House To Take On State's Budget Plan

By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG (CBS) - The ball is now in the House's court after the state Senate this past week passed a budget that spends considerably more than what Governor Corbett has proposed.

The heads of the 14 state-owned universities along with Temple, Pitt and Penn State have agreed not to raise tuition above the rate of inflation if proposed cuts to state funding are restored. So with revenue collections improving, the Senate has approved a budget plan that would do that, and would also restore about half the proposed state funding cuts for county run human service programs. But the spending plan now goes to the House, where Majority Leader Mike Turzai, an Allegheny County Republican, can't predict what will happen.

"We will have members that would like to have a lower spending level than what the Senate put on the table. But we will have others that think it's about right, and we have to find consensus in the House of Representatives for where we are. I do think that it is a ceiling."

And then there's Governor Corbett. "Ceiling" is the same word he uses to describe the budget bill passed by the Senate.