Lawmakers react to budget bill

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Local officials voiced their opinions Thursday on the new $25.8 billion spending bill waiting to be signed by Gov. Tom Wolf.

The bill arrived on Wolf’s desk Thursday after being passed two days after its details were revealed in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The main spending bill in the package passed through the Senate, 44-6, on Thursday. It was narrowly approved by the House of Representatives, 103-99, just hours after it was unveiled Tuesday.

The package includes full-year money for many public school budget lines, as well as for state-supported universities, debt service and school pension obligations. It funds much of the rest of the state’s operating budget lines, including billions of dollars for social services, only through Nov. 30, the last day of the two-year legislative session.

Wolf and other officials claim that will give them time to see how COVID-19-related shutdowns affect tax collections and whether the federal government sends another aid package to states.

There is also legislation to distribute about $2.6 billion of the $3.9 billion in emergency federal coronavirus aid sent to Pennsylvania state government that was also approved in House and Senate committees Thursday.

Almost $700 million will go to nursing homes and long-term living programs for the elderly, while $625 million will go to counties that have not received direct aid from the federal government.

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