Pennsylvania state lawmakers returned to session Monday for a weekslong slog to the budget deadline, as House Democrats unveiled a spending plan that could test whether Gov. Josh Shapiro can manage a politically divided Legislature in his freshman year.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania state lawmakers returned to session Monday for a weekslong slog to the budget deadline, as House Democrats unveiled a spending plan that could test whether Gov.It could also set the tone for how the Democratic governor will advance his agenda while balancing the demands of an entrenched Senate Republican majority with those of a one-vote House Democratic majority that took power this year.
“That has to be a central theme in whatever we do on June 30,” said Sen. Vince Hughes of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. The plan envisions no increases in income or sales taxes, the state’s two main revenue sources, and most of the new money in it would go to education, health care and social services. Like Shapiro’s plan, it relies on roughly $2 billion in reserves to balance.
However, many Democrats said it did not go far enough and public school advocates say the poorest school districts should get billions of dollars more to live up to the spirit of the court decision. Senate Republicans are waiting to see what passes the House before they begin discussing it with Shapiro or Democrats.
“Anyone talking about spending a lot more than we’re generating in revenue right now is not something our caucus and our body will support,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Scott Martin, R-Lancaster.
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