UPDATED: State House Passes $27 Billion Budget; Local Reps Vote No, Senator Reacts

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 9:09 a.m. Thursday to include a video of state Sen. Tim Solobay's reaction to the budget passed Wednesday by the House.

The state House on Wednesday approved a $27 billion budget—with both Democratic representatives from the Canon-McMillan area voting no because of the plan's deep cuts in education and other social services.

Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to sign the bill today.

State Reps. Brandon Neuman and Jesse White, of North Strabane and Cecil, respectively, said late Wednesday a that 12.5 percent funding decrease—more than $1.5 million for the Canon-McMillan School district was one of many reasons for casting dissenting votes.

White was one of myriad representatives who spoke out against the budget during a speech on the House floor, but the motion still passed 109-92.

In his speech, titled, "A Tale of Two Pennsylvanians," White began by quoting the famous Charles Dickens' lead in to "A Tale of Two Cities"—and said the people in his district are "clearing living in the worst of times."

After naming a laundry list of expenses by top Republicans and Gov. Tom Corbett, White said those who voted yes on the budget should "congratulate (yourselves) on the unconscionable spoils of this faulty budget—the unfair cuts, and the attack on the forgotten and infirm."

In a later release, White was somewhat subdued.

"Governor Corbett, riding pretty in his $185,000 fleet of new taxpayer-funded SUVs, will proclaim this budget a victory for taxpayers, but when you read the fine print, tax increases are coming; they're just coming at the local level. Make no mistake, every working adult, senior and child will feel the pain of this budget one way or another. It will disproportionally hurt middle-class Pennsylvanians," White said.

He continued: "Education funding is being slashed to the bone, with almost $1 billion in cuts to public education funding. In my district alone, nearly every school has cut programs, furloughed teachers or raised school property taxes in anticipation of this budget. But the thing that’s really mind-boggling is that we have the money to prevent this from happening in a nearly $700 million surplus of taxpayer money."

Neuman agreed.

"While I absolutely support cutting wasteful spending, cutting public education funding will come back to haunt us. We have nearly $700 million in surplus tax dollars that should be used to fund education and avoid property tax increases. This money is the taxpayers' and we should responsibly use a portion of the surplus to offset some of the cuts to our children," he said late Wednesday.

Neuman continued: "The bottom line is this budget cuts funding for programs that most middle-class families rely upon—public education, higher education, health care for seniors and the disabled—and unfortunately, they will end up paying more taxes somewhere in the form of higher property taxes, tuition or local fees."

"I think we could have done a better job protecting families from tax increases, particularly when Pennsylvania has the means to do so."