Pennsylvania Democrats are raising questions as Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity is invited to the State of the Union.
With the state of Pennsylvanians’ pocketbooks in peril, many are left scratching their heads as Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity accepted an invitation to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Garrity is the Republican-backed gubernatorial candidate looking to challenge Gov. Josh Shapiro’s run for reelection this November.
“This cheerleading isn’t just about the State of the Union and clapping for the damaging policies that’ll be on display there,” Eugene DePasquale told reporters during a press conference on Monday.
“[Garrity] has been doing this for over a year now when it comes to Donald Trump and what his administration is doing to the state of Pennsylvania. She’s been fighting for these DC policies that are specifically leading to skyrocketing healthcare costs for tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians.”
In an interview with far-right influencer Jack Posobiec last summer, Garrity defended Trump’s tariffs stating that they would bring “very short-term pain for a tremendous long-term gain,” and supported Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Act, which would kick over 310,000 Pennsylvanians off of their Medicaid-backed health care plans.
Additionally, more than 85,000 Pennsylvanians have dropped their health care plans that were purchased through Pennie, the commonwealth’s health care marketplace, after Affordable Care Act tax credits expired at the end of last year, causing health care premiums to increase by an average of 102%.
“ Rural communities, urban communities, suburban communities. Every single part of Pennsylvania is gonna be impacted by this,” DePasquale said.
“From people losing healthcare coverage through Medicaid, people dropping their coverage through Pennie because they can’t afford it or paying over double their premiums, and that’s going to also have an economic impact, particularly if we start losing rural hospitals.”
According to the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, there are 47 hospitals across Pennsylvania that face some risk of closure because of Trump’s Medicaid cuts, 17 of which serve rural communities.
“ I serve in Washington where I’ve been sent to represent Western Pennsylvania, and what I have seen there is Republicans making the cost of living emergency worse for everyone across the country and for us in Pennsylvania,” US House Rep. Chris Deluzio said during the press conference. “I see Stacey Garrity as being a rubber stamp with what Republicans have done.”
Deluzio then added that he couldn’t recall a single time where Garrity stood up to Trump’s policies.
“ I think whether you’re congresswoman, a congressman, governor, and certainly as a governor, you got to have the courage to stand up to whomever’s in the White House,” Deluzio said.
“ I can’t come up with a single idea, nor, as Stacey Garrity talked about, one where she is willing to disagree and stand up to Donald Trump.”
