May 16, 2025
As President Trump continued his tour of the Middle East, where he is doing diplomacy and shopping for aircrafts, congressional committees were busy advancing 1,100 pages of his “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill. While conservative members of Congress don’t necessarily think the bill is beautiful, everyone agrees on the “big” part. Lugging around a $5 trillion hike in the debt ceiling tends to do that. Also, a humble suggestion for the GOP: stop calling the plan BBB. Y’all spent four years lighting “Build Back Better” on fire – don’t confuse people.
It did not take long for the nation’s governors, including our own Josh Shapiro, to hoist the red flag, telling everyone that federal Medicaid cuts ain’t gonna be backfilled by state money. This is true, largely because we don’t have that kinda cabbage just lying around, at least none that can cover billions of dollars more for the next decade.
Meanwhile, this month’s inflation report would seem to suggest that the tariff/inflation/recession fears may have been a TAD overblown, as inflation came in at its lowest point in four years and the Dow threw a week-long rager. BUT, along came Wal-Mart yesterday, announcing price increases due to the tariff uncertainty. Remember folks, when Wally World raises prices, EVERYOBODY raises them.
North Jersey is noodling around with the idea of building some casinos, with the threat of gaming in Gotham staring them straight in the mush. Despite the fact that Atlantic City casinos are going bankrupt faster than Rite Aid… hey, let’s build more! And if y’all don’t think this will have an effect on Pennsylvania’s casinos, please take your head out of the AC sand.
Against the backdrop of our own General Assembly getting around to regulating and taxing so-called skill games, the State Attorney General Dave Sunday brought down the thousand-pound sh*t-hammer on a company that is peddling counterfeit skill games. Let that sink in: There is actually a company pretending its product is one whose mere existence is now up for debate in the Pennsylvania legislature. We have said it before, and it bears repeating: you can’t tax your way to prosperity and you sure as hell can’t gamble your way there, either.
If you wanna know our own Mike Manzo’s thoughts on legal weed and skill games, check it out here!
After years of causing legislative agita, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is now taking its turn in front of the state Supreme Court. Should the court side with RGGI opponents, the policy that no one ever implemented will no longer be in danger of being implemented.
Speaking of energy, when the legislature passed the Solar for All plan in last year’s budget, school districts seeking to install solar panels were pretty jazzed up. Unfortunately for them, the $25 million grant program was inundated with applicants. Demand, in this case of Economics 101, has far outstripped supply. Solar for Some?
The State House this week narrowly approved a gargantuan electoral code update, hoping to spark some sort of compromise/debate on the thorny issues of ballot curing, pre-canvassing and mail-in ballot regulations, among a dozen other things. The bill was also supposed to have voter ID language, but was stripped of it at the last minute by the GOP sponsor of the voter ID language. We noodled with the idea of nominating this for our weekly “We Can’t Make This Up segment,” but it sounds too much like fiction.
A House panel also advanced a bill (again) to repeal Pennsylvania’s closed primary elections, a system that currently disenfranchises 1.4 million registered independents. This is your periodic reminder that independents pay taxes for something they can’t participate in, also known as “taxation without representation” which, as you might recall, caused a bunch of tea to end up in Boston Harbor.
Next week, when everyone except non-affiliated voters go to the polls, residents of Elk County will nominate a mayor for a city that doesn’t exist. DuBois and Sandy Township will become betrothed in January, the first such consolidation in four decades. In all, 12,000 people will now be residents of the “New DuBois,” which doesn’t seem like a lot until you realize 12,000 is a fourth of Elk County’s entire freakin’ population.
Since we are on the topic, let’s take a quick detour into the upcoming elections. Harrisburg voters will trek to the polls to decide (in all likelihood) the Cap City’s next mayor, and weeeee doggies, this one has become a mud fest. Lotta hard feelings here in H-town.
Out in Pittsburgh, Mayor Ed Gainey’s opponent, Corey O’Connor, has dominated the fundraising race, although the mayor’s ground game is gonna be formidable, even with the loss of Najee Harris at tailback.
And in Philadelphia, love him or hate him, incumbent Larry Krasner may just lock down a third term as the city’s top cop, although Pat Dugan is making it a real race. Will D.A. Larry once again confound the haters and end up with, like, 75% of the vote? Check back next week!
Big congratulations go out to our valued client and friend, Precious Mines, which received the Women of Achievement award for our OTHER valued client, The Philadelphia Tribune! When clients collide, good things happen!
In our We Can’t Make This Up segment, we take you to Houston, where a chowderhead in a Saab decided to attempt to tow another car behind him, complete with driver, with nothing but a chain. A broken axle and a blown tire later, the car was wildly veering across three lanes of traffic while the Saab driver, at highway speed, continued on, laughing maniacally like Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. In true Texas fashion, neither driver was charged, probably because the police thought they were filming a new Mission: Impossible flick.
That’s what passes for news up in here! The General Assembly is nestled snug in their districts until June, so get some rest this weekend. From all your friends at Team Triad, have a great weekend!