Representing the interests of more than 3,000 members across Pennsylvania, the Manufacturer & Business Association's Government Affairs is your voice on local, state and federal issues.

• State Update
• Federal Update
• ISSUES – WILL TARIFFS HELP? John Brunot, President, Belco Tool & Manufacturing, Inc
• Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Responds to Belco
• The Economy - Inflation Update

Head Count - PA General Assembly

The Democrats have retained their one seat margin in the PA House. D’s will keep the Speaker of the House position and determine the chambers voting agenda.

• PA Senate: 28 Republicans and 22 Democrats
• PA House: 102 Democrats and 101 republicans

PA General Assembly 2025-2026 Session Schedule

They will meet once or twice in January and February. Governor Shapiro will deliver his budget address in early February and then budget hearings with the House and Senate Appropriations committees will follow.

General Assembly Priorities in the Next Session are Not Yet Clear

With 102 D’s and 101 R’s and a R majority in the Senate compromise will be the path to success. 

“…Their common ground is the economy, the issue on which many analysts say the national election hinged….’most residents are concerned with “kitchen table issues.” ‘

…new House Republican Leader Rep. Jesse Topper cited reducing regulation as a guiding principle in his strategies for getting money back in people’s pockets….

In Pennsylvania, business deregulation appeals across the aisle. Cutting red tape, lawmakers believe, will generate more tax revenue in a state that carries a higher burden than most, according to an analysis by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University….”

…. Adapted broadly from “Election fatigue leaves legislative priorities vague, for now,” By Christina Lengyel, The Center Square contributor Nov 15, 2024

 Editor’s Note: Reducing business regulations has been a steep climb for a number of years. Here’s hoping lawmakers are willing to carry through.

What didn’t get done in the last session of interest to employers and is likely to reappear is cannabis legalization, and mass transit funding.

Head Count – U. S. Senate and U.S. House

• U. S. Senate: 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats (100 seats)
• U. S. House: 220 Republicans and 214 Democrats (435 seats)

A party needs 218 seats in order to have the majority.

President-elect Trump has started selecting his picks for cabinet positions, some from the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate therefore the faces in some of the seats may change when replacements are appointed. 

Four big things Congress will tackle. 

Tensions over Taxes - A tax bill will be at the core of the Republican’s legislative agenda. Major parts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will expire at the end of 2025 and President-elect Trump wants to fully extend the tax breaks.

“…The key to everything is ‘The Number.’…The Number is the maximum budget deficit increase that Republicans are willing to tolerate as they extend tax cuts scheduled to expire after 2025 and advance the rest of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans…Republicans must agree, with virtually no defections, on The Number. The intraparty debate will expose the tensions between deficit hawks and tax-cutters, and perhaps require Trump to be a referee…”



…Broadly adapted from “Republicans Keep Eye on Red Ink As They Weigh 2025 Tax Plans,” The Wall Street Journal, by Richard Rubin, 11/12/24

Editor’s Note: Republicans are planning to use the budget reconciliation process that allows majority passage in Congress, essentially along party lines. This vehicle will contain most of the important legislation.

Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies - An expansion of funding under the ACA expires at the end of 2025.

The debt ceiling needs to be extended - We will hit the debt limit on Jan. 1, 2025 and begin to use “extraordinary measures” to pay the bills. Those measures may last for months, and the Treasury Department will later announce an “X date” by which Congress must act or risk default.

Funding for major parts of the federal government expire 12/20/2024. Lawmakers may reach a full funding deal by 12/31/2024 or push the issue into 2025 in which case Congress will renegotiate the size of government with President Trump some time in 2025. 

We are a Global supplier, manufacturing small to medium sized plastic injection molds, metal injection molds and spare parts for both molds and dies. From start to finish, with design and build services, we will work with you to obtain your goal. Belco serves the automotive, medical, electronic, military, law enforcement and consumer products industries.

The first words that John Brunot said were, “It is hard to be competitive with foreign wages.” He has doubts about the re-shoring movement and observed that compared to manufacturing 25 years ago in the U.S., only one tenth of that is still here. What will a war bring? There will be problems because as manufacturers have closed down the trained workers have gone with them and the skills are lost.

Tool and Die making are not a popular choice for young people in Meadville. They can become a telephone or electric lineman and start off making $24.00 to $28.00 per hour or more. He can’t compete with those wages and now with many tools and die makers overseas, he can’t compete with foreign wages. A 100% tariff on foreign imports may help. Free trade is never fair trade.

Some companies design tools here, then have the molds made overseas and parts molded overseas, then shipped back to the U.S. for resale. That’s destructive to “all” American manufacturing and just adds to the problem. Belco, for one, will never do that. Made in the USA means too much to us.

Brunot believes tariffs will help. He noted large manufacturers have no incentive to keep work in the U.S.

He sees billboards in Meadville for workforce but says there are not any workers. People don’t want to stand in front of a machine. For instance, some go into farming instead.

Some machines run 24 hours because he can’t find more workers. At one time he had 24 employees. Now he has 8 and could use 3-4 more. Guys get burnt out after working 50-55 hours per week, week after week.

Regarding my question concerning innovation, he has already automated four machines. However, machines are expensive, top end machines can cost $175,000 and more, making the cost hard to recoup because of overseas competition. In 1997 Belco was making 3-4 times the amount of revenue made now. He and his partner started the company and had 3-4 workers by the second year, 7-8 by the fourth year and 22 workers by the 6^th year. There was a large amount of work in the states but when the NAFTA- North American Free Trade Agreement- work went overseas.

“The U.S. has to bring manufacturing back. We should have smartened up after Covid-19 hit.” We obviously haven’t learned from our mistakes.

Inflation should hit the Fed’s target in mid-2025, but prices are not coming down

By Gus Faucher, senior vice president and chief economist of The PNC Financial Services Group. 

According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) update, inflation ticked up slightly from September to October but was still near its slowest pace since early 2021, when the economy was emerging from the pandemic-caused recession.

Inflation has slowed dramatically over the past couple of years and should continue to move lower in the near term. But lower inflation does not mean lower prices, and households will have to adjust to permanently higher prices post-pandemic...

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