$11B budget package advances in Pennsylvania Legislature
Marc Levy | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 12 months AGO
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An $11 billion no-new-taxes spending package won narrow passage in a lame-duck Friday night session in Pennsylvania's House of Representatives, as lawmakers voted remotely amid a coronavirus outbreak.
Lawmakers voted, without debate, as they rushed to wrap up their two-year session. House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, announced the remote session after hours of delay Friday, citing an ongoing contact tracing effort. Only lawmakers in leadership remained on the floor for the vote.
The main spending bill passed the House, 104-97, with a Senate vote expected later Friday evening.
Most Democrats opposed it, reflecting their unhappiness with how federal coronavirus relief aid is being used to underwrite state government costs, rather than provide hazard pay to frontline workers and to aid universities, hospitals and businesses and institutions suffering during the pandemic.
All told, the package authorizes nearly $11 billion in new spending, bringing the current year’s operating budget to $36.5 billion, about 4% above last year’s approved spending. The higher spending is driven primarily by medical care for the poor, elderly and disabled.
Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has not said whether he would sign it, although Republicans say they worked with his office to negotiate the package.
The Republican-controlled Legislature in May approved a piecemeal, no-new-taxes $25.8 billion budget, as they waited to see how the economic damage from the coronavirus would unfold.
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