Gov. Josh Shapiro called out GOP members of Congress, including a NEPA representative, as well as a potential gubernatorial opponent, in a Thursday morning interview with WILK Radio.

As the Big Beautiful Bill approaches final passage in the U.S. House of Representatives, Shapiro was critical of those who he says lied to the people of Pennsylvania and cast their votes in support of President Donald Trump’s signature bill.

“Across Pennsylvania, this is the net effect. 310,000 Pennsylvanians are going to lose Medicaid. 154,000 peopleare going to lose Medicaid. That’s more than half of them in counties that Trump won, right?

“The point I’m trying to make here is this shouldn’t be about politics,” he continued. “It shouldn’t be about who you voted for. This should be about lives being negatively impacted by this vote.

Following up on a lengthy tweet from yesterday that spelled out the costs to Pennsylvanians across the Commonwealth, the governor laid out his rationale for opposing the bill.

“Let’s boil it down even further. You have real folks in our communities losing their assistance. These are people who are working, who are trying to get ahead, but can’t get enough money together to feed their kids. They’re going to lose food assistance.

“With all due respect, shame on these members of Congress who spent the last few months saying, ‘Oh, I’ll never cut Medicaid.’ I mean, Rep. [Rob] Bresnahan (R-08) told you, your listeners, your newspapers, told me, to my face, this was a red line in the sand for him. He wouldn’t harm people on Medicaid. He wouldn’t harm our rural hospitals. Well, in his district, 21,637 Pennsylvanians are going to lose Medicaid coverage thanks to the fact that he caved and voted for this bill, right? I mean, this is just crazy that they’re voting to knock poor people off of this assistance. Why? Because they wanted to give a huge tax cut to people the highest income levels who, frankly, don’t need it and aren’t asking for it.”

Sounding like a candidate for higher office, Shapiro ripped into GOP members of Congress for deceiving voters last fall.

“They campaigned on not cutting Medicaid. You heard them say that over and over again,” he said. “They campaigned on shrinking the national deficit. They campaigned on generating more energy. They campaigned on protecting rural communities. You heard them say that over and over and over again. And then the first bill they vote, the first major bill they vote for, it slashes Medicaid. It adds three and a half trillion dollars to our national deficit.

“Spare me the nonsense of being the party that cares about our national debt or national deficit. They now have no ground to stand on to argue that this limits our freedom and restricts our abilities in the future.”

The governor continued to talk about the impacts on the Commonwealth, including taking away billions of dollars from the state for energy projects and the potential closure of rural hospitals in Pennsylvania because of the slashing of Medicaid.

“So they said they weren’t going to cut Medicaid. They did. They said they were going to shrink the deficit. They raised it. They said they were going to generate more energy. We’re actually going to be in a position to generate less because of the funding that they cut from Pennsylvania. They said they were going to protect rural communities and look at them. What are they going to do here? They’re going to shut down the major employers. Shut down the hospitals in those communities. They lied to the very people that voted for them, and that’s really a shame.”

Host Nancy Kman also asked Shapiro about State Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s comments that she thought the megabill was “transformational” and hopes that it reaches President Trump’s desk as soon as possible. It has been rumored that Garrity is preparing a run at the governor’s mansion in 2026 as a GOP challenger to Shapiro.

“She’s another example like those I cited before, who just lied,” the governor said. “They claim to be champions of rural communities, and here they are throwing hundreds of 1000s of Pennsylvanians, including about half who live in rural communities, off of Medicaid. She actually stood with me at a rural hospital, proclaiming to care about rural health care. Well now we’ve got 25 rural hospitals that are likely to shutter.

“She loves to talk a good game about generating more energy, and is apparently celebrating or urging the package, I guess I should say, of a bill that’s going to strip billions of dollars away from energy projects in Pennsylvania. The thing that I actually find most laughable is she’s always the one talking about fiscal responsibility and living within your own means, and now she’s apparently campaigning for a bill that would add three and a half trillion dollars to our national deficit.

“So, like a lot of these other folks, she has zero credibility to ever preach about fiscal responsibility or fiscal sanity, and I think she has an explanation to 310,000 Pennsylvanians who are going to lose health care, and how she’s frankly betraying some of the very people that voted for her. Look, I still have to explain her rationale for jumping in. I think it probably has a lot more to do with her desire to speak Donald Trump’s approval than her desire to actually be a good advocate for the people of Pennsylvania.”

Shapiro also provided a brief budget update, reminding listeners that he introduced his budget 160 days ago and that the Senate needs to get moving.

“We understand the core issues and we’re working through them so I realize it’s a little bit slow,” he shared. “You know, the legislative process is slow. I want these bills on my desk, but they’ve got a process they got to work through. We’re working through it with them, and I’m confident that we’re going to compromise and find common ground, as we have the last two cycles. We’ve shown that we can come together and solve big problems.”

updated to include link to WILK recording