Wolf's budget talks with lawmakers focus on school funding

Republicans passed a spending plan in late June without new taxes or any Democratic votes, but Wolf vetoed it along with GOP proposals on pensions and liquor privatization.

State services have so far been generally unaffected and state workers are being paid, but billions in funding for counties and social services providers are at risk of being held up without a deal in place.

Wolf wants billions in new taxes on sales, income and natural gas drilling to close a large budget deficit and provide new support for public education and human services without relying on one-time fixes and other approaches he considers to be gimmicks.