Gov. Josh Shapiro gives his 2024 budget address at the Capitol in Harrisburg Feb. 6, 2024 (Commonwealth Media Services photo)
Gov. Josh Shapiro said he wants to invest in the people of Pennsylvania with a $48.3 billion budget that directs new funding to education, economic growth, and creating better opportunities for residents.
“We need to build a more competitive Pennsylvania that starts in our classrooms, runs through our union halls and small businesses, through our farmlands and our high rises, our college campuses, and leads to a life of opportunity and a retirement with dignity,” Shapiro said during his budget address Tuesday in the state Capitol rotunda – the first time a governor has given an address there in the building’s nearly 120-year history.
Shapiro spoke about the successes of his first year in office, which ended with an upgrade in Pennsylvania’s bond rating and a $14 billion surplus. In his second year, Shapiro said he believes it is time to invest some of the surplus “squirreled away in Harrisburg.”