HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Pennsylvania’s state legislature is back this week to put the finishing touches on its current session and look ahead to the next two years. In a year where Pennsylvania voters mostly saw red, House Democrats salvaged one legislative chamber by a single seat.
“While we’re here today to celebrate our victory, it’s not about us,” said House Appropriations Chairman Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia). “We’re here because we give a damn about what happens to the people back home.”
The people back home sent 102 Democrats and 101 Republicans to the State House. Leaders called their caucus a little blue ship navigating a big red wave.
“And we’re going to be standing up together to fight like hell for the next two years, four years,” said Harris.
Many of the House Democrats’ priorities over the last two years were ignored in the Republican-controlled Senate.
“It was the one seat majority that sent over to the Senate over 300 bills, some of which they should be working on right now,” said House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia/Delaware), who was re-elected by members to the Speakership on Tuesday.
Democratic House Leader Matt Bradford, who was also re-elected as House Leader, says he suspects Senate Republicans didn’t take House Democrats seriously, thinking the 2022 win was a one-off and short-lived.
“A lot of people thought it was a fluke,” said Bradford (D-Montgomery). “I don’t hold any grudge or anything like that lesson. It was a surprise to a lot of people, but the surprise has worn off now.”
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Armstrong, Indiana, Jefferson, Westmoreland) says Republicans will work to compromise with House Democrats “where we can, where we see fit.”
“But we’re not going to compromise our principles in the electoral mandate that we’ve been given,” said Pittman.
There were bipartisan successes over the last two years, insists Speaker McClinton, especially around public education.
“When those school tax bills go out next year, they will see a reduction because House Democrats in leadership and Senate Republicans sat down and did the people’s work,” said McClinton.
“We have 102 seats,” noted Bradford. “We are humble and we are uniquely aware. The people of Pennsylvania expect us to drop the stale political ideologies and the false fights that have not moved this Commonwealth forward. We have work to do and we’re going to do it.”
In the next few days, this legislative session draws to a close but the next one will start in January.
