More votes loom on spending, amid differences over funding

    The Pennsylvania House and Senate are returning to session on the last day of the state government’s fiscal year, with differences remaining on a tax package necessary to finance a $31.5 billion budget plan.

    Lawmakers are expected to hold more Thursday votes on spending legislation. On Wednesday, the Senate added $39 million, or 2.5 percent, for higher education institutions and tuition grants to a budget package passed a day earlier by the House.

    Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf praised the Senate’s budget plan, but House officials aren’t saying how they’ll handle it.

    Meanwhile, Wolf says a House plan to raise $1 billion for the state’s deficit-plagued finances is inadequate. That plan is based on $1 billion in projected new receipts from higher tobacco taxes, tax delinquents, more legalized gambling and brisker wine and liquor sales.

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