Cutler Celebrates Budget Wins

November 12, 2025

HARRISBURG -Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Peach Bottom) released the following statement after the Pennsylvania House passed the 2025-26 fiscal year budget by a bipartisan vote.

"Today, Pennsylvania receives a budget that keeps its fiscal future secure. This budget, while increasing spending from last year, does not take any money from our Rainy Day Fund, protecting Pennsylvania's finances.

"There are also numerous wins in this budget that will help Pennsylvanians across our Commonwealth. First, with this deal, Pennsylvania will be getting out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI has been a bad deal since day one, when former Gov. Tom Wolf unilaterally brought Pennsylvania into the initiative. RGGI has been responsible for nearly $8 billion lost in economic development and the loss of 22,000 jobs related to energy for Pennsylvania.

"Leaving RGGI will see Pennsylvanians energy bills decrease and avoid a 30% increase on energy prices that would have occurred if Pennsylvania stayed in RGGI. Pennsylvania will also be able to export more energy to surrounding states, leading to more investment that will come directly into Pennsylvania.

"This budget also creates reforms for certain permits and teacher certification. The budget not only adds quicker timelines for response from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental protection (DEP) for air pollution and water quality permits but also requires every state agency to establish a secure permit tracking system so applicants can track the status of their pending permits, a massive win for transparency.

"Carrer and technical teacher certifications have also been reformed, providing new opportunities for well-qualified applicants to help teach students looking to work in the technical field.

"All school entities will now have to adopt an evidence-based reading instruction curriculum, with a professional development training program, that will see students from K-3 evaluated for reading competency three times a year and develop a reading intervention program for those students if a reading deficiency is found.

"Finally, on a personal victory, $5 million was secured as part of the General Appropriations bill to fund the Neurological Disease Program I have fought for. This will allow Pennsylvania's world-class education centers to research terminal neurological diseases like Alzheimer's, dementia and ALS. It is a tiny win, but one that could have major benefits, not just for Pennsylvanians but for the world, and we will see that progress happen here in Pennsylvania. I've worked with my colleague, Rep. Kyle Mullins from Lackawanna, on securing this funding for the past few years. We both lost parents to ALS, and his support made securing this funding possible.

"I do not love everything in this budget, but the wins outweigh the losses, and this budget will move Pennsylvania forward in a positive direction."

Representative Bryan Cutler
100th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Joe Szymanski
717-808-4961
[email protected]
www.repcutler.com / www.facebook.com/repbryancutler