Pennsylvania House GOP delays vote on budget-balancing plan

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is putting off 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.

Speaker Mike Turzai abruptly adjourned the chamber Tuesday, surprising some rank-and-file members of the House’s GOP majority. The House is supposed to return to session Wednesday, but it’s not clear what’ll happen next in a budget stalemate now in its third month.

The plan is 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.