No timetable for House to consider Senate plan
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A spokesman for the House Republican majority says lawmakers will have “questions and concerns” about a Senate plan to close a $2.2 billion gap in the Pennsylvania budget with a mix of borrowing and higher taxes. Stephen Miskin reacted Thursday after the Senate passed legislation to balance the $32 billion budget.
No indication yet how local house members Fred Keller, Kurt Masser or Lynda Schlegel Culver plan to vote on the measure.
House Republicans failed to reach agreement last week on a revenue plan that would have borrowed against Pennsylvania’s annual share of the 1998 multistate settlement with tobacco companies and included no new taxes. The Senate plan includes the tobacco money and new or higher taxes on Marcellus Shale drilling and consumers’ utility bills. Miskin says the Senate plan was “not shared, nor agreed to” by House leaders prior to passage, “so a review of what’s actually in these bills is necessary.” He says there’s no timetable for the House to return to Harrisburg to consider the legislation.
