HARRISBURG, Pa. - Top state senators say they expect Gov. Tom Corbett to propose a budget plan Tuesday that relies on cuts in spending for education and social services to balance sluggish tax collections and the rising costs of pensions and debt.
"It will be a bare bones-type of a budget presentation," Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said Monday. "I don't expect to see programs or new spending of any sort."
Pileggi, R-Delaware, and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, both said that Republicans who control the Senate have no interest in raising taxes to ease the sting of cuts to education and services for the poor, disabled and elderly.
Scarnati said Pennsylvanians should be prepared for a debate on how best to use existing tax dollars, and he warned that the cuts in Corbett's budget proposal would be "dramatic" and "difficult."
For now, top Corbett administration officials have declined to discuss what the Republican governor will propose in the budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year that begins July 1.
Corbett's budget plan is expected to propose spending of about $27 billion, approximately the same level as this year.
Corbett, who campaigned on a pledge not to increase taxes, pushed through a 3 percent spending reduction for this fiscal year to address a multibillion-dollar deficit. The current budget cut more than $1 billion in aid for public schools and universities, including Penn State, and cut taxes for businesses.
Last month, he ordered a mid-year spending freeze of less than 1 percent that left the budget at $26.9 billion this year , about the same amount that was spent in the 2007-08 fiscal year.
Business advocates are pressing again this year for more tax cuts.
