Sudden Senate return signals budget revival
By Christen Smith | The Center Square
HARRISBURG, PA – The Senate’s top-ranking Republican called lawmakers back to Harrisburg to face the $45.5 billion spending plan sitting on the chamber’s desk for the last four weeks.
It’s the same budget they all voted for on June 30, before the House did the same five days later. All the Senate had left to do was sign it – per parliamentary procedure – and wait for the blessing of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s pen.
It’s a moment the legislature anticipates every year, and as Shapiro’s first, an especially celebratory milestone at that. Republicans, however, may feel more somber this time around.
That’s because Shapiro promised his Democratic allies in the House he’d strike $100 million from the budget earmarked for Republicans’ top legislative priority: a school voucher program that the governor helped shape.
All the House had to do was get the existing plan to the governor’s desk. That meant passing it as-is, school vouchers and all – including a $567 million boost to public school spending that Republicans describe as “historic” in size.
On July 5, the lower chamber did just that. Thanks to parliamentary procedure, however, the budget needed one final rubber stamp from the Senate before finding its way to the governor. It wasn’t a task Republican leaders said they felt like prioritizing in the wake of Shapiro’s betrayal.
That was until this week. Senate President Kim Ward, R-Greensburg, published a statement that called the chamber back to session on Thursday to “finalize” the spending bill, though work on the code bills – which tell the state how to spend the budget – will continue.
“Gov. Shapiro has provided us the necessary assurances to guarantee the monies for those programs will remain untouched until the legislature has finalized the language,” she said. “Senate Republicans will continue to negotiate with our counterparts in good faith and in the best interests of Pennsylvanians. We hope our counterparts will do the same.”
