House+Republicans+Plan+to+Restore+Some+Higher+Ed+Cuts

=By Brad Bumsted= =//Published in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review//= =//5/10/11//= = =

=HARRISBURG — House Republicans today are expected to offer a state budget that restores most of the higher education cuts proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett but doesn't exceed the state spending cap of $27.3 billion that Corbett advocates.= =Corbett's proposed 50 percent cuts for state-related and state-owned universities would be pared down to a 25 percent reduction for the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities and 15 percent for 14 state system universities such as Slippery Rock, California and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, according to Stephen Miskin, a House Republican spokesman.= =In a pre-emptive strike yesterday, House Democrats said the GOP plans still would mean hundreds of millions of dollars of higher education cuts and higher tuition for parents and students.= =Democrats, the minority party, criticized the budget Corbett -- a Republican -- introduced in March and the anticipated version Republican lawmakers plan to offer as an amendment.= =Democratic leaders ripped Republicans for failing to use an estimated $500 million "surplus" to help stave off "draconian" cuts in higher education and other programs.= ="I don't know how you can say you have a surplus when you have a $4.2 billion deficit," said Kevin Harley, Corbett's spokesman. The $500 million in unexpected revenue "is a one-month revenue projection," Harley said.= =House Republicans are reducing by about 75 percent the $600 million increase Corbett proposed for the Department of Public Welfare. Miskin said the GOP budget still increases welfare spending by about 1 percent.= =Corbett has balked at spending the unanticipated revenue and would put it in the "rainy day fund," a state savings account, or use it to cover the deficit, Harley said.= =Miskin said he didn't know how House Republicans are using the money.= =The state's projected deficit for 2011-12 necessitated the cuts Corbett proposed in March.= ="The governor and House Republicans plan to put hundreds of millions of dollars into the rainy day fund instead of meeting basic needs," said House Minority Caucus Chairman Dan Frankel of Squirrel Hill. "It's wrong to lock life preservers and ropes away in a closet when so many people are struggling just to keep their heads above water."= =Democratic leaders don't have their own budget proposal because it's the GOP's "responsibility to govern," said House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont.= ="There are going to have to be cuts," said Rep. Joe Markosek of Monroeville, ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. "We get that part. We don't agree with the cuts being made. We don't agree the cuts need to be as severe."= ="It's spend, spend, spend," Miskin said of the Democrats' position. "Every single sentence was about spending. It's that mentality that got us in the deficit situation we're in."= = = = Read more: [|House Republicans plan to restore some higher education cuts - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review] [] = = = = = = =

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