The PA Senate yesterday passed a short-term budget bill that is designed to get funding out to schools, nursing homes and human services.
The budget comes to $47.6 billion, about three billion less than the budget that was passed by the State House. It keeps spending effectively flat based on numbers in the last fiscal year and does not include spending increases proposed in budgets from Governor Josh Shapiro or the House. According to Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, their spending plan exceeds the Governor’s plan using only existing funds.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman said in addition to the budget, the Senate also approved funding for transportation investments to support infrastructure and mass transportation. Their plan will use existing and unused taxpayer dollars, especially in the Public Transportation Trust Fund. He said that “There is a value in supporting both road projects and transit, and we have taken a substantial step to unleash those dollars to help all 67 counties across Pennsylvania.”
In his own statement, a spokesperson for Governor Josh Shapiro called the spending plan “not a serious long-term solution that can pass both chambers” but that the governor appreciated the Senate recognizing the need to fund mass transit systems across the state.
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