Government Relations Updates
It was a busy week in Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia region. Governor Shapiro unveiled his fourth budget address, clocking in at $53.26 billion. (ICYMI: Bellevue’s Keon Morley and the Government Relations team put together an analysis of the budget that you can read here.) Plus, major bills moved out of House Committees. In Philadelphia, the city came together to support snow removal, and Council introduced a number of ceremonial resolutions in honor of Black History Month.
The Bellevue Compass
Congress ended the partial shutdown, passing the last few appropriations bills through and applying patch funding to DHS while negotiations continue. Will it be enough, or will the agency shutter in the next few days when funding runs out?
In Case You Missed It
Today, students and teachers from two Philadelphia private schools held a teach-in at the President’s House in Independence National Historic Park, joining activists and protesters in dissent against the removal of the site’s slavery exhibit.
In Economics: For the first time in the 140-year history of the stock index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 points, via The Hill.
The Supreme Court: Will we be seeing even more campaign ads as the election cycle ramps up? The Supreme Court is set to decide NRSC v. FEC, which has the potential to eliminate coordination rules for advertising, effectively giving party committees access to the candidate-rate for advertising. More on Politico about how this would change the landscape of advertising during an election year.
In Healthcare: Skirting around ongoing talks in Congress about how to address the lapsed ACA subsidies, President Trump unveiled a new website on Thursday called TrumpRx, where Americans can buy prescription drugs directly from drugmakers at reduced prices.
Plus, tonight is the Milan Olympics opening ceremony. Here’s where you can watch.
That’s all for now.
See you next week.
The Bellevue Team