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Pennsylvania Budget Cram Week Starts With Eye On Saving Money

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Pennsylvania's budget cram week is beginning, as lawmakers are advancing a spending plan that benefits from a surplus to spread around modest spending increases.

Lawmakers are also touting the commitment to a substantial deposit in Pennsylvania's relatively bare budgetary reserve in a compromise spending plan released Monday.

Votes in the Republican-controlled Legislature were expected later this week, as the fiscal year winds down. The $34 billion plan is similar to the $34.1 billion plan Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf floated in February.

All told, the package authorizes almost $2 billion more in spending through the state's main operations account, or 6% more, counting cost overruns in the current fiscal year.

However, budget-makers are using various cash maneuvers to veil the true cost of government operations.

(© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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