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Friday, October 9, 2009
After 101-day impasse, Gov. Rendell signs budget bills

 

With swipes of the pen that took only seconds, Gov. Rendell tonight signed into law a $27.8 billion state budget that was 101 days in the making.


With his “Edward G. Rendell” on the bills — one setting taxes, the other spending — the governor all but ends the nation’s longest state budget impasse. More importantly, it will speed checks to counties, schools and social service agencies that have been financially strained while waiting 3 1/2 months for their normal state subsidies.


The General Assembly still has work to do.


It must send Rendell several other pieces of legislation that make up the overall budget, including ones that establishes state funding for universities such as Penn State and Temple, as well as a bill to authorizes table game at slots parlors.


Officials said those bills may be delayed until early next week, but would not impede the overall budget.


Speaking for perhaps everyone at the Capitol and across the state, House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D., Luzerne) said last night, "I’m just glad it’s over.”
 

 

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

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About Commonwealth Confidential
Commonwealth Confidential gives you regularly updated coverage of the state legislature, the governor and the workings of the state bureaucracy. It is written by the political reporters in the Inquirer's Harrisburg bureau, based right in the statehouse.

Mario F. Cattabiani (left) has covered state government and politics from Harrisburg since 1994, the last six years for the Inquirer. In July, he was ranked by PolitickerPa.com as No. 1 among the "Most Powerful Political Reporters" in Pennsylvania.

Angela Couloumbis (center) joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1998, and has covered government and politics in New Jersey, Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania, including Gov. Rendell’s 2006 race against former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann.

Amy Worden (right) joined the Inquirer in 2000 and has covered governors, gubernatorial races, U.S. Senate races and three presidential campaigns. When not covering politics she can be found filing dispatches from disaster scenes or digging into local stories of national import.
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