Democrats in the House of Representatives are presenting an identical budget proposal to Governor Shapiro’s

Weeks after Gov. Josh Shapiro unveiled the commonwealth’s $53.2 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year, House Democrats shared their own vision — identical to Shapiro’s.

Chairman of Appropriations Rep. Jordan Harris (Philadelphia) formally filed the bill with the Legislative Services on Tuesday, highlighting his caucus’ ties to Pennsylvania’s chief executive.

“If you look at the governor’s budget address, he addresses many of the issues that House Democrats have been working on for years,” Harris told reporters. “(This bill) represents our continued work with the governor to address these issues, and this budget reflects that.”

Shapiro and House Democrats propose financing part of the 5.4% raise over last year’s spending plan with taxes on legalized recreational marijuana and electronic arcade games – both of which have been included in previous budgets and rejected by Senate Republicans every year.

Although Democrats hold the governor’s office and the House – the latter with a just one-seat majority – Republicans hold a slim majority in the Senate, meaning all parties need to come to a consensus. Negotiations last year dragged on beyond the June 30 deadline – as before six of the last ten years – and the budget was finalized 135 days delayleaving counties, schools and nonprofits in financial distress.

Harris vowed to avoid such an outcome this year. Every member of the House and half of the Senate is up for re-election in November. Shapiro is also running for a second term.

“Our goal is to complete this year’s budget on time, recognizing that when there is a delay, there are many school districts, nonprofits and others that sometimes incur additional costs, as well as those that remain in limbo until we complete the budget,” Harris said.

“We don’t have to wait until the last minute to negotiate the budget and finalize matters,” he added.

Criticism of the budget

But Republicans have repeatedly criticized the excessive spending proposal, pointing to: Structural deficit of $6.7 billionor the gap between projected government revenues and expenditures. This figure does not include the novel taxes included in Shapiro’s proposal.

Congressman Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) shared his opposition to raising the minimum wage from floor level Tuesday afternoon during the vote.

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Harris went through this number, questioning the calculations used by the Independent Fiscal Office and pointing out slightly increased tax collection.

“We have our numbers and that’s what will keep us going,” Harris said.

Nearly 80% of the budget’s spending goes to just two state agencies: the Department of Human Services with $21.9 billion and the Department of Education with $20.6 billion. About $1 billion of the raise to DHS will fund Medicaid increases, which Democrats say will decrease if the state raises its minimum wage from $7.25 an hour — the federal minimum — to $15.

Social services and education make up the bulk of the spending proposed in Governor Shapiro’s budget plan

“These are things that we believe need to happen,” Harris said ahead of an expected House vote on a minimum wage raise later in the day.

“The bottom line is: if people don’t want to generate revenue, that’s fine. We need to know the list of cuts they’ve passed. We need to know which nursing homes they want to cut. We need to know which home care agencies will no longer receive funding. We need to know which schools will be cut and which teachers and nurses we will send home,” he continued.

Home health agencies do condemned the budget a plan to ignore rate increases – despite the commonwealth’s growing population of elderly people with intensive medical needs. Harris said he believes workers deserve raises that do not match the proposed $15-an-hour minimum wage.

Asked if his caucus had a contingency plan in case revenue-generating proposals fail, Harris said no, later adding that he had not yet spoken to his GOP colleagues.

“We have introduced a balanced budget that we believe addresses many of the issues important to Pennsylvanians,” Harris said. “We can’t wait for our friends in the Republican-controlled state Senate to come to the table with us, present their own plan (and) let Pennsylvanians know how much they want to pay.”