Gov. Josh Shapiro (Photo: Sean Kitchen)
Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton was reelected as speaker even though the House is tied at 101 members in each caucus. Gov. Josh Shapiro praised House Republicans for allowing the vote to happen.
With the Pennsylvania House tied for the foreseeable future due a health emergency, Gov. Josh Shapiro praised House Republican leadership for backing Democratic House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia) at the onset of the new legislative session.
House Democrats started the new two-year session with a one-seat, 102 to 101, majority, but were a member short on Tuesday after State Rep. Matthew Gergely (D-Allegheny) suffered a medical emergency last week.
Gergely’s absence will leave the makeup of the House tied at 101 members a piece until he makes a full recovery.
“I thought it was an important statement about the value [House Minority Leader Jesse] Topper places on the institution. That he was willing to allow the process to move forward yesterday, even though technically there were only 101 members in each caucus who were present there,” Shapiro told reporters after walking through the Pennsylvania Farm Show on Wednesday.
“I think it speaks to the important bipartisan work we’re going to continue to do together.”
McClinton became the first female House Speaker in 2023, and was reelected to a second term as Speaker through a voice vote on Tuesday. Topper removed himself from consideration for the position after the initial vote for Speaker resulted in a 101-101 tie on the first ballot.
Democrats were able to strike a deal with Republicans and made concessions on the rules operating the chamber. Some of the rule changes include giving extra committee seats to the minority party and making it easier to release legislation that is snagged in committees.
The rules package passed the House 196 to 6 and will allow the chamber to avoid the disruptions that plagued the start of the previous session.
“I want Democrats and Republicans to spar over issues. I don’t want them just to spar for the sake of sparring,” Shapiro said. “What you saw Leader Topper, Speaker McClinton and others do yesterday is to say, ‘let’s spar over issues, but let’s put the institution first and put the people of Pennsylvania first.’”
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