Budget

While another week was winding down at the Pennsylvania Capitol on Friday, lawmakers had already left town, out of ideas and no closer to funding the state’s $32 billion budget as the impasse entered its fourth month.

Another budget season in Pennsylvania again has the natural gas industry playing defense, as production and consumption taxes are being considered by the House amidst a 39-day impasse that could find the state without money to pay its bills by the end of the month.

Pennsylvania’s GOP-controlled Senate on Thursday put the natural gas industry on the defensive as it passed a revenue package to fund the state budget that includes a volumetric fee on production designed to generate an estimated $100 million annually.

Some lawmakers returned from recess to the Pennsylvania Capitol on Monday as the state remains without a revenue package to balance a nearly $32 billion budget that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf let pass into law last week without his signature for the third year in a row.

The Republican-controlled House continued its break with President Trump on budget matters, after lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee agreed to a $37.6 billion spending bill that calls for smaller budget cuts to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Under a $31.4 billion spending bill unveiled Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee, the budgets of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Interior (DOI) would get a haircut in fiscal year (FY) 2018, rather than a buzzcut, as proposed by President Trump.

Department of Interior (DOI) Secretary Ryan Zinke defended the Trump administration’s proposed $11.7 billion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2018, and told two Senate panels that the department was “moving prudently” to fill positions in field offices while limiting hires in Washington, DC.

In the midst of a historic budget impasse, West Virginia’s severance tax collections have again provided a glimmer of light, as higher natural gas prices and more coal sales in May helped push state revenue 20% above projections to $350.4 million.

One day after President Trump sent a $4.1 trillion budget proposal to Congress, opposition to all or parts of the budget plan was beginning to form among elected officials both in Washington, DC, and in several energy producing states.