🗓️ What’s Up Next
Congress
The House and Senate are on a two week recess for the holiday.
The PA General Assembly
The House returns Monday, April 13th and the Senate returns Monday, April 20th.
Want a deeper dive?
If there’s a topic you’re interested in our analysis of, feel free to drop us a line. We’ll be doing deeper dives on the big stuff as it happens, but we’re always happy to hear what you want to know.
The House and Senate left town this week without ironing out a deal to end the ongoing DHS shutdown—but one major thing has changed: TSA workers are being paid. President Trump directed the DHS to immediately begin paying TSA workers using emergency funds. With Congress out on recess, we can’t give you a full update on what they’re up to, but we can let you know what happened before they left.
The Latest
On Friday, the Senate advanced its bill to fund most of DHS, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection, to the House. It was effectively dead on arrival, and House Speaker Johnson immediately introduced a 60-day stopgap funding plan to keep DHS operating through May 22. While the stopgap passed through the House Rules Committee, the Senate had already left for recess, leaving the bill undone.
In the aftermath, President Trump directed DHS to begin paying TSA workers with emergency funding, as it became clear that airport operations were beginning to buckle. As many as 500 TSA workers have quit since the start of the partial shutdown on February 14, and nearly every major airport across the country saw debilitating wait times in TSA lines as a result. Officers should have started receiving paychecks on Monday. More on this later in the PA Impact section.
What happens when the emergency funds eventually run out is unclear. One administration official, granted anonymity, told Politico that “morale is low” and that “people are thinking this will go into the summer.” Bipartisan talks on how to handle changes to immigration enforcement have reportedly gone nowhere.
While it’s great news that TSA officers will once again receive paychecks, some legislators are likely worried that a key bargaining chip has been taken off the table. During government shutdowns, entities like TSA and Air Traffic Control are often used as leverage to encourage a deal, for better or worse. Without the airport mayhem as a continued threat, the pressure on lawmakers eases, and so too does the impetus to find a solution.
What remains to be seen is whether the GOP will attempt to pass a reconciliation bill along party lines, effectively sidestepping the need for Democratic support. It’s looking like the most obvious—if divisive—option for the party, as Democrats in Congress have made it clear they won’t support a bill that doesn’t include changes to immigration enforcement. A potential reconciliation bill comes with problems of its own; they’re procedurally complicated, and the Senate and House GOP have many, many different ideas about what they’d want in said bill. More importantly, different ideas of how to pay for it.
The situation continues to unravel, and it’s unlikely that Majority Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson will call their respective chambers back to session before the April 13th recess end date.
The Sector Breakdown
Taxes: The “No Tax on Tips” policy implemented in H.R.1, or the One Big, Beautiful Bill, has reportedly been a hit with filing taxpayers—nearly 20 million people so far have claimed the break, making it one of the most popular tax provisions. It’s a topic that might shake up the November elections.
Global Economy & Gas: As the situation in Iran continues, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and the average price of gasoline in the U.S. rose to $4 on Tuesday. Globally, prices are rising, and President Trump is sparring with allies over securing the Strait.
Defense & EU Allies: In that same vein, as Trump needles European allies over getting involved in the conflict, U.K Defense Minister John Healey has announced that the country will deploy nearly 1,000 troops across the strike region, and King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set for a diplomatic visit to the United States.
Healthcare: The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) issued a risk assessment report on the Middle East conflict, and thankfully, the current impact is limited—but a handful of drugs produced in Jordan and Israel, including half the world’s amoxicillin oral suspension, could be affected if the conflict continues.
Elections: On Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting, swiftly sparking backlash from voting law experts over the unconstitutionality of the move, which seeks to take election oversight away from the states.
Economy: The president’s annual budget request will be delivered to Congress on April 3rd.
The PA Impact
The biggest change in Pennsylvania this week is the one that finally moved: TSA workers at our airports are getting paid again, after more than 40 days without a full paycheck. While the president directed DHS to begin using emergency funds to resume pay for about 50,000 TSA officers, thousands more workers remain furloughed or are working without pay. 2,000 employees of the federal cybersecurity agency, 4,000 FEMA employees, and more than 1,000 Coast Guard civilians are still working without pay. However, their numbers haven’t been in the news like TSA’s have been. As many as 500 TSA workers nationwide have quit since the start of the partial shutdown on February 14th.
The relief is welcome, but the reaction from Pennsylvania officials was mixed. Governor Shapiro said that if Trump truly had the legal authority to act, “he should have done this 30 or so days ago and not held these people hostage, including wonderful folks who live here in Pennsylvania and wear the uniform of the TSA”. The question of why the president waited so long to aid TSA drew criticism, especially as ICE officers were deployed to airports across the country to help curb long lines. Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner showed up in person at PHL to warn ICE agents to “uphold the United States Constitution, uphold the laws”. He made it clear that he would prosecute any agent who didn’t do so, regardless of Washington’s instructions.
Now that TSA agents are being paid, it remains to be seen whether ICE agents will remain at airports nationwide. According to NPR, White House border czar Tom Homan said ICE’s continued presence will depend on how many TSA officers return to work, since no one knows for sure whether those who quit will come back.
In other news, Pennsylvania lawmakers are showing up on both sides of the debate this tax season as the One Big, Beautiful Bill’s overtime and tax provisions become exceedingly popular. Republican Rep. Mike Kelly praised the overtime deduction as a reclamation of working-class ground, and Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle showed openness to the provision, saying, “Anything we can do to make life easier for wage workers who need overtime, I'm certainly interested in.”
It’s a rare bipartisan response here in Pennsylvania, and reports indicate that some Democratic members are open to expanding some provisions. There’s still more to understand about the real impacts, which we likely won’t have numbers for until filing season ends. In the meantime, this is a topic to keep your eye on for November’s election.
🔥 What We’re Watching
The Supreme Court ruled against Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children in an 8-1 opinion.
Trump says he’s “considering leaving NATO” as he claims the conflict in Iran could end in “two to three weeks”. The Iranian regime’s new leader has reportedly asked for a ceasefire, but the U.S. will only agree if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, the president says.
The president will attend the Supreme Court arguments on his executive order on birthright citizenship, a first for a sitting president.
A judge temporarily halted construction on the White House ballroom, stating that proper procedure was not followed before the project’s beginning, and that the president is a “steward” of the White House, not the owner.
The president is set to address the nation tonight with an important update regarding Iran.
Did You Know? The highest point in Pennsylvania—Mount Davis at 3,213 feet—is still lower in elevation than the lowest point in the entire state of Colorado (3,315).
Till next time,