The Senate budget chief knocked the possibility of dipping into the state’s more than $8 billion rainy day fund Thursday to address financial woes, but also warned that federal policymaking and looming cuts could cripple Massachusetts’s economic wellbeing.
Senate Democrats rolled out a $55.8 billion state budget bill Tuesday, leaving room for about $575 million in future investments in tax relief, which the Senate budget chief said will be hitting the chamber floor for debate soon.
A $1.67 billion midyear spending bill that also extends pandemic-era restaurant reforms and empowers state officials to divest public pension funds from Russian-involved companies landed on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk Thursday.
As momentum grows around the country for the suspension of state gas taxes, the state Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican-led push to pause gas tax collections through Labor Day even as Gov. Charlie Baker signaled he was warming to the idea.
House leaders detailed a $3.65 billion spending package Monday that would invest a record budget surplus and much of the state’s surplus federal COVID aid in housing, hospitals, schools and workforce development.
