Gov. wary of reduced stimulus cash

PETER JACKSON Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG — Gov. warned Tuesday that a $1 billion reduction in Pennsylvania’s expected share of federal economic stimulus aid in a bill passed by the U.S. Senate would force deeper state spending cuts and result in the loss of hundreds of additional state jobs.

But Rendell said he and other governors will work to restore at least part of the state aid in negotiations between the House and Senate on a final bill, which President has said he wants on his desk by the week’s end.

“This stimulus package has to get passed, regardless of what the fallout is for Pennsylvania and other states,” Rendell told reporters. “Whatever the final determination is, we’ll make do.”

Rendell, a Democrat who heads the National Governors Association, is scheduled to join Vice President Joe Biden at a Capitol news conference today. They are expected to tout the portions of the stimulus package that would pour tens of billions of dollars into highways, bridges, schools and the rest of the nation’s infrastructure.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., was one of only three Republicans who voted for the bill. Pennsylvania’s other senator, Bob Casey, joined fellow Democrats in their unanimous support.

In his annual budget address to lawmakers last week, Rendell proposed $29 billion in state spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1, based partly on projections that the state would get $3.5 billion in federal money.

The bill passed Tuesday excludes about $1 billion that Pennsylvania officials anticipate during the next two years. It remains within the House’s version, and the two sides will have to reconcile their differences.

The federal money removed by the Senate would have been set aside for the Corrections Department, which plans to add 2,400 beds to state prisons and community correctional facilities. It would free up an equal amount of state dollars for other programs at a time the national recession has caused a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.

Failure to restore any of that money would likely require additional spending cuts for such services as education and health care. The governor said it also would result in the loss of 1,500 state workers along with the 2,600 jobs already scheduled to be eliminated under his budget.