Rendell Pleased with US Senate Action on Funding Bill
Governor Rendell says he's relieved and gratified that the US Senate has voted to advance a bill that will provide millions of dollars in medical assistance to Pennsylvania and other states.
KYW's Tony Romeo reports from Harrisburg that Rendell had warned that layoffs would number in the multiple thousands if Congress failed to approve legislation providing $850 million for Pennsylvania (see related story).
But the bill in Congress only provides about 70 percent of that money. Rendell won't speculate on layoffs that might result from what will be a smaller hole in the state budget:
"Not yet. And again, that'll in part be determined by my discussions with legislative leaders."
Layoffs had already been anticipated as a result of the budget enacted last month. But the governor says that number has been whittled down through attrition to, in his words, "a couple of hundred or even less."
The US Senate has voted to end debate on the federal funding bill (see related story), and a final vote is expected in the next day or so. Rendell expects the House to approve it by early September.
(Editor's note: Late Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Nancy Pelosi said she would call the House back for a special session next week to approve the measure.)
