HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania House and Senate passed the remainder of the budget for the 20-21 fiscal year Friday night (21 November), with some bipartisan support though with mostly Republican votes. GOP leaders did work with the Wolf administration to get to the final legislation, so it is expected that the governor will sign off on it. Two local republican lawmakers had distinctly different takes:
Representative Jesse Topper said they worked hard to not create additional burdens on taxpayers in the form of new taxes and included needed reductions in state government operating costs.
While Representative Paul Schemel said the $32 billion budget uses federal emergency CARES Act dollars to fill budget shortfalls that should have been used for needs directly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of being used to raise spending above the rate of inflation, which is foolhardy and short sighted.
