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House Republicans Pass 2011-12 Budget Proposal, Senate Now Gets Its Turn
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After more than 8 hours of debate and 74 different speakers (a record Speaker Smith said) on the General Fund Budget bill-- House Bill 1485 (Adolph-R-Delaware), the House voted 109 - 92 to pass the bill and send it to the Senate for their consideration.
Republicans noted the budget holds the line on taxes, actually increases basic education (minus federal stimulus), mitigates the impact of Gov. Corbett's 50 percent cut to higher education to only 25 percent, increases funding to the Department of Public Welfare (but not as much as Gov. Corbett's proposal) and spends to the cap imposed by Gov. Corbett-- $27.3 billion. And, they said, it will be on-time.
The House Republican budget maintains the cuts proposed by Gov. Corbett in March and further reduces funding to the Department of Agriculture personnel line item by $567,000 and the budget for the Department of Environmental Protection by just over $2 million ($1.67 million in a personnel line item and $390,000 for the West Nile Virus Program).
The budget for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources would remain the same as proposed by Gov. Corbett.
House Democrats said the budget hurts the middle class and the most vulnerable of Pennsylvania's citizens in the face of an excess $500 million in revenues this year and another $500 million more next year.
Democrats expressed concern about the further cuts in environmental funding and about the lack of progress on adopting a Marcellus Shale natural gas production tax.
Everyone knows this will not be the final budget because the Senate now gets to make its changes.
Click Here for a more detailed summary.
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5/30/2011 |
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