00:00Let me make a few comments. I'm happy to take whatever questions you have. I want to specifically talk about mass transit in this region. And, you know, we can talk more broadly about the budget if you'd like. I want you to know that this morning I directed Secretary Carroll to approve SEPTA's request to use nearly $400 million of their capital dollars for operating expenses.
00:25Secretary Carroll communicated that to the general manager of SEPTA early this morning. This plan will preserve service for about 800,000 Pennsylvanians for the next two years. Look, we have seen how critically important SEPTA is for years and years and years, but particularly over the last couple of weeks after some of their cuts went into effect, folks were struggling to get to work and wondering how they were going to get to their destination, get their families where they need to work.
00:55They needed to go. 63% of Philadelphia schools saw increased late arrivals and 50% saw higher absenteeism. I must tell you that that really tugged at me. And in my conversations with Superintendent Watlington, it was just clear to me that is not something we can allow to continue. And of course, we are looking at not just the daily needs of this great community, but starting next year, millions of people will be descending upon
01:25the city of Philadelphia and the city of Philadelphia and our entire Commonwealth as we celebrate the 250th birth of this nation and we needed to get this done. Look, as you know, I have repeatedly called on the legislature to act. This has gone on now for more than two years, two budgets in a row. I've asked them to pass recurring revenue. The House of Representatives has passed that on five separate occasions.
01:52When it didn't get done when it didn't get done because the Senate didn't act. I flexed $80 million in short term revenue for SEPTA and then again flexed another $153 million to keep SEPTA afloat.
02:06But listen, I think we have come to the conclusion here that the Senate Republicans who are in the majority in the state Senate were unwilling to pass recurring revenue. The chairman of their appropriations committee said that a week ago when he said a long term solution is not going to happen.
02:25I think that combined with the court case led SEPTA to realize that because of the Senate's intransigence, because of their unwillingness to pass recurring revenue, they needed to search for a different way forward and at least provide stability for the next couple of years.
02:44And so I am taking this action within my authority and the authority of the PennDOT secretary to support SEPTA to make sure that these 800,000 Pennsylvanians and the millions who will visit our Commonwealth have a trolley or a bus or a subway or a train to be able to get around.
03:01I want to note the comments of Scott Sauer, the general manager of SEPTA. He said, I think he said this on Friday, if I'm not mistaken, that this action is entirely different from what the Senate passed.
03:16I know some members of the Senate have tried to conflate the two. It is clearly two different packages.
03:23The Senate proposal, which was flawed and was dead on arrival in the House and would not have gotten my signature, would have required mass transit systems to utilize their current capital funding in order to fill the gap and there would be no revenue source for the future.
03:44They would have taken money from existing projects away. And importantly, they would have taken half of the transit trust fund money and sent it to road and bridge repair.
03:56Now, listen, we need road and bridge repair. And I'm proud of the fact that on my watch, we've repaired more bridges than any other state in the entire country.
04:05But we are not using money that is set aside for mass transit to fund our road and bridge projects. Other money needs to be used for that.
04:14So what SEPTA requested and what I granted today is entirely different from what the Senate passed.
04:20And I think the comments of Scott Sauer and the comments of Secretary Carroll bear that out.
04:25We are now allowing SEPTA to use $394 million of future capital dollars that have not yet been earmarked for particular projects in order to operate their system over the next two years.
04:39I think it's also important to note that these next two years will allow the new leadership of SEPTA, both the new board leadership and the new professional leadership, to put in place the reforms that they want to put in place, to be able to create the efficiencies that they need to create, to remove the duplications and other things that I think have slowed SEPTA down in recent years.
05:01So by giving SEPTA these two years, I think we also usher in an opportunity for real reform and real change.
05:09And to that end, we are going to require SEPTA to report in periodically to PennDOT on the changes they are making and the progress they are making to create greater efficiencies in this mass transit system.
05:23Listen, I said this before, and I'll say it again, I'm in the business of helping people and what we've witnessed over the last few weeks in Philadelphia and in the region with people not being able to get where they need to go, not being able to get to their jobs, not being able to be there for their families, students not being able to get to school.
05:43That is not okay. And I'm not going to let the politics of Harrisburg and the state Senate continue to slow us down. SEPTA asked for this, for these dollars, and we're providing them.
05:55And we are taking this issue away from the politics of the state Senate Republicans who simply wanted to use it to slow things down and to make it impossible for people in this region to be able to get ahead.
06:09Now is the time for us to go forward. Now is also a time for the state Senate to close the deal on the budget.
06:16The issue that they had been highlighting as a reason to not get it done is now off the table. It is time to close this out.
06:24I spent a great bit of time over the weekend with Senator Pittman, with Leader Bradford in the House, and also with Leader Costa, the Senate Democratic leader,
06:34because it has become abundantly clear that Leader Costa is going to need to put up votes in order for any budget to pass in the state Senate.
06:42And so I want to thank him for his leadership and his constructive engagement in this process.
06:48Staff is quite literally meeting at this time, at this moment, and I expect that leaders and I will continue to have conversations throughout the day.
06:57It's time to close this out. It's time to pass a budget. It's time to fund our schools. It's time to fund our mental health services.
07:03It's time to fund our police officers, our veterans, and much more.
07:07And now it's time for the Senate to get 26 votes, close this out, and get it done.
07:13I'm pleased that we're able to provide some relief for this community.
07:16I'm pleased that SEPTA will continue to run for two years, and I'm going to continue to fight in future years for recurring revenue,
07:22not just for SEPTA, but for all mass transit agencies across Pennsylvania.
07:27And if you have any questions, I'm happy to take a few. Yep.
07:29Thank you. You touched on the fact that the use of public transit funds is not synonymous with the Republican proposal.
07:36I think, though, it's being interpreted in that manner just because some of those funds come from the same source.
07:42What's your take or response to people who say, well, why couldn't there have been compromise in the beginning
07:47between Democrats and Republicans to use some of that money from the public transit fund?
07:51Again, the Senate proposed to use existing capital dollars that were already earmarked for projects.
07:57Shovels were already in the ground.
07:59And they also proposed to take a 50% discount on that transit money because they would have sent 50% of it to fund roads and bridges.
08:08Listen, I have been running back and forth between the House and the Senate all summer to try and find common ground.
08:16But when the Senate appropriations chairman announced last week that there would be no long-term funding deal,
08:22there would be no recurring revenue, it made no sense to continue to hold the good people of this region hostage,
08:28as the Senate Republicans were doing.
08:30It made sense to honor SEPTA's request and allow us to move forward and close out this budget.
08:35Governor, what's your plan for two years from now?
08:39Obviously, this gives SEPTA a runway.
08:41You talked about the leadership and some changes they might want to make.
08:45But this capital funding isn't going to last forever.
08:47What comes next?
08:48I think it gives us two years to see the changes that SEPTA will make.
08:52It also gives us two years to see if we can change minds or change some of the people in the state Senate
08:58and see what we can do to get recurring revenue that will ultimately help all 67 counties in Pennsylvania.
09:05Governor, do you think this was the last big holdup to get a full budget done?
09:09I can tell you that the issues that I have been narrowing between the two sides are really narrow.
09:16We're down to discussing really what I would consider minutia in the context of, you know, give or take roughly $50 billion.
09:25And so it is time now for these leaders to make these final tough choices, to close it out,
09:30to bring their members to Harrisburg and to vote on the budget.
09:35Do you expect?
09:35You can go.
09:36Sorry, go ahead.
09:37Would you?
09:37Are you still on SEPTA?
09:38Yeah.
09:39Go.
09:40All right.
09:41Do you expect the House to say?
09:42Usually I say that, but it's okay.
09:43You can say.
09:44I'm just allowing that.
09:45Go ahead.
09:46Let's stay on this and then I'm happy to go to something else.
09:49Yeah.
09:49So again, with budget negotiations now, do you expect the House or Senate to introduce any sort of different
09:55legislation to fund mass transit in the future?
09:57Again, I know you talked about the House passed five different bills.
09:59Senate had their own proposal.
10:00Again, for the long-term view of this, do you expect any other bills to be introduced on this?
10:05I think what I expect now is a final budget deal that will not include recurring funding for mass
10:11transit.
10:11The Senate Republicans have made clear they will not do that.
10:14So I expect a Senate, pardon me, I expect a Commonwealth budget deal that will include all the other
10:21important initiatives from funding our schools to funding our cops to funding our veterans,
10:26mental health, and much more.
10:28Anything else on mass transit?
10:30No.
10:30Okay.
10:31Go ahead.
10:32First, L.A., D.C., Chicago.
10:34Is there concern, and what might you do should the president make Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
10:43a target next?
10:45I think what the president's doing is wrong.
10:47I think what the president's doing injects chaos in communities, and I can tell you that
10:52we are prepared should he decide to try that here in Philly.
10:56What does that mean?
10:57I'm not going to get into the specifics.
10:58I can tell you we are prepared.
11:00And let me round it out.
11:01It's not just Philly.
11:02We're prepared should they try to deploy the National Guard against my will in any
11:07community across Pennsylvania.
11:09Last question.
11:10Thanks.
11:10Great.
11:11Go ahead.
11:12Cool.
11:12Governor, another thing you talked about during the press conference was about preparation
11:17for 2026.
11:18Yeah.
11:18In general, I know there's going to be a lot of events here in Pennsylvania, many sporting
11:22events as well.
11:23I guess how it relates to the Trump administration, though.
11:25Are you concerned with some of the acts that the Trump administration has made with immigration
11:29that may impact people maybe be willing to want to come to Pennsylvania for some of these
11:33big events?
11:33Yeah, look, I think because of the Trump administration's conduct on immigration, we've already seen
11:39tourism dip, not just in Philadelphia, but all across this country.
11:44I think their policies are making it so people in other countries are afraid to come here or
11:50don't want to come here.
11:51In addition, their policies, their tariff policies and their broader economic policies are making
11:56things cost a whole lot more.
11:59And so for the average family that wants to be able to go take in a World Cup game or go
12:03check out the All-Star game or even just participate in the activity surrounding those events,
12:09even if they don't go inside the link or inside the bank, the reality is things cost more because
12:15of Donald Trump.
12:16And when things cost more, it makes it harder on families, harder on their family budgets.
12:20Make no mistake, from the price of food to the price of activities, they've all gone
12:27up on Donald Trump's watch.
12:28And what we're seeing is the promise of higher prices on Trump.
12:32And I think that that compromises our, it makes it harder for us to have a 2026 where
12:38everybody can participate because simply the costs have gone up too much.
12:42We're going to do everything we can at the state level to subsidize the cost around these
12:47special USA 250 events.
12:50So more and more Pennsylvanians can participate.
12:52But make no mistake, Donald Trump's making it harder for Pennsylvania families.
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