The House Appropriations Committee voted 22 to 15 on Monday for a Republican bill about an hour after a rival budget passed the Senate with votes from both parties. “I think we’ve now got him to a point where he’s comfortable with what we’re passing, we’re comfortable with what he wants, and we can finally get this finished”.
Advertisement
The House has to go through considerations before they vote on the budget.
Wozniak, who voted in favor of the budget bill (Senate Bill 1073), said the spending plan offers significant investments in education, human service programs and job creation. He said the expanded gambling provisions he believed the House was working on in its plan did not have support in the Senate.
Pennsylvania’s House and Senate Republican majorities are rowing in different directions toward a spending plan, fueling fears the state budget won’t be safely docked anytime soon.
This “would be taking a huge step backwards”, Markosek said.
The Senate budget, which passed that chamber by a 43-7 vote, included historic spending increases for education that Gov. Tom Wolf indicated he could support.
$20 million in cuts for special education.
In bipartisan votes, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a $30.8 billion spending plan – which could come with a full-year tax increase of more than $1.2 billion – and legislation to cut costs and overhaul benefits in Pennsylvania’s two mammoth public-sector pension systems. The Republican senator said he was concerned about some of the spending.
He says the budget package is something Gov. Tom Wolf will sign. I’m sure it’s not ideal for anyone on either side of the aisle or for the governor.
“I think that represents good work on the part of both Democrats and Republicans in the legislature to try and find some middle ground”.
The House plan has few details, but would include just over $300 million from higher cigarette taxes, licensing fees from an undisclosed expansion of gambling and expanding the state’s personal income tax to lottery winnings. House Democrats said they had had little time to get a look at the rushed House GOP budget bill and said Wolf opposes it. It also better positions a bill for fast action when a finalized budget is reached, he said.
The state has been operating without a budget since July 1, which has held up state aid to counties, public schools and nonprofits that provide critical social services. The pension legislation also passed in a bipartisan vote in the Senate, 38-12. That bill now moves to the House where its status remained unclear as of Monday night.
Advertisement
Adolph said the pension and other pieces of the budget framework can wait for another day.
