May 11th, 2009

Last week, the Senate GOP passed SB 850, a $27.3 billion budget plan, through their chamber on a party line vote.  The proposal cut about 1 billion of spending from the current fiscal year’s plan, something that has happened only once in the last 30 years.  It also leaves the state’s $750 million Rainy Day Fund untouched and stays away from any tax increases, including the governor’s proposed cigarette/smokeless tobacco tax.

Expectedly Gov. Rendell  and the House Dems said the cuts went too far and were just plain mean.  In the House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans has introduced the governor’s spending plan as HB 1416.  Special interest groups ranging from museums to farmers to food banks are upset by the cuts and are publicly calling for their funding to be restored.

This week the Senate has cancelled their plan session, while the House will be in until Wednesday.  It’s likely that they will start working the budget bill through Appropriations and get it passed in the House.  Then, both Senate and House members will spend two weeks in their districts for the Memorial Day holiday.

Expect more party-line heated exchanges, closed door negotiation meetings when the Senate and House return on June 1st for the final budget stretch.  At that point they will be in session every week until the budget is passed…hopefully by the deadline of June 30…