Pennsylvania House GOP readies vote on budget-balancing plan

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is preparing to take preliminary votes on measures designed to plug state government’s $2.2 billion budget gap with money siphoned partly from public transportation and environmental improvement programs.

A vote Tuesday determines whether the House’s GOP majority can send the measure to the Senate. If it fails, it’s not clear what happens next in a budget stalemate now in its third month.

More: Wolf says House GOP’s budget-balancing plan is ‘nonsense’

The plan was developed by anti-tax conservatives. But it’s opposed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, House Democratic leaders and southeastern Pennsylvania Republicans as a way to keep state agencies, programs, schools and institutions funded at levels supported overwhelmingly by lawmakers in a $32 billion spending agreement.

With the state’s main bank account getting low, Wolf’s administration is warning insurers that they may not receive Medicaid payments on time.