pa-budget-2020

COMMENTARY

New state budget sets aside $16M for Pa. farmers hit by pandemic | Tuesday Morning Coffee

BY: - December 1, 2020

The blink-and-you missed spending plan offers tax credits and grants to Pa. farmers.

Pa.’s unspent stimulus cash will pad out $35B budget

BY: - November 19, 2020

(*This story was updated at 2:30 p.m. on 11/19/20 to include additional comment from House Republicans) A $35 billion budget deal, buoyed by federal stimulus money, emerged in Harrisburg Thursday, representing a 2.2 percent cut from last year. If finally approved, the spending blueprint would complete a drawn-out fiscal process that started in June, and […]

COMMENTARY

It’s Budget Week (again). Here’s what you need to know | Monday Morning Coffee

BY: - November 16, 2020

Lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf have until Nov. 30 to get a budget deal to finish the 2020-21 fiscal year. Can it be done?

What an ancient Roman philosopher can teach us about our pandemic era | Five for the Weekend

BY: - October 24, 2020

Why the wisdom of the Stoics is the perfect antidote for our pandemic age.

Pa. has to pass a budget soon. Here’s what is on the table

BY: and - October 18, 2020

Budget debates in Pennsylvania’s state Capitol are fast-moving affairs in the best of years, with legislative leaders talking behind closed doors with little input from the public.

Hughes: It’s ‘a crime to have $1.3B sitting around’; Ahead of budget debate, Senate Dems release plan for unspent CARES cash

BY: - October 16, 2020

With round two of this year’s budget debate looming, Senate Democrats have rolled out their plan to spend $1.3 billion in unspent federal COVID-19 relief funds.

COMMENTARY

As lawmakers, Wolf prep for another budget debate, Medicaid spending should be front and center | Ray E. Landis

BY: - September 10, 2020

Potential cuts would be widespread and painful for Pennsylvanians of all ages, but older Pennsylvanians may be particularly targeted.

A look at the 2020-2021 stopgap budget: How Pa. is paying for prisons and COVID-19 relief | The Numbers Racket

BY: - June 29, 2020

For the most part, the funding in the $25.8 billion stopgap budget will remain at the same level as the 2019-2020, but there are a few areas where the budgets differ. 

Wolf signs budget; Vetoes bill he says hobbled executive power during pandemic

BY: - May 29, 2020

The no-tax increase spending plan provides five months' worth of funding across state government. but a full year of funding for K-12 and higher education.

COMMENTARY

With lawmaker’s COVID-19 case, the Pa. House makes national headlines for all the wrong reasons – again | Friday Morning Coffee

BY: - May 29, 2020

The Legislature briefly did the right thing this week. And then decided that precedent simply couldn't stand. Because, of course.

Pa. Senate sends Wolf stopgap $25.8 billion budget; Wolf expected to sign it

BY: - May 28, 2020

The budget, which does not contain any tax hikes, got the approval of the state Senate in a 44-6 vote Thursday afternoon.

Lawmakers advance plan to spend $2.6 billion of Pennsylvania’s coronavirus stimulus

BY: and - May 28, 2020

The plan, passed unanimously Thursday by the House Appropriations Committee, includes $632 million for nursing homes; $625 million for county block grants; $259 million to boost funding for intellectual disability care, and $225 million for small business grants.