⚡  Hello. It’s Tuesday. Heads up for storms today.

????  Your Morning Pick-Me-Up. Shut Up and Dance. Walk the Moon.

PA Weather
⛈️  Bethel Park | Showers, Storms, 83
⛈️  Williamsport | Afternoon Showers, Storms, 86
⛈️  Newtown Square | Afternoon Showers, Storms, 92

PA Sports
⚾  Phillies (53-38) | San Francisco 1-3 | Tue-Wed vs. San Francisco
⚾  Pirates (38-54) | Kansas City 3-9 | Tue-Wed vs. Kansas City
⚽  Union (12-4-5) | Wed vs. NY Red Bulls

????️  The PoliticsPA Playbook is compiled by Steve Ulrich. To read in your browser, click here. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe for free.

Top Story

1.   What They Said About The Big Beautiful Bill

“By a 218-214 vote, the U.S. House passed President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and sent the legislative package to his desk where he signed it into law on Friday.

The Pennsylvania congressional delegation had something to say about the passage of Trump’s megabill.” (PoliticsPA)

Elsewhere

Harris Came Close to Picking Shapiro For Her 2024 Running Mate — But He Had His Own Reservations, According to New Book. “Vice President Kamala Harris had a better rapport with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and saw him as a preferable fit to be her No. 2 — but she wrestled with whether Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would be the more strategic choice.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Rabb, An Anti-Establishment Progressive, Is Running For Dwight Evans’ Congress Seat. “State Rep. Chris Rabb, a progressive lawmaker who twice won elections without the city’s Democratic establishment support, is running for Congress.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Young Files For Candidacy In PA-06. “Martin “Marty” Young, senior managing partner at M3 Partners, has filed a statement of candidacy to seek the Republican nomination for the 6th Congressional District seat presently held by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan.” (PoliticsPA)

Strickler Announces Bid For PA-01 Democratic Nomination. “Robert “Rob” Strickler, a resident of Buckingham, announced his campaign to seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.” (PoliticsPA)

State

2.   Two Decades Ago Lawmakers Gave Themselves a Raise While Pennsylvanians Slept

“It was around 2 a.m. on July 7, when the General Assembly quickly voted to pass a bill that provided pay raises for the 253 legislators, over 1,000 state judges and then-Gov. Ed Rendell’s staff members. Rendell signed it into law and almost no one else knew it was happening.” (PennLive)

Elsewhere

Shapiro Says Pennsylvania “Got Screwed” in the Reconciliation Bill Signed Into Law. “Gov. Josh Shapiro is criticizing Pennsylvania Republicans who voted in favor of the reconciliation bill signed into law late last week by President Donald Trump, saying the commonwealth “got screwed.”” (Penn Capital-Star)

Regulating Skill Games Dividing PA Lawmakers As Budget Talks Drag On. “Fractures have developed among both Republicans and Democrats over the proposed taxing of skill games, even as top lawmakers see it as a crucial issue in negotiations for a state budget that already is a week overdue.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

An Urgent Message For Lawmakers: Pass Shapiro’s ‘Complete Education Funding Proposal’. “Advocates say school districts are struggling to make ends meet despite cost-cutting efforts.” (Penn Capital-Star)

House Republicans Push For Debate on Save Women’s Sports Bill. “The bill would require schools to adopt definitions of “sex” based on biological distinctions, thus excluding trans and non-binary athletes who were assigned male at birth from women’s sports teams.” (The Center Square)

Around The Commonwealth

3.  Economic Pressures Are Building Across The Region. How Will Pittsburgh’s Public and Private Leaders Respond?

“As national and global turbulence filters down — from presidential politics to trade wars and AI disruptions — Pittsburgh faces an economic inflection point. 

The region has strong bones: research institutions, energy resources and a foundation of innovation. But whether it can weather a downturn may depend on how local leaders respond to stubborn population loss, Downtown decline and the fast-approaching end of federal pandemic-era funding.” (Public Source)

Elsewhere

Western PA County Copes With Trauma, Embraces Resiliency Year After Trump Rally Shooting. “It’s been one year since 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, the man identified by the FBI, climbed the roof of American Glass Research and fired eight rounds from 150 yards away at then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.” (Erie Times-News)

PA Congressman Continues Seeking Answers to Trump Assassination Attempt a Year Later. “U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, who chaired a now-expired congressional task force that investigated the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in July 2024, says he continues to push Secret Service and other federal agencies for answers about the security failures leading up to the campaign rally shooting in his hometown.” (Erie Times-News)

Journalist Who Refused to Duck During Trump Assassination Attempt Reflects on Butler Rally in New Book. “Former NY Post columnist, Salena Zito, told Fox News Digital that a voice in her head said, ‘You have a job to do, continue doing it.’” (Fox News)

Why a Powerful PA Board Is Shielded From the State’s Public Records Law. “The powerful board that oversees how Pennsylvania counties and other local governments spend opioid settlement money operates outside one of the state’s key transparency laws.” (Spotlight PA)

Editorial

4.  Speak Your Mind

• How the Attention Economy Is Devouring Gen Z — and the Rest of Us. (Ezra Klein)
• Bribing Poor Families to Stay in Public Schools Doesn’t Work. (Guy Ciarocchi)
• Dems, Follow Shapiro’s Lead and Call Out GOP Fiscal Hypocrisy. (Tim Balch)
• What PA Dems Can Learn From Zohran Mamdani. (Oliver Bateman)
• Breaking the Zip Code Barrier and Putting Students First. (Rep. Tim O’Neal)
• Pennsylvania Lawmakers Must Act Now to Fix the Home Care Crisis. (Daniel Hawkes)

1 Thing

5.   A New Tik-Tok?

“The ongoing will-TikTok-be-banned-in-the-US-or-not? drama may resolve with a new app. There is reportedly an agreement for a sale to non-Chinese investors in place that would leave TikTok parent ByteDance with a minority stake and involve a new version of the video platform that would drop on Sept. 5, narrowly beating President Donald Trump’s latest extension on the ban, which expires in mid-September. Under the plan, the original TikTok app would stop working in March 2026.” (The Verge)

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