$11B budget package passes Pennsylvania Legislature
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An $11 billion no-new-taxes spending package won passage in a lame-duck session in Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature, as lawmakers sought to plug a multibillion-dollar deficit brought on by the pandemic. A coronavirus outbreak in the House of Representatives caused hours of delay Friday before the spending bill passed both chambers. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, will sign it, his office said. Most Democrats opposed it, reflecting unhappiness with using federal coronavirus relief aid to underwrite state government costs, rather than provide hazard pay to frontline workers and to aid universities, schools, hospitals, restaurants and businesses and institutions. Public schools, universities and many programs will have to get by without an increase in funding.