreasonable resistance to new revenues like legalizing and taxing adult-use cannabis, and careless disregard for the needs of our communities. Because a faction of hard-right Republican senators still refuses to vote for a realistic budget, Senate Democrats had to step up to secure enough votes for this deal to pass. Though many of us are frustrated that the budget prevents Pennsylvania from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) at this time and lacks critical funding for SEPTA and other transit agencies, we are doing what is necessary to put an end to this budget madness, with a promise that we will keep fighting for transit and clean-energy progress.”
Senator Kearney’s budget reaction can be found here.
For more information about this press release, contact Senator Tim Kearney’s office at 610-544-6120.
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