Pennsylvania budget cram week starts with eye on saving cash

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers said Monday they have struck a compromise spending plan that uses surplus dollars to spread around modest spending increases, hold the line on taxes and make a substantial deposit into a relatively bare budgetary reserve.

Votes in the Republican-controlled Legislature were expected later this week, as the fiscal year winds down and legislative aides scramble to prepare hundreds of pages of budget-related legislation before lawmakers leave Harrisburg for the summer.

The bill emerged from the House Appropriations Committee on a 27-9 vote, with every Republican in favor and Democrats split. Democrats who voted against it issued various criticisms, including its failure to include a minimum wage increase and the elimination of a Depression-era cash assistance program that temporarily provided $200 a month to people deemed unable to work.

Pennsylvania is in its strongest stretch of tax collections since the recession a decade ago, bringing a reprieve from a string of tight budget years and deficits.

"What we're facing right now with our increased revenues, we don't know if it's an anomaly or if it's a trend, and if it's an anomaly, we have to still be careful in our spending," said Rep. George Dunbar, R-Westmoreland. "Although the wish list is great and we would like to do a whole lot more, we have accomplished a great deal in this budget."

The $34 billion plan is similar to the $34.1 billion plan Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf floated in February. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-York, said the package does not rely on any increases in fees or taxes.

All told, the package authorizes almost $2 billion in additional spending through the state's main operations account, or 6% more than the spending lawmakers authorized last year, counting cost overruns in the...