- 5/29/2025
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and other state officials and leaders touted improvements in support for older Pennsylvanians.
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00:00your kind introduction and I appreciate you acknowledging the wonderful leaders
00:05that we have here in York County it was quite purposeful that we chose York
00:10County for this announcement today because this is a community that's got
00:15its act together this is a community with strong leadership the county local
00:20and state level and this is a community that cares deeply about our seniors so I
00:25wanted to be here today for this important announcement and I feel very
00:31at home here it's wonderful to be at this great senior center and I should
00:35note I see a number of people wearing hats making clear that they served our
00:42nation and so I want to say thank you to all of our veterans and I know we have
00:52many veterans who aren't donning a hat today but have done extraordinary
00:56service and we thank you all very very much I wanted to be here today to
01:01celebrate the great progress we've made for our seniors here in York County and
01:06all across this great Commonwealth you know from the start of my
01:11administration as your governor a little over two years ago I made very clear that
01:16I was going to listen to seniors and I was going to deliver for them and I want
01:22you to know you can clap for that I want you to know that is something I've been
01:30doing for a very long time you know about 20 years ago I ran for state
01:36representative the job that representative Hill Evans has and as part of my
01:42campaign to run I went around and knocked on the doors of every person that lived in
01:48my community over 18,000 doors and I went and primarily just listened I'd quickly
01:54introduce myself and I'd say what's on your mind and when I would get to the
01:58door of an older Pennsylvanian they would take a deep breath and then they would say
02:02how long do you have and I knew that meant they had a lot on their minds and they
02:09did they had a lot of wisdom and they had a lot of needs and they had a lot of
02:14righteous demands of their state government and so I've learned over the
02:18last 20 years as your state representative as your Attorney General
02:21and now as your governor to do a whole lot of listening I like your ringtone by
02:27the way to do a whole lot of listening and now to be in a position to deliver
02:32for all of you I knew that in order to deliver we needed to make sure we
02:37surrounded ourselves with people who could have seniors on their mind 24 7 365 and
02:45who had the practical experience to be able to help and serve our older
02:51Pennsylvanians and so that is where we found secretary Jason Kavulich who joins us
02:58here today the head of the Department of Aging for the Commonwealth of
03:02Pennsylvania secretary Kavulich led a triple-a in area age say the triple-a yeah
03:15we're just gonna call them triple-a's I always mess that up but he led one in
03:19Lackawanna County which is in the northeastern part of our state if you
03:23know where Scranton is that's where Lackawanna County is why is that important
03:27because he had the practical expertise to be able to meet the needs of
03:32seniors in his community I didn't want someone thinking about how to do all
03:36this stuff I wanted someone doing this stuff and delivering for Pennsylvania
03:41seniors and that's exactly what secretary Kavulich has done we needed someone who
03:47had that real-world experience and someone who cared deeply in his heart
03:52about helping older Pennsylvanians we know how valuable and important valuable
03:58contributions and how important our senior population is in Pennsylvania I want you
04:03to consider this today one out of every four Pennsylvanians are seniors by the end of this
04:10decade in just five years by 2030 one out of every three Pennsylvanians will be a senior our older adult
04:20population is going to be 3.8 million people within the next five years I think
04:27that is absolutely wonderful I think that is a great thing it means we've got
04:33more grandmoms and grandpas to go visit with and to laugh with and to learn with
04:39and play wordle with more seniors who can share their wisdom with us so that we can
04:46help move our Commonwealth forward with your expertise but it also means we in
04:52positions of authority and especially the secretary that we have a responsibility back
04:57to our seniors and make sure that we are here for you and supporting you with all of the different
05:03range of supports that you need in the past those supports for our seniors well didn't really
05:10keep up with the times and I don't think candidly we coordinated effectively you heard about all the
05:17great stuff happening in York County that's awesome but I think historically we didn't do a great job of
05:23coordinating between the state level and our county senior adult services organizations that has
05:31changed over the last two years we are working better than ever together and the beneficiaries of that
05:37are all of you the seniors who are here and we've listened to the needs that you've laid out and
05:43delivered let me start with one example I have heard firsthand from seniors who are worried about
05:51being able to stay in their homes and live independently and afford to live independently with rising prices
05:59across the board by the way remember I told you about knocking on all those doors and the community I
06:05represented I heard about this 20 years ago and I said when I was campaigned to be your governor that
06:12if you give me the shot to be your governor we will deliver on that within the first six months of me
06:18serving as your governor representative Hill Evans in the house and senators on the in the other house all
06:26came together on a bipartisan basis to pass the largest tax cut for seniors in more than two decades in
06:35Pennsylvania we worked together to deliver for all of you this is something that folks in the
06:45Capitol talked about for so long but we delivered it started by listening to you and then it meant
06:52working together to find common ground to get it done now I came today in part to give you a report
06:58card on the work we've done so let me start with a report card on those tax cuts for seniors over
07:04the last year 522,000 Pennsylvania seniors got a property tax rent rebate 522,000 of that 522,000 a
07:19hundred and six thousand of them were first-time recipients of that property tax rent rebate so when we
07:28passed that historic relief we increased the rebate and we expanded the universe of people that would
07:36qualify expanded it by a hundred and six thousand seniors in addition to that we had so many seniors
07:46who year after year after year and I'm sure some people in this room know that lost their property tax rent
07:52rebate why'd you lose it you lost it because your Social Security payment went up just a little bit
07:58right and it priced you out that's never going to happen again in Pennsylvania because part of what
08:03we did is we put a cola in place so that the property tax relief will keep up with any increased payments
08:12you get from Social Security so seniors are never going to lose those benefits that they deserve I'd
08:19remember I said last year 522,000 seniors 106,000 of them were new so how about this year right want to
08:29keep giving you a report card on our progress so far this year 424,000 seniors have already applied for and
08:39gotten their property tax rent rebate why do I tell you that number because that is a faster pace a better
08:46pace than we even had last year so I expect this year more than 522,000 seniors will get their property
08:53tax relief that's a big deal putting money back in the pockets of our seniors so they can stay in their
08:59homes they can afford to be in the communities that they love close to their grandkids close to their
09:06friends close to the activities close to the White Rose Senior Center we think that is really really
09:11important let me tell you about some other work we've been doing remember before I said that we
09:17hadn't been really coordinating very well on the resources we give to seniors and the benefits that we
09:23provide to seniors you had great examples like York County under Commissioner Hope's leadership doing
09:28that work but we weren't all working really well together a big reason for that is Pennsylvania did
09:34not have a master plan on how to help our seniors so under Secretary Kavulich's
09:41leadership for the first time ever we built a master plan called aging our way PA get it kind of rhymes and
09:51that is serving now as a roadmap for us for this decade to deliver for Pennsylvania seniors now how'd we come up with this
10:00report Secretary Kavulich and his team went out and came to senior centers like this one and listened
10:06to the needs of seniors and then brought all that information back to our capital wrote it all down
10:12and wrote a report now for me too often times I've seen these government reports get written not if you
10:19agree with me they get written and then they get put on a shelf somewhere and nobody ever does anything
10:23about it right it's frustrating for us the aging our way plan never made its way up onto a shelf it sits on the
10:30desk and it is what we we provide to everyone in the Department of Aging as the roadmap for the work that we
10:39all need to do together this plan has brought together services and investments from 29 different
10:49commonwealth agencies to meet the needs of seniors all across Pennsylvania from things like investing
10:56in public transportation to help our seniors get the ride shares they need to go to their medical
11:01appointments or go shopping to ensuring caregivers have the training and support and compensation they
11:08need to do the important jobs they do for so many of you in this room to lowering health insurance costs
11:14and prescription drug costs for our seniors to making it easier for seniors to find and understand the
11:21information that shows what kind of benefits they qualify for things like the property tax rent rebate
11:29aging our way Pennsylvania has been the guiding document for our administration and it is a real
11:35commitment to building a better future for our seniors as more and more of them occupy larger and larger parts
11:44of our population we launched aging our way Pennsylvania one year ago almost to the day so i wanted to come
11:53here to your county today to give you a status report on how we're doing since that report was issued a year ago
12:00we've taken significant strides under secretary kabulich's leadership to protect and better serve our seniors
12:08first we launched the alzheimer's office in pennsylvania first time we've ever had such an important office
12:17to provide support for pennsylvanians living with this disease as well as for their caregivers look alzheimer's
12:26is a heartbreaking disease and because of this new division in the department of aging we are now in a
12:33position for the first time ever to coordinate resources and connect more pennsylvanians with
12:40the caregivers they need to get the help that they need in their time of need second we have stepped
12:47up monitoring of our triple a's to provide greater transparency and accountability for the seniors that they
12:56care for we all know that triple a's provide critical services to our seniors and they often serve as
13:03the first line of defense against elder abuse now for the first time ever pennsylvanians can go online to
13:12see how their local triple a is performing we're bringing transparency to this system to protect our seniors
13:20seniors third just yesterday the department of aging launched a new toolkit to support pennsylvania's 1.5
13:30million unpaid caregivers this toolkit provides training for caregivers connection connections
13:37to respite services so caregivers can get the rest that they need and the resources to help families
13:44evaluate and select the professional caregivers that they so choose these are three concrete steps that
13:53came out of aging our way pa that we have taken so far to support older adults and the people who care
14:00for them and i want you to hear me on this we are just getting started
14:05i know secretary kabulich will discuss more of what his incredible agency has accomplished and more
14:18of where we're going but i also want you to know about how we're investing real dollars real tax dollars
14:24in meeting the needs of older pennsylvanians in the budget that i proposed back in february that secretary
14:31carol sorry secretary representative carol hill evans and her colleagues are now considering i am calling
14:41for additional funding to support research into neurodegenerative diseases across pennsylvania i'm
14:49calling for more funding for our triple a's and the critical work they do to help seniors live in
14:55age with dignity in their homes and in their communities and i'm calling for funding to support
15:03more of the work that is called for under aging our way pa to not only provide more resources to our
15:10seniors but to better coordinate all of those resources from the county to the state level so that no
15:17senior gets left behind we are listening to you we are delivering for you and i wanted to come back
15:26here today to york county to give you a status report on the progress that we are making part of what
15:32i also want to do today is spend some time with you individually and hear your individual concerns so
15:38we can incorporate that even more into the work we're doing i'm proud of this work we're doing and
15:45i'm really proud of the fact that it is now being recognized all across this great nation i wanted to
15:52come here today to make an important announcement in recognition of our work to support seniors and our
16:00strong plan to support seniors well into the future aarp has designated pennsylvania an age friendly state
16:10that is a big deal i know bill from the aarp is going to have more to say about this but i'm proud that
16:21we're only the 13th state in the nation to get this recognition and by the way it's now a statewide
16:28recognition that your county has enjoyed for some time what we've been able to do by putting the right
16:35people in the right place with the right plan and the right amount of funding is something that i think
16:41has helped move pennsylvania forward when it comes to looking out for our seniors and i i want to be
16:48clear when i talk about the right people it's not just secretary kavulich and the wonderful people that
16:54work with him at the department of aging it's our partners in this work from senior centers like this
16:59one across pennsylvania to great leaders like bill johnson walsh from over at aarp people in communities
17:07all across pennsylvania every who advocate for our seniors every single day folks like kathy and carmen
17:15look here in york community members came together to make sure that this community looked out for our
17:22seniors and it earned york county that special distinction that age-friendly special distinction
17:29back in 2020 you all are veterans here you've been doing this for five years so we're catching up to
17:34you now before today about 25 percent of pennsylvanians lived in an age-friendly county now today due to
17:45this announcement a hundred percent of pennsylvania seniors live in an age-friendly designated state
17:52so if you can't tell i'm proud of the progress we're making and if you can't tell i also listen
18:05when you talk i learned those lessons a long time ago when i was knocking on doors and i've learned those
18:10lessons when i've shown up in senior centers like this one all across pennsylvania you've been outspoken about
18:17the needs that you have from delivering historic tax relief to making sure services get delivered
18:23for you to making sure you can age with dignity in the communities that you love i hear you and we're
18:28fighting for you every single day and i'm proud to work with this team and so many others on your behalf
18:36thank you for enriching our lives in pennsylvania with your presence here we're going to continue to
18:42make pennsylvania a wonderful place as kathy said to live work and play for all pennsylvanians especially
18:49our older pennsylvanians the person
18:57the person who's been doing so much of this hard work leading this work for my administration
19:02is secretary jason kavulich who leads the department of aging i want to invite him and some other speakers
19:08up here and then i'll return and take some questions from the media and then i'll get the chance to
19:13visit with all of you so with that secretary jason kabulich
19:23good morning everyone it's an honor to stand alongside governor shapiro and all the dignitaries
19:29here with us today honoring older americans month and to celebrate with you all pennsylvania's official
19:35designation as an age-friendly state in partnership with dced aarp and pennsylvania's age-friendly
19:42community leaders when governor shapiro honored me with an invitation to join his cabinet
19:47i was at a loss for words that's an understatement what i did say to him besides the obvious yes and
19:53thank you was that the pennsylvania department of aging would become a nationally recognized program
19:59we did that accomplishment with aging our way pa but we did not stop there we continued going and we
20:05kept we kept moving forward our age-friendly designation is just another national accomplishment
20:12for our administration two years ago just a few months after taking office governor shapiro
20:18empowered our department to lead in the creation of a 10-year multi-sector plan aging our way pa
20:24one year ago the governor stood with us to launch aging our way pa today we stand together in
20:30partnership to build age-friendly communities to work county by county neighborhood by neighborhood
20:35to make pennsylvania the best place in the nation to age in this designation of age-friendly would not
20:41be possible without the commitment this government governor has demonstrated by listening to older
20:46pennsylvanians and responding to their needs in meaningful and practical ways through bold decisive action
20:52this governor has empowered us to improve the service infrastructure will this will that will serve
20:57us all as we age yesterday we launched the pa care kit our caregiver toolkit to help 1.5 million
21:04unpaid caregivers that happened in just nine months where other states took years to accomplish
21:10we've built out the adrd alzheimer's and related dementia office we continue to build multidisciplinary
21:16teams and model things like the northeast older adult advocacy center to address the needs of older adults
21:21at the community level we've reframed senior centers and we continue our conversation about reframing
21:27aging and how we talk about becoming older in pennsylvania and we're revitalizing the pennsylvania link
21:32to help older adults navigate to services that they need to live in their homes and communities
21:37we're continuing to strengthen and stabilize our area agencies on aging so they can continue to be the
21:42critical community hubs and continue to be that front door for aging services for every older adult
21:48in the commonwealth and our newest initiative our age-friendly learning collaborative a response to
21:53community partners and their need to collaborate support each other's work and empower like-minded
21:58leaders to drive age-friendly planning policies and progress and communities all across our commonwealth
22:05i want to thank the and celebrate the statewide community we have built this past year
22:09from aarp bill johnston walsh our state director and bill armbruster the national director of age-friendly
22:16living communities your guidance throughout this process has set the stage for a rapid expansion of
22:20age-friendly ideas and communities throughout our commonwealth from dced rick val deputy secretary
22:27of community and economic development who has who's here with us today we've created age-friendly
22:33pennsylvania as a guide reminding reimagining older adult services infrastructure this is not a department of
22:41aging effort is an effort of every department agency and stakeholder dcd has been such a willing and engaged
22:47powerful partner in this work we would not be able to be here today without their support
22:52stephanie and
22:58stephanie edwards and the age-friendly work group members all our state planning specialists leaders
23:03from age-friendly communities across the commonwealth laura poskins and paul winkler from the greater
23:08pittsburgh area carmen bell from the lehigh valley nora died eisenhower former secretary of aging from
23:14philadelphia kathy bollinger from york county kathy thank you for the work you have done to transform
23:19this community age-friendly york county has helped us shape the path for communities all across pennsylvania
23:25and has and you for helping us make this event come together today
23:28i want to thank mike castellano from lackawanna county and their age-friendly movement and mark
23:39shea the director of the york county area agency on aging who has been a constant supporter and a
23:45constant advocate for aging services for many years and i would also like to thank from the department of
23:50aging jesse pierce who has led this movement for the department and has made this day a reality
24:01you are all the life of this product product project and have been advocating planning
24:06and coalition building as we've worked in our communities all across the commonwealth and worked
24:11to make sure that this state statewide designation happened this state my designation stands on your
24:16shoulders today thank you for your enthusiasm and pushing us to achieve this designation and thank
24:22you for shaping the vision of an age-friendly pennsylvania pennsylvania age-friendly status is more
24:28than a designation it's a call to action our journey towards an age-friendly future is just the beginning
24:33a future where we can all age our way with connection purpose and fulfillment governor shapiro
24:40thank you for always keeping the well-being of older pennsylvanians a priority thank you for keeping
24:45aging our way and older pennsylvanians at the center of conversations thank you for making pennsylvania
24:50an age-friendly community and now i'm pleased to introduce bill johnson walsh state director for
24:57pennsylvania aarp good morning everyone as you heard my name is bill johnston walsh and i am i serve as the
25:11state director for aarp pennsylvania and on behalf of our 1.8 million members
25:17and all pennsylvanians 50 and older it is an honor to stand up here before you today as we celebrate
25:24older americans month um here in may it's the tail end but it's still older americans month
25:29and happily announce that pennsylvania is officially enrolled in aarp's network of age-friendly states
25:35and communities this designation is the result of ongoing collaborations between the pennsylvania
25:42department of aging the governor stakeholders across the commonwealth including aarp and members
25:48of think tanks comprised of dedicated age-friendly leaders that are right here in this room
25:54and they're champions from among the 10 pennsylvania cities and counties already enrolled in the aarp
26:00network of age-friendly states and communities back when governor shapiro was running for office
26:06as candidate shapiro aarp met with him to discuss a few issues and one of the issues at the time was
26:14the designation of pennsylvania's an age-friendly state the governor was great he listened as he
26:21mentioned here today he asked some really good questions what does this mean what's the cost what's
26:27going on you know it's oh he's always thinking about these things um and at the end he says i think
26:33it's a good idea um fast forward now we have governor shapiro he was elected and one of the first things he
26:41did out of the gate was to bring an outstanding secretary of aging um and gave gave his marching orders to
26:49establish that this multi-sector plan uh that everyone is talking about all known as the governor's aging our
26:55way pa plan um and he just didn't do it you know like oh i'll get to it i'll get around to it no he
27:02did it right out of the gate um and then not only that he said and i want it done within i don't know
27:09you know let's just say 13 months i'll give you a little over a year to get this done um and i'm happy to
27:14say that um in that multi-sector plan uh there were tons of recommendations some that we heard today
27:22um have been implemented already some that are being worked on um and then the one today one of
27:27the recommendations was to establish pennsylvania as an age-friendly state today as you heard pennsylvania
27:34officially becomes the 13th state in the nation uh to be accepted as a member of the aarp network of
27:40age-friendly states and communities on a personal note um we were going back and forth with ohio not
27:45that i'm competitive or anything but we we beat ohio say that again we beat ohio so we are 13 maybe
27:57they'll be 14 i'm not sure but uh a little friendly competition yeah exactly exactly uh by aligning with
28:05the aarp global age-friendly initiatives pennsylvania now gains access to expert resources
28:11and tech technology technological support to help identify and promote policies and initiatives
28:17that make neighborhoods walkable feature safe transportation options enable access to key
28:23services provide opportunities to participate in community activities and support affordable
28:29adaptable housing is some of their goals that we have
28:32this commitment to make pennsylvania more livable will build on the efforts of counties like allegheny
28:43lehigh lackawanna northampton and york and the cities like lancaster philadelphia and pittsburgh
28:50which have already embraced creative well-designed very well-designed age-friendly communities
28:55that foster economic growth and make for happier healthier residents of all ages life stages
29:02and abilities simply put the common thread among the enrolled members in aarp's networks of states
29:09and communities is the belief that the places where we live are more livable and better able to support
29:16people of all ages when local and state leaders commit to improving the quality of life for the younger
29:23the older and everyone in between aarp believes that this designation will ignite important partnerships at
29:31every level from our smallest communities to government agencies and will make pennsylvania an even
29:37better place to live for all we congratulate the governor in the commonwealth on the accomplishment
29:43and look forward to working with the governor with secretary kovulich and with all of you to make sure
29:50that we we stay uh on course and what we need to do to make everyone live in their communities as long as possible
29:58um and be healthy and happy so thank you all very much
30:06i'd like to introduce right now carmen bell carmen is one of the strongest advocates i know she joins us
30:12from the lehigh valley um and you don't mess with carmen that's what i'm sorry
30:17that's a tough introduction to live up to you got it thank you bill thank you governor shapiro secretary
30:30kovulich elected officials community residents members of the press and other assembled guests
30:36thank you also to all who work so diligently toward making this designation a reality
30:42i'm personally very grateful for the support of my united made team my colleague victoria sayer who's
30:47here our senior leadership represented by our ceo marci lesco age friendly pa offers all our
30:55communities the opportunity to succeed through shared goals and strategies and an increased ability to
31:01build community and learn from each other building and strengthening community is how we can ensure that
31:07older adults and indeed all residents of the commonwealth have the tools they need to thrive i know firsthand
31:14how important community is and how important access to information and knowledge of resources is
31:20important when my father began to forget and to wander we were scared and uncertain as to what was happening
31:26but our community rallied around us to help keep him safe that was over 30 years ago and things have
31:32changed a lot and then when my mother came to live with me i was still uncertain as to how to
31:39access resources despite being in the work and i thought to myself if i'm having that confusion and that
31:46lack of of assuredness how must others feel who are not connected to this work and it put us on a path to
31:54making sure that we could close some of those gaps just recently a treasured member of the lehigh valley
32:01team passed away and unlike the situation with my father and with my my uncertainties with my mother
32:08carol gonzalez had community support and she had and she and her family were able to access services and
32:14resources because of the work being done across multi-sector um initiatives to ensure that her family had the
32:21tools needed and the resources and information needed to help her with her life and then with her transition
32:28so we are grateful for that and we wish that for every family and every member of our community
32:34as it is often said we are stronger together age-friendly pa and the master plan in aging aging our way
32:42provide the framework for us to continue to build a strong vibrant community where everyone is engaged
32:49and respected and respected and included and has what they need to thrive it has been my great honor
32:56to be a part of this journey and i look forward to the continued learning and work we can do together
33:01for the good of older adults and for all who live work and play in the age-friendly state of
33:07pennsylvania thank you so much for your time and attention and it's my pleasure to turn the podium over
33:13to representative hill evans so i'm here without a script so i get to say pretty much anything i want
33:25to so the first thing i'm going to say is hey white rose senior center
33:35usually when i'm here we have tables around people are playing cards we're dancing we're having a great
33:40time and it would take the governor to bring all of you out here today so thank you all for being
33:47here i'm extremely proud to be your state representative to work along with the secretary
33:52and the governor to make sure that you have the kind of resources that you need in order to stay in
33:57your places in order to make your lives a little less worrisome and so i was extremely proud to be
34:05one of the prime sponsors for house bill 1100 which increased the property tax rent rebate amount from
34:13600 up to a thousand dollars
34:22and when you hear of the tens of thousands of people who were new to this program i'm here to tell
34:27you that at least 1700 plus have come through our office and there's a lot more work to be done
34:36i do want to tell you that if you didn't get the opportunity to put in your application and you are
34:41eligible that that deadline has been extended to december 31st of this year we're open for business
34:48come and see us thank you for being here thank you governor thank you for the opportunity god bless
34:53thank you representative hill evans um i want to get the chance to visit with all of you i got to
35:02take a few questions from the media first and then we'll get the chance to chat any of you guys have any
35:07questions give me one sec the mayor asked to say a quick word and he's the mayor so go ahead mayor i just
35:19i just had a i was working this morning to prepare a little celebration for today a celebration
35:24announcement and i want folks to know that we were on the phone with pendot this morning and we're in
35:30agreement that we are going to work to have uh to improve our pedestrian elder crossings at our lights
35:38so that we can now have designated times for just pedestrians and have all of the lights stopped at once
35:45because we have been having issues with pedestrians and also extending also extending the time that
35:51you'll be able to walk across the street so it's just one more step it's just one more step that we're
35:57taking yes thank you absolutely and look that's that's a really important point i just want to stress
36:04i'm glad the mayor brought that up remember before i said 29 different agencies have worked together with
36:10secretary kavulich right one of them is pendot because we got to make sure folks can get to and
36:16from where they're going whether they're using mass transit they're driving they're walking they're
36:21biking whatever it is and so the mayor's point about being able to work with pendot to make it easier
36:28for seniors to walk across the street get where they need to go it's a great example of how we're all
36:34working together and that's what i think we need more of by the way in government in life
36:38uh and certainly uh to get this done so thank you mayor for sharing that with us
36:45i got one last thing and i'll take your question um we talked a lot about secretary kabulich who's
36:52awesome he'll be the first to admit he works with a great team and a bunch of them are here i noticed
36:58them as as i was giving my remarks i know you don't get the chance to see them every day but they're
37:03working really really hard for you behind the scenes so if you just kind of turn your head around
37:07everybody who works at the department of aging raise your hand i want people to know who you are
37:13right megan abbott gabby a lot of wonderful people they're working hard for you every day
37:21so thank you appreciate you guys all right go ahead yeah for being here today can you tell me when you
37:27attend the president's rally at u.s deal in pittsburgh tomorrow and what are your thoughts on this possible
37:33yeah well first let's talk about the deal and then i'll talk about where i'm going to be tomorrow
37:39steel making in pennsylvania is such a critically important part of our heritage and our history
37:47but the thing is i don't want my kids to read about steel making in the history books i want kids all
37:54across pennsylvania to have the opportunity to be a steel worker and to continue to make pennsylvania
38:00the place where steel is manufactured where we can continue to be the arsenal of democracy because
38:06of the hands of steel makers and others who fashion our bridges and fashion so many other things out
38:12of steel that are critical in our everyday lives for years and years and years those steel worker jobs
38:19have been taken out of pennsylvania and gone elsewhere and plants have shuttered so i've been working really
38:25hard to make sure that we can protect our great legacy but grow for the future of steel making in
38:31pennsylvania so i've worked with everybody our labor unions our business community u.s steel nippon steel the
38:39company that will acquire u.s steel under this deal i've worked with two presidents on this president
38:46biden and president trump and their administrations to make sure that steel making could be protected here
38:52in pennsylvania because in this case a foreign company nippon from japan would be acquiring u.s steel
39:01it has to go through a process known as syphius it's a federally run process that only the president
39:07of united states gets to make a determination about president biden used his power to stop a deal from
39:13going forward president trump announced just a few days ago that he intended to support the deal and have
39:19that uh go forward that now gives us an opportunity to protect steel making in pennsylvania and based
39:25on the commitments that nippon steel has made to me uh and seemingly to the white house that will mean
39:32that we are going to see growth in our steel making here in pennsylvania and under the terms of this deal
39:38a 2.4 at least 2.4 billion dollar investment in steel making in pennsylvania that's a big deal
39:47and it's something that i think we do need to celebrate as for celebrating it uh tomorrow my
39:53understanding is the president is having this event friday night i think as most people know um friday
39:59night for me is reserved for our sabbath dinner with our family we try and do that it's an important
40:04moment for me to take out time during the week to be with my family so i will be with them but i'll be
40:09celebrating this and looking forward to getting this deal done and knowing that we all worked together
40:16on this to make it happen and protect our steel making here in pennsylvania
40:26my question is electric prices are going up for pennsylvanians this weekend someone put the blame
40:30on policies in maryland and new jersey so how would you respond to those allegations against your fellow
40:35democratic governors and have you had conversations with those governors about energy policies well i i'm
40:40focused on energy here in the commonwealth of pennsylvania those governors can can speak for themselves
40:45our energy prices are largely set by something called pjm which is a conglomerate of multiple states
40:53including pennsylvania that kind of sets capacity and sets pricing for individual consumers businesses
41:01and others i've been really candid for the last couple years i do not think pjm is serving the good
41:07people of pennsylvania well in fact they were looking to jack up prices significantly a few months ago and
41:14you know what i did i took them to court and i won and i protected all of you from dramatic increases
41:21in grace price heights
41:25i've made clear that we've got to re-examine whether or not pennsylvania should be a member of pjm maybe we
41:32should set our own pricing why would i say that because here in pennsylvania we are a net energy
41:39exporter meaning we create more energy than we actually need and so we sell our energy to other
41:46states that puts us in a strong position to both keep consumer prices low and also create markets in in
41:55other states and so because we have that power i don't want to give up that power to some other state or to
42:01some you know conglomerate i want us to be able to protect pennsylvanians and i want us to grow i
42:06think energy is critically important to creating jobs and economic opportunity in pennsylvania and
42:11because we produce an abundance of it i think we should use that power to keep our prices low in our
42:17commonwealth so we're exploring a number of different things that which i can do unilaterally and that
42:23which we would need legislative support for we're working hard to build bipartisan consensus in that space
42:29okay anything else great thank you all very much this is a great day for older pennsylvanians and it's
42:38awesome to be here at white rose back in york county thank you all for welcoming back and thank you all
42:43for speaking up and i want to assure you again we are listening thank you very very much
42:56thank you