HERSHEY, Pa. (WHTM)– A Hollywood superstar, a country music singer, the state’s top politicos, and Dennis Owens all have one thing in common Thursday night.

That one thing is that Bradley Cooper and country singer Gabby Barrett, along with legislators, are all at the Pennsylvania Annual Chamber Dinner at the Hershey Lodge, located at 325 University Dr.

Cooper will talk during the dinner while Barrett will perform songs before. The legislative leaders are here off of a new budget that they settled on last night.

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R) was at the dinner and when asked her reason for coming —

“Because the chamber and the businesses in Pennsylvania are what makes Pennsylvania go,” Ward said. “These are the movement shakers that create jobs and tax dollars.”

And she even knows that the house is divided after all the budget was supposed to be done months ago.

“You have a divided legislature number one,” Ward said. ” And number two last night, like I was saying this is Christmas in December when it should have actually been Christmas in like June or July. We got it done, but it took a while, I think we need to do better, all of us, of working together because we owe it to the people who put us here, to not make them nervous like the community colleges and nursing homes. They shouldn’t have to be nervous about getting their payments. We need to do better.”

After lawmakers were able to agree on the budget, Ward says she hopes that this will make it easier for next year.

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“Well January is a whole new opportunity for that to happen,” Ward said. “It was very difficult this year, we had a lot of bumps in the road, but I think we got some more seasoned players coming up in our second attempt and I think we will do better.”

Usually, around this time of year, letters are written to Santa Claus, but Ward has one written for the star of the show, Cooper.

“I have a letter from one of my teammates for Bradley Cooper, and we are going to give it to him,” Ward said.

Hopefully, he responds back.

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