PA: Why funding SEPTA in a divided Pennsylvania is one of Gov. Josh Shapiro's biggest tests yet

Before a backdrop of SEPTA buses and an American flag and in front of a crowd of elected officials and union workers in the Frankford Transit Center last fall, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made a proclamation.

"Without urgent support, [SEPTA] is going to be forced to dramatically raise prices and cut services. I'm here to tell you, that can't happen," Shapiro said, while announcing that he would temporarily redirect $153 million in federal highway funds to give legislators in Pennsylvania's divided General Assembly more time to reach a consensus.

"I've made it clear, I will not let SEPTA fail," he added.

Now, months later, the mass transit agency is facing a self-proclaimed "death spiral." And everyone is frustrated, Shapiro included.

The cuts have gone into effect, and more are planned. The parents of schoolchildren the governor worried about last November don't know whether their bus is coming; the senior citizens he stressed about are struggling to reach their necessary doctor appointments. Absent additional state funding, the nation's sixth-largest public transportation system reduced service by 20%, and, until halted by a judge last week, was scheduled to raise fares by 21.5% beginning Monday.

In the meantime, the political environment in Harrisburg has devolved into a dysfunctional standstill, almost all of which involves funding SEPTA. Top Republicans claim the SEPTA cuts — implemented on the eve of the first day of school in Philadelphia — are part of a "manufactured crisis" that Democrats are trying to use for political gain, while Democrats and Shapiro feel that Republicans are slow-rolling an agreement on mass transit funding in an attempt to hurt Shapiro as he heads into a 2026 reelection campaign. All the while, the state budget is two months overdue as lawmakers grapple over the transit issue, among others, while facing a budget deficit, with millions in funding for counties, schools, and critical services held up until a deal is reached.

Shapiro pitched his budget proposal in February, and it is ultimately up to the state House and Senate to agree on a budget plan, pass it, and send it to the governor's desk for his signature. But Shapiro is intimately involved in the closed-door budget negotiations between top state leaders, serving as a mediator between what he described in an interview as "diametrically opposed" House Democrats and Senate Republicans. He often shuttles between the leaders of the chambers, negotiating with them individually instead of together at the same table.

"It is important you stay in the game, you stay at the table," Shapiro said in an interview with The Inquirer last week. "You fight for what you believe in, but you never let the perfect be the enemy of the possible."

Shapiro knew it was a challenge to convince the GOP Senate that a thriving SEPTA system is necessary for the entire state's economy, an issue that Senate Republicans formally acknowledged for the first time earlier this month. But what Shapiro could not predict was that no matter the number of news conferences he held emphasizing the urgency of the impact SEPTA's cuts would have on Philadelphia and the surrounding region, and no matter his efforts to compromise on top GOP priorities like road and bridge funding, lawmakers would still not agree in time to prevent the cuts.

That is the reality of leading in a divided government.

For Shapiro, a first-term Democrat who has made a national brand for himself as a moderate willing to work across the aisle to "get stuff done," finding funding and common ground over SEPTA has proven among his greatest challenges yet. His past successes in negotiating budget deals between the Senate GOP and House Democrats included issues that lawmakers long had kicked down the road, such as a rent and property tax rebate for aging adults, or the creation of a new public school funding system prompted by a state appellate court.

But this year's test, bridging the gap of Pennsylvania's perennial rural-urban divide in an increasingly politically polarized environment in time to stop SEPTA from enacting its cuts, has proved more difficult.

Shapiro, speaking to The Inquirer on Thursday, appeared increasingly frustrated with how long it has taken for Senate Republicans to recognize the crisis SEPTA is facing and the role he has been forced to take, going between the House Democratic and Senate Republican leaders in search of a path forward. Despite these challenges, he promised to stay at the table until an agreement is reached, and remained optimistic that an overall budget deal that includes transit funding is within striking distance.

"What I'm trying to do is narrow the differences between them and come up with a package, not just on transit, but a broader budget package that can pass in both chambers," Shapiro said. "We are at a point now where I have narrowed the differences, and each leader needs to make tough choices."

'Trying to sit in the middle of the road'

Top members of the Senate GOP, meanwhile, have repeatedly blamed Shapiro and House Democrats for the budget impasse and SEPTA crisis.

President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) — one of Shapiro's biggest critics since he line-item vetoed a school voucher program he helped create with Senate Republicans during his first budget — attributed the stalemate to Shapiro lacking the leadership "to make something happen" and accused the governor of being blinded by his rumored presidential ambitions.

There is a moment during the SEPTA debate that encapsulates this, she said: when Shapiro sidestepped a question about the Public Transportation Trust Fund during a news conference, deferring to SEPTA general manager Scott Sauer to answer whether the state could use the special fund, currently with $2.4 billion in it, to help solve the SEPTA funding crisis. Ward argued that the exchange represented Shapiro's efforts to avoid taking sides on divisive issues, and that SEPTA, as the recipient of state funds, should not say how state funds can and cannot be used.

"He doesn't want to make anybody mad," Ward said. "But he's got to lead ... in an honest manner, as opposed to sidestepping and hiding and trying to sit in the middle of the road."

The Senate Republicans advanced their own two-year, $1.2 billion transit funding plan earlier this month to use funds from the state's transit capital account, the PTTF, to fund mass transit operating expenses and road and bridge repairs. House Democrats swiftly rejected the proposal in a committee vote.

Despite initially appearing to oppose using the capital fund, Shapiro has since said he is willing to use the PTTF as part of a "broader package" for SEPTA and other agencies that includes long-term recurring funding for mass transit across the state. House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) also expressed a new openness last week to using the fund for transit, if it includes a mechanism to backfill any money it uses. And so has SEPTA, with Sauer telling reporters last week "wherever the money comes from, we're going to make do with what we're allotted."

Shapiro and Democrats have been steadfast that they do not want a short-term solution for funding SEPTA, as lawmakers have agreed upon in previous years, each time with an unfulfilled promise with Senate Republicans to return in the fall and finish the job. They want to finally solve the long-term transit funding problem, one that lawmakers have known was coming for years, as funding from one of the mass transit agencies' sources — the Pennsylvania Turnpike — was phased out in 2023.

"I want us to solve this issue for the foreseeable future," Shapiro said. "I've been asking lawmakers to do this for two years. It's time for them to act."

The political blame game

Democrats' unwillingness to pass the Senate's plan — or Shapiro's reticence to use his authority to release funds from the PTTF for a short-term fix on his own — has been seen by Republicans like Ward as proof that Democrats are trying to vilify Senate Republicans over the transit issue.

Bradford, meanwhile, commended Shapiro for a "great job" working with a "very challenging" Senate GOP where some are "clearly playing politics."

The politics are present on both sides: During the two-month budget impasse, Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced her campaign for governor, in which she is expected to capture the state Republican Party's endorsement next month. The Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank, has taken out a TV ad buy blaming Shapiro for the late budget and causing schools and counties to wait for their state funding.

Across the aisle, some top Democratic leaders have acknowledged that the impact of the SEPTA cuts could help them in flipping two GOP-held seats in Southeastern Pennsylvania in 2026, in hopes of controlling the state Senate for the first time in 31 years.

The blame game over SEPTA cuts, however, likely won't contribute much to the 2026 gubernatorial or statehouse elections, said Berwood Yost, who leads the Franklin and Marshall College Poll.

Consistently over two decades, more than half of Pennsylvania voters have identified the legislature — not the governor — as most responsible for a late state budget.

"The budget process itself is so complicated, takes so long, and involves so many parties, it really is difficult to know who to blame," Yost said. "Clearly, no one person is to blame."

The 2015-16 budget impasse under then-Gov. Tom Wolf, which took nine months to resolve, had no major electoral consequences for Wolf or legislators at the time, Yost said.

'You represent everyone'

Former Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who briefly led Pennsylvania with a divided legislature, said the Harrisburg that Shapiro is negotiating in is much different from the one he led from 2003 to 2011.

"I was elected governor in an age where there was still a desire for everyone to come to Harrisburg to get some things done," Rendell said. "We would always find out: What was the real thing the other side wanted? But now, there's nothing that you want. The Republicans basically will come in and not have an agenda."

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana), the main negotiator for the Senate GOP in budget talks and a top critic of SEPTA's management through the years, said earlier this month that Republicans' agenda is fairly simple.

"That's where the differences between Democrats and Republicans come down to," Pittman said. "At the end of the day, we don't want a lot. We want a fiscally responsible product. We've always been focused on figuring out ways to empower parents, but the bottom line is we want to make sure we don't spend more than we need to, and that we make sure we're trying to set ourselves up for a long-term fiscal trajectory that is stable."

Rendell acknowledged that he never had an on-time budget during his time as governor. When Democratic groups came to him to complain about a late budget, Rendell said, he would tell them that he could get a budget signed tomorrow, but it would have only a part of what they wanted to gain from it.

"I'd tell them, 'I'm going to hang in there until I can deliver very close to what you're asking.' It's hard to say no to that argument," Rendell said. "Sometimes you need to have the public feel a little bit of pain before a settlement is possible."

He said he thinks Shapiro has taken the right position in negotiations as a referee, advantaging his working relationships with top leaders among the House Democrats and Senate Republicans.

"When you become governor, it's your decision. Basically, you lose a little bit of that partisanship, because you represent everyone," Rendell added.

Shapiro, meanwhile, said from his desk in his Capitol office Thursday that he remains committed to reaching a deal that includes mass transit funding in the coming days or weeks.

"I'm always looking for ways to find common ground, bring people together, and get stuff done," Shapiro said. "You'll see when we finally do get this done, the effect of staying at the table, standing up for your principles — you will see that in the final product."

Staff writer Thomas Fitzgerald contributed to this article.