U.S. Senators John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) are not the only bipartisan bromance.<\/p>\n
Enter Sen. Joe Picozzi (R-Philadelphia) and Rep. Amen Brown (D-Philadelphia).<\/p>\n
Picozzi and Brown discussed their friendship and common goals to improve the City of Brotherly Love at a Philadelphia Young Republicans meeting at McGillin\u2019s Olde Alehouse<\/a> in Center City on Tuesday.<\/p>\n While they were supposed to expound on bipartisanship to the entire group, the room they expected to use was not available. After socializing with the crowd, they spoke with Broad + Liberty.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our first interview together,\u201d said Brown. \u201cJoe and I hit it off very early on, as soon as he got elected [in 2024]. We\u2019re two young elected officials who just want to serve our communities. It\u2019s not about color, race, gender, none of that. It\u2019s about serving the community. He reached out, and we hit it off. And I love the wonderful things that he\u2019s doing up there in Northeast Philly.\u201d<\/p>\n Picozzi jumped in.<\/p>\n \u201cHere are a few things we\u2019re doing together,\u201d he said. \u201cPublic safety is a big one. A huge issue. We\u2019re working together on that. For us, specifically, combating hunger is a huge issue. You\u2019ve been the guy,\u201d he said to Brown. \u201cHe rolls up his sleeves. He stands up for his neighborhood\u2026 Combating hunger has been a big, bipartisan issue that both of us worked together on.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got hungry families in my district. He has them in his district. I\u2019ve seen the work that he\u2019s doing up in his district combating hunger.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Joe, being the chair of housing, that\u2019s one of the number one issues in the City of Philadelphia,\u201d said Brown. Picozzi chairs the Senate\u2019s Urban Affairs and Housing Committee. A bill that he was a co-prime sponsor with Sen. Greg Rothman (R-Cumberland\/Perry\/Dauphin) for a model housing plan passed the Senate unanimously. Picozzi was also instrumental in the 20-year LEARTA (Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance) housing and development incentives language in last year\u2019s budget, he said later.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd quite frankly, I believe once we made this event public, there should have been more of my Democratic friends here to sit down and share conversation,\u201d said Brown. \u201cWe did have a DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] member here.\u201d<\/p>\n The camaraderie of the two legislators is not all that unusual, Brown said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Joe put together tonight, this is what happens in Harrisburg,\u201d said Brown. \u201cThe public sees all the debates and the arguments and the name-calling. That\u2019s what the public sees. But what you don\u2019t see is the evening time when we all come together, whether it\u2019s a cigar, bourbon, laughter, dinner, the whole nine. It\u2019s not just Democrats and Republicans. We all come together, and we try to find some common ground on certain issues.\u201d<\/p>\n One of those is SEPTA funding and also safety for SEPTA workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brown called Picozzi \u201cthe number one champion for SEPTA.\u201d<\/p>\n Picozzi interjected, \u201cEspecially on this side of the aisle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s fighting for SEPTA more than any other Republican that I\u2019ve seen myself, and I appreciate that because a large percentage of my constituents depend on SEPTA,\u201d Brown continued.<\/p>\n Brown said his party needs allies to accomplish things.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd us Democrats, even though we\u2019re the majority in the City of Philadelphia, we cannot do it alone, and we need to address them in a bipartisan way,\u201d said Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another thing they two agree on is education.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a strong school choice supporter,\u201d Brown said. \u201cMy children attend private school\u2026and the reason is because the public school system wasn\u2019t working too well for my children [who are 11 and 12]. They\u2019re in a much better situation. They\u2019re in private school, and my children are thriving. That\u2019s what I want for all of my children in our commonwealth. It shouldn\u2019t just be great for me and not for thee.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Picozzi wants people to know about his vision of bipartisanship during a time when the country is increasingly polarized.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPart of the vision for this, in Harrisburg at the end of the day, we actually get along,\u201d said Picozzi. \u201cThere\u2019s all this nonsense, performative politics. I figure if this Republic is going to go another 250 years, we have to get away from it. We have to make politics chill. Normal. Fun. Something that\u2019s inviting\u2026We need a lot more of this. If we want politics to be something that excites people, that drives people, that builds for the future, then this is what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Women have fought hard for equal rights, equal pay and equal treatment. Now, under the Shapiro administration, the proposed new state Health Department <\/a>regulations would pencil them out<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n If adopted, the 500-page document includes such changes as \u201cpregnant woman\u201d to \u201cpregnant individual,\u201d or \u201cmother of a newborn\u201d to \u201cpostpartum individual.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Shapiro administration\u2019s effort to replace words like \u2018mother\u2019 and \u2018pregnant woman\u2019 in Pennsylvania\u2019s health regulations is more than a change in terminology. Government language shapes government policy, and these changes embed a contested ideology about biological sex into the law itself,\u201d said Randall Wenger, Chief Counsel, Independence Law Center. \u201cPennsylvania should not be using its regulatory power to erase the plain biological reality that only women can become pregnant and that mothers are women. Legislators and citizens alike should be asking why ideological language is being written into regulations governing public health.\u201d<\/p>\n Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the Republican challenging Josh Shapiro for the governorship in November, blasted him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor someone who preaches that we should follow the science, Josh Shapiro clearly skipped Biology 101,\u201d said Garrity. \u201cThis is just another embarrassing example of Josh Shapiro bowing to the radical wing of his Party, abandoning all commonsense, all in the name of advancing his political ambitions. But Josh Shapiro\u2019s latest attempts to defy reality should surprise absolutely no one. Josh Shapiro has called anyone who believes biological boys should not play girls\u2019 sports \u2018extremists,\u2019 so in his eyes 80% of Pennsylvanians are extreme. We\u2019re not extreme. We simply accept reality, and Josh Shapiro is going to get a dose of reality this November when Pennsylvania voters reject his woke agenda.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRegulatory review is an extensive process and nearly 200 regulatory packages across state agencies are currently undergoing updates,\u201d said Rosie Lapowsky, a spokeswoman for the governor. \u201cThese draft Department of Health regulations are currently in the public feedback stage of that process, which includes input from stakeholders, independent regulatory review, and the Legislature. Once public comment concludes later this month, the governor will weigh in, and the regulations will be revised accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n Lapowsky noted that there can be serious disease outbreaks like the current measles situation with 540 cases reported. The state has 13.1 million residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe governor\u2019s philosophy, which will guide the final regulations, is that public health depends on trust, and building that trust means respecting individual rights, involving parents in decisions that affect their children, and ensuring government works closely with the people it serves,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n