Click here to watch the full interview.

PENNSYLVANIA – Yesterday, Governor Josh Shapiro joined Pod Save America for a conversation ranging from getting shit done for Pennsylvanians, to ICE’s compromised mission and operations in Pennsylvania, to rebuilding I-95 in 12 days and combating Donald Trump’s chaos and confusion. Throughout the conversation, Governor Shapiro made clear that he will continue to show up in moments of crisis and emergency to protect Pennsylvanians’ freedoms and get stuff done for the Commonwealth. 

The Governor also made clear that Donald Trump’s callousness and Pete Hegseth’s incompetence are making us all less safe.

See below for key excerpts from the Governor’s appearance on Pod Save America, and watch the full interview here:

Question: It feels like ICE’s operations in Pennsylvania have fallen under the radar a little bit. What is the scene like on the ground? What have you been doing in response to the way Trump has been deploying ICE in Pennsylvania?

Josh Shapiro: First of all, we saw Minnesota was unconstitutional. It was dangerous. It made the community less safe, and it claimed the lives of two American citizens. Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti, and there must be accountability for that. … Remember, the reason why ICE did what it did in Minnesota was because Donald Trump commanded them to do that. The problem here is Donald Trump. The problem here is the manner in which ICE is being funded and being erected by Donald Trump. … We do not want the federal government coming in and eroding that trust, and so we’re going to continue to do everything in our power to be prepared and to be able to be prepared to take the steps necessary to stop the influx should Donald Trump try and should he bring them to Pennsylvania, be prepared to deal with that in the communities.

Question: I know you’re planning to block construction of two ICE detention facilities. What’s the status of that? What levers do you have?

Josh Shapiro: The federal government bought these two massive warehouses, think like massive Amazon warehouses, that kind of thing. One in Berks County, Pennsylvania, one in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. These are huge and they want to convert them to ICE detention centers. House about 9,000 people there. They did this without consulting with local officials, certainly without consulting the state officials. And by the way, pissed off, not just me, but a whole bunch of Republican elected officials in those communities as well. … And just a few days ago, I put them on notice that for them to be able to build these facilities, they require, I’m going to nerd out on you here, but it’s important. They require a number of permits through the Department of Environmental Protection in the state and other state agencies, and based on the sort of general plans that they have, they would not qualify for receiving a permit in Pennsylvania. And I’m going to use every legal lever of power I have to hold it up. 

Question: What is your view on the war right now, how it was launched, where, what the status is?

Josh Shapiro: …We are losing lives in battle when I think it’s unclear why we were there in the first place. I also have a problem with the fact that the guy who is supposed to be in charge of this, Pete Hegseth, is wildly incompetent. He’s like an eight year old playing with toy soldiers every day. His language is so fucking offensive they talk about this in a way that doesn’t respect the humanity in the region, and certainly is disrespectful to our soldiers, of which there are Pennsylvanians who are engaged in this fight on behalf of the Commander in Chief who doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. So this was a war of choice by the President. So, this was a war of choice by the President, wasn’t clear why we went in, and it’s unclear how we get out.

Question: How did you do it [I-95] in two weeks, 12 days? And why is it that we can do fast construction in emergencies, but we struggle to do it outside of those moments?

Josh Shapiro: … It shows that when we kind of put our shoulder to the wheel, we can accomplish big things, and we do not need to be mired in the slowness that typically dictates the speed of government. From that experience, we made clear that we’re going to be about getting shit done in Pennsylvania, about getting rid of the limitations on us, and about performing at a fast and high level. And so we then set out to fix our permitting system in Pennsylvania. We went from roughly 48th in the country in terms of speed permit to being first or second or third in the country on speed. The day I took office, it took eight weeks to get a simple business license. Now you get it same day. The big buildings that we’re trying to build used to take years and years and years to get permitted through our Department of Environmental Protection, you’re now getting a permit in less than six months. We are faster than other states. And so we not only rebuilt I-95 in record time, we’re building and constructing right now in record time. And as a result of that, we’ve got the only growing economy in the northeastern part of the United States. Our unemployment rate has been below the national rate for 32 straight months, we created more jobs than all but three other states in the entire country. We cut taxes seven different times and have an $8 billion surplus. We’re making really strategic investments. The economy is growing, and a huge reason why is because our government is nimble and it is fast. I-95 may be the sort of example of that, Exhibit A of that that folks noticed. But every day, we’re doing the blocking and tackling of governing. It’s getting the job done and getting it done quickly.

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